Quesadilla, a spanish word, pronounced as Kesadiya, is one of the main dishes of Mexico. It means, "The little cheesy thing", and various kinds of fillings are used to stuff it with. The tortilla (looks like our chapathi) is made with corn flour or wheat flour, and in the countries abroad, you get tortillas with different flavourings. You get sundried-tomato tortillas, spinach tortillas, whole wheat tortillas etc. Here also regular tortillas are available in many stores. I once bought and used them, but was not very happy, they were quite thick and rubbery. So, this time, I used the store bought half cooked chapathies (considered them to be whole wheat tortillas) and made. No difference at all. Very tasty and nice. Don't they look so inviting??? We can also use store bought tortillas!,
Ingredients
Olive oil - 4 tbsps
Olive oil spray - to cook the quesadillas
Onions - 2, sliced lengthwise
Green bell pepper - 1 , sliced lengthwise
Red bell pepper - 1, sliced lengthwise
Yellow bell pepper - 1 , sliced lengthwise
Carrots - 2, peeled and sliced into thin strips
Zucchini - 1, small, sliced lengthwise
Spinach - 20-25 leaves, just torn into two or three
Garlic - 6-7 pods, finely chopped
Soya beans - 1/2 cup -soaked for 3 hours and pressure cooked
Fresh corn - 1/4 cup - cooked for 5 mts
Cleaned , chopped and washed coriander leaves - 1 1/2 cups
Cheese - grated, as required
Taco seasonings - 3 tbsps
Chilli powder - 1 tsp
Jeera powder - 1 tsp
Salt to taste
Store bought whole wheat chapathi packet - 1/or tortillas, store bought
Recipe Cuisine: Mexican; Category: Lunch/Dinner
Prep time: 15 mts; Cooking time: 20 mts
Yields 8 Quesadillas
Grated cheese in one compartment, and the pressure cooked Soya beans and the fresh corn, cooked for 5 minutes
In a broad mouthed pan, add olive oil, then add the onions and garlic.
After the onions become translucent, add the bell peppers
Add the chilli and jeera powders, and saute them.
After 5 minutes, add spinach , carrots and zucchini
Add salt and continue to saute. You can keep it covered with a lid too, to enable faster cooking with the water it secretes.
Now, add the cooked soya beans and corn too, so that they can take in the spices and salt well.
Now, add the coriander leaves and taco seasonings .
In just 10 minutes, the whole thing would look like this, fully cooked, still crunchy and shrunk.
If you have refrigerated the chapathies, spread them out for 10 minutes like this.
Toast them dry on both sides on a non stick tava.
And keep them like this, keeping a paper towel in between them, so that they won't sweat and make the chapathies soft and soggy.
Spray some olive oil on the tava, keep the flames on low, and put a chapathi on tava. Keep some filling in the center.
Top it up with grated cheese. The quantity of cheese is totally your option. More can be added too. The quantity shown here can be reduced too.
Carefully fold into half, then keep it pressed with a wooden ladel.
Turn to the other side, after the side at the bottom becomes golden.
Cut them into two halves with a pizza cutter, and serve with any hot sauce
Notes
*Any cheese can be used.
*In other countries, you get fantastic fat free sour cream, which goes very well with the Quesadillas. I use thick yogurt, home made, and that also tastes good.
*The vegetable filling also can be changed according to our wish.
*Normally kidney beans (Rajma) is used for this, but it needs to be soaked overnight. I had forgotten, so I used Soya beans. Any kind of beans can be used for this.
*I got Taco seasonings from the US, but here also, in the Gourmet markets, it is available nowadays.
*I have served with Taco Bell Hot sauce, but can be served with any chilli sauce, hot and sweet sauce or regular Tomato ketchup.
