Mexican cook along recipes

So we did mexican food at our last cook along last week and it was pretty decent in my opinion. The food we make at our cook along classes is dead easy to make and affordable. Below are the recipes for chilli, refried beans and ceviche. The recipes have been simplified slightly and if we had a few more hours, i'd cook the chilli alot longer and use chuck steak rather than mince.

Chilli Con Carne

Ingredients (4 portions)

Minced Beef 500g

2 onions, diced

2 / 3 garlic cloves, chopped.

2 carrots, diced

2 sticks of celery, diced.

2 peppers, diced

1 or 2 tsp chilli powder

1 or 2 tsp cumin powder

1 stick of cinnamon

1 tin of kidney beans

2 tins of chopped tomatoes.

Fresh coriander

Sour cream.

Salt and pepper

Vegetable oil.

Method

1.   Heat a couple of tablespoons of oil in a deep based frying pan and brown the mince off. When the meat is brown, take it out of the pan and put to one side.

2.   Fry all of the diced vegetable in the pan for about 5 minutes or till they have started to soften. Add the spices and the mince into the pan.

3.   Add the kidney beans and the tins of tomatoes, bring to a boil and cook for 30 minutes to an hour. If the chilli reduces too much add some water to the pan.

4.   Season the chilli with salt and pepper, then add the chopped fresh coriander and serve with some sour cream.

Re-fried beans

Ingredients (2 to 4 portions)

1 tin of kidney or pinto beans

1 onion, diced.

3 cloves of garlic, chopped

Fresh coriander, chopped.

½ chilli, diced.

Vegetable oil

Water 1 tbsp

Salt and pepper

Method

1.   Heat a tbsp of oil in a pan and fry off the onion, garlic and chilli for a couple of minutes.

2.   Add the beans to the pan along with the water. Cook for about 5 minutes.

3.   Mash the beans with either a potato masher or in a food processor along with the coriander and a pinch of salt and pepper. 

Mackerel Ceviche

Ingredients (4 portions)

4 fresh mackerel fillets, skinned and boned - make sure these are as fresh as possible!

2 limes

Handful of chopped coriander

1 chilli, finely diced.

3 spring onions, finely chopped.

Caster sugar, a pinch.

Vegetable oil, 2 tsp.

Salt and Pepper.

Method

1.   Using a sharp knife, thinly slice the mackerel fillets and lay on a serving plate.

2.   Take the zest off the limes, juice them and mix with the vegetable oil, chilli, sugar, spring onions and some salt and pepper.

3.   Pour the lime mixture over the sliced fish and leave to stand in a cool place for between 10 and 15 minutes.

4.   Sprinkle the chopped coriander over the fish and serve straight away.