Vegetarian Gumbo and Black bean quesadilla with minty sour cream

This winter we went on a road trip from Dallas to New mexico-- the land of hanging 'ristras',which is mexican for bunch of long red chillies. And incidentally yesterday,i  sited these Egyptian red chilies- pictured above ,in a hypermarket here and.. bang! did life flashback? indeed it did :)

The fiery red looked so pretty that i cudnt muster myself to cut chop the chilies just yet..still oogling them , totally chilli-struck!  lol. But the memories that flashbacked gave me a reason enough to recreate what we had at this mom and pop store in downtown Santa Fe- Bean quesadilla with piping hot vegetarian gumbo. It was perfect to soothe us on that cold snowy night then.

So here's how i recreated the entrees for the two of us last night.

Black bean quesadilla

Ingredients:

4 Flour tortilla

1 can of black beans, rinsed and drained

1 small red onion, diced small

Pepper jack cheese, grated

1/4 tsp paprika

1/2 tsp whole cumin seeds

1/2 tsp Olive oil 

Salt to taste

for the minty dip:

5 tsp Sour cream

1/2 tsp Tabasco/ hot sauce

5 Mint leaves, chiffonaded

Salt to taste

Heat a pan with olive oil and add the cumin seeds, let them splutter. Add onions to soften and add the black beans. Sprinkle the paprika powder , salt and stir well. Switch off the heat and leave it to cool at room temperature. 

In a bowl mix the sour cream, mint , tabasco and salt till creamy. Lay in a bowl to serve and let it chill in the refrigerator for 15-20 minutes.

In the meantime, take the flour tortilla and warm it up in anot
her flat pan. Remove and spread the black bean mixture on half of the tortilla circle. Sprinkle some cheese and fold into a half moon to finish. Transfer to a hot flat girdle with some olive oil, toast on both sides till lightly golden and crisp. Remove with a spatula and slice  into fourths with the help of your pizza cutter or a big sharp knife. 

Serve hot with the prepared minty sour cream. I served my dip in a petite avocado shell,as i prepared some guacamole simultaneously for the gumbo described below.

Vegetarian Gumbo

Gumbo reminds me of yet another restaurant -Qadoba Mexican Grill in Dallas. For its a post about memories in flashback and i give full credit to Qadoba for introducing and adding this comforting dish to my taste palette.

Ingredients:

1 cup cooked white rice

2 cups roasted vegetables, warm ( julienned some carrot,red bell pepper,onion,zucchini and stirred them on very high heat with some oil till smoky. do not add salt or they'll be runny)

2 cups of hot tomato broth (peeled crushed strained tomatoes. stirred with a garlic in olive oil adding parika, salt, sugar & lemon juice)

Black beans or pinto beans with cumin and paprika, stirred in light oil 

3-4 of jalapeno peppers per bowl

Handful of  sliced olives ( optional)

1/2 cup pico de gallo ( recipe below)

Dollops of Guacamole 

Sour cream , shredded cheese, lettuce, tortilla chips and cilantro to garnish.

For pico de gallo= mix finely chopped : Roma tomatoes-3, garlic clove, 1/2 a red onion,1/4 of a bunch of cilantro. Add lemon juice , salt to taste. Mix and let it chill (pictured in the first frame- blue bowl)

Take deep individual bowls for the gumbo, layer in the order as follows: rice at the bottom, roasted vegetables, hot tomato broth, black beans, pico de gallo, olives and jalapenos. Finish with gucamole , sour cream and all the remaining garnishings.

 This is my go to recipe whenever we have mind numbing cold too :)

A perfect blanket for your tummy. Enjoy with quesadilla on the side or works just by itself too!