Sorry for having been missing in action in August but I was extremely busy and I didn’t have enough time in my agenda to blog. However, in September, I will try to do my best to supply my blog with more recipes and reviews.
From left to right: shredded chicken, pre-cooked red beans, spring onions, beer can, diced onion, chopped cilantro, finely chopped jalapeno pepper, chopped garlic and corn.
Today, the recipe that I will be sharing with you is a simple recipe combining some of my favorite ingredients such as: beans, corn, tortillas. Although, originally when I first tried this recipe, it was an entirely vegetarian dish, this time around I decided to try something new and add some leftover rotisserie chicken left in my fridge. As I said in one of my previous blogs, months ago, whenever I go grocery shopping, if I feel too exhausted to cook, I usually pick rotisserie chicken at the grocery store for a quick meal. And this time was no exception.
It’s simply a tortilla layers cake with a corn and bean filling between each layer. It’s not a complex dish and requires very little culinary techniques. For the ingredients, I used frozen corn but canned corn could work perfectly fine. As I said in my African red bean stew blog, I boiled my beans and store them in the freezer until I’m ready to use them in a recipe. However, if you found it too time consuming, it’s also okay to use canned bean, but make sure to rinse them before cooking them.
One last point, if you are vegan or vegetarian, feel free to make this recipe by skipping the step where chicken is added and use vegan friendly cheese.
Bean, corn and chicken tortilla layers cake
Prep: 15 min Cook: 15-20 min 8 Servings
INGREDIENTS
5 tortillas, large enough to fit in a cake mold
1 lb or 2 cups (approximately 425 g) of red or black beans (pre-cooked or canned)
1 cup of Corn (frozen or canned)
2 cup of cheese, grated (I use a cheese blend)
½ cup of Salsa dip (mild), I used a store-bought salsa
½ cup of Beer
1 breast of Rotisserie chicken; cut in cubes
1 Onion, finely diced
2 cloves of Garlic, finely chopped
8 Spring onions, chopped
¼ cup of Cilantro, chopped
1 Jalapeno pepper, finely minced
1 teaspoon of ground Cumin
Salt
Pepper
DIRECTIONS
1. Preheat the oven at 350° F.
2. In a skillet, over medium heat, with a drizzle of oil, sauté garlic and onions with the cumin until the onions become tender and translucent. Pour ½ cup of Tostitos salsa and stir.
3. Add corn and bean and stir 3-4 minutes before pour the beer. Let simmer for 5 minutes or until half of the liquid has evaporated. Salt and pepper to your liking.
4. Incorporate chicken and stir for 1-2 minutes then turn off the heat. Add spring onions and cilantro.
5. In a springform pan, large enough for your tortilla to fit it, lined with a circle of parchment paper, place the first tortilla then add a layer of filling and grated cheese before placing the second tortilla on top. Repeat the same process for the rest of the tortillas. After placing the last tortilla, spread the remaining of the filling on top and sprinkle about ½ cup of cheese.
6. Bake for 15-20 minutes or until the cheese starts to brown.
Remove from the oven and let cool for 10 minutes before unmolding.
Place tortillas layer cake on a serving plate. Garnish the top of the tortilla cake with chopped spring onions. Serve with sour cream and quarters of lime.
Tips
If you want to add an additional Mexican touch, replace ½ cup of beer with ½ cup of Tequila.
Diced fresh tomatoes can be used as substitutes for store bought Salsa dip. However I preferred to use store bought salsa dips because they are flavourful and allow me to gain time.
Rita's Notebook 