Читать книгу 30-Minute Vegetarian - Rose Elliot - Страница 28

Mexican Bean Salad

This is half salad, half hot dish, a variation of Mexican refried beans, with a hot, chilli-bean mixture served on a base of salad, garnished with slices of avocado, soured cream, chives and coriander. You could also add a handful of olives, and some tortilla chips for an extra crunch. It’s a great one-dish meal to make when you want something quick, hot and tasty, and it’s very colourful.

Serves 2

1 tbsp olive oil

1 onion, chopped

1 green chilli, deseeded and sliced

1 garlic clove, crushed

400g tin chopped tomatoes

400g tin red kidney beans, drained

1 small lettuce

1 small red pepper, deseeded and sliced

4 tomatoes, sliced

1 avocado

2 tbsp chopped fresh chives

150ml (5fl oz) plain yoghurt or soured cream

Salt and black pepper

A few fresh coriander leaves, to serve (optional)

1. Heat the oil in a saucepan, then add the onion, cover and cook over a moderate heat for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.

2. Add the chilli, garlic and chopped tomatoes to the onion and cook for 5 minutes.

3. Add the beans to the onion mixture, mashing them roughly with a wooden spoon or a potato masher to give a chunky texture. Heat through, then season with salt and pepper and keep warm over a low heat.

4. Cover a large platter with the lettuce leaves and arrange the red pepper and tomatoes randomly on top.

5. Peel, stone and roughly chop the avocado. Stir the chives into the yoghurt or soured cream.

6. Spoon the red bean mixture on to the centre of the salad. Sprinkle the chopped avocado over it, then drizzle some of the yoghurt or soured cream mixture over everything – put the rest into a small bowl to serve with the salad. Serve the salad at once, garnished with fresh coriander leaves, if you wish.

Make it vegan: Replace dairy soured cream or yoghurt with vegan ones: you can get vegan soured cream at health shops and plain, unsweetened soya yoghurt at large wholefood stores.