Tortilla Wrap

Friday night dinners at home usually venture into cuisines from far off lands.... Mexican, Greek, Italian etc., All are experimental efforts to create and improvise at home whatever I've tasted outside and found too bland for our palette. Mexican is one cuisine that comes closest to Indian food with respect to the use of salt and spices, and a favorite in my family too...

My dad for one whould never say yes to this dish. He would have questions right from the name of the dish(why are there TWO L's if they are to be silent?? why should it be called "Tor-tee-ya"?) to the part where rice is stuffed into it(Why can't one eat them separate?). Well, each to his own. This recipe is for the 'not-so-traditionally-inclined', though I would definitely suggest everyone to TRY it at least once. The fun part of here is, everyone gets to build their own wrap. There is no hard and fast rule as to how you go about doing it. Use what you like, how much u like... roll... and rock on! So, here's my simple and fun Mexican fiesta, right at home! Enjoy!!



Ingredients :

Whole wheat Tortillas - 12
Sour Cream - 1 small tub
Grated Cheese, Mexican blend - 1 pack. Put it in a bowl
Carrots - 2 big ones, washed, peeled, and shredded/grated thick
Lettuce - 1/2 a head, washed and shredded into thin strips
Capsicum - 2 big ones, washed and cut into thin 2 inch long strips
Onions - 2, Sliced into thin long strips

Preparing the vegetables:

1. Heat a pan until its smoking hot. Add the capsicum and keep stirring. Add a little salt and a teaspoon of oil to it. In a few minutes the capsicum will start getting black spots and turn soft. Remove to a bowl and keep aside. You can use different colored bell peppers.


2. Repeat this process with onions too. Mix onions and capsicum in a bowl and set aside.


3. Mix the shredded lettuce and carrots in a bowl and set aside.

Ingredients for Avocado Salsa:

Hass Avocados - 2 ripe ones, pitted and chopped into chunks
Red Onions - 1/2 cup chopped into small cubes
Roma Tomatoes - 1/2 cup, chopped into cubes and drained
Garlic - 2 Cloves, Chopped fine
Lime juice - 1 tablespoon
Citantro - 1/4 cup trimmed and chopped fine
Cumin Powder - 1/2 teaspoon
Red chilli powder - 1/4 teaspoon (Optional)
Pepper powder - 1/2 teaspoon
Salt - To taste



Method for Avocado Salsa:

1. Mix all the above ingredients in a bowl. Taste and adjust seasonings as per taste. Chill in the refrigerator until required.

Tip : keeping the pit(seed) of the avocado in the salsa will prevent the avocados from browning ;-)

Ingredients for Rice and Beans:

Black beans - 1/2 cup, soaked overnight.
Rice - 1 cup
Taco Seasoning - 3 teaspoons
Lime juice - 1 tablespoon
Pepper - 1/2 teaspoon
Salt - To taste



Method for Rice and Beans:

1. Wash the rice along with the soaked beans and drain.
2. Pressure cook with 2 1/2 cups of water and a little salt for 3 whistles.
3. when cool enough to handle, remove from cooker and allow the rice to cool completely.
4. Add the taco seasoning, lime juice, salt and pepper and mix well. Adjust the seasonings according to taste.
5. Keep Warm.

Tip : You can add sauteed mixed vegetables like, corn, chopped bell peppers and onions to this rice too.





Assembling the Wrap:

1. Set the warmed up Tortillas, Shredded carrot-lettuce bowl, capsicum-onion bowl, Avocado Salsa bowl, the Rice n Beans bowl, the grated Cheese bowl and the sour cream on the table.
2. Now, its up to each one's liking.
3. I would go about it like this : Take a tortilla, smother sour cream, add the rice n beans, the salsa, top it with capsicum-onion, carrots and lettuce and the cheese and roll it up!
mmmmmmmm!!! bueno!!! rico!!!!