Mexican Madness: Cookoff Win or Cookoff Fail?

Saturday afternoon and evening was spent shopping, cooking, chatting, dinner-partying and laughing as part of the Co-Pilot Cookoff! 

A few weeks ago I nearly shut-down my blog. However, I promised to keep it open if people helped to inspire me. I received inspiration from three lovely people to do a challenge which had to include:
* Guacamole
* Flat Bread
* Cost $2.50 per moderate serve.

My co-blogger, muse and cooking friend Cheney also decided to get in on the challenge. She was particularly interested to see if we could make a meal for less than $10, with all ingredients bought at Coles. This was apart from herbs, salt, sugar and oil which we could use from home. This idea has come from a promotion by Coles, by which Cheney (and myself) were uncertain of its credibility.

With bags in tow, we were off to Coles to purchase our $15 of items (6 people at $2.50 a head). We soon realised that avocados were not only expensive, there were none ripe enough to use. We immediately scrapped that idea, and focused on the flat-bread and a main. Tossing between the idea of indian and mexican, we headed to the bean isle to determine the cheapest option. In the end we opted for Mexican: 4 cans of beans, 2 cans tomatoes, 2 red onions (on special), 2 red capsicums (on special), 3 cobs corn, 2 cans of sweetened condensed milk (on special), and 1 kg plain wholemeal flour. The total was $14.50, coming under the $15 we allowed ourselves. Dana and Scott - you will both be happy to know that it was indeed a vegan evening. Meat and animal products were too pricey for us!

Kitchen-Goddess Cheney steamed ahead with planning. Her flair for spices and know-how was invaluable. I learnt how easy it is to make dulche de leche, and the art of Cooking-Zen. I poked around the kitchen for various items, and even found some Wattle Seed lying about.

The recipes we came up with from this challenge were:

 Never cook without a trusty frog-flipper!

Flatbread (16 medium sized)

4 1/2 cups of wholemeal plain flour
3 tsp salt

3 tbs of wattle seed and chili flakes

3 tbs olive oil
2 cups warm water
Vegetable oil

 

Flour, salt and herbs were added to a bowl and a well made in the middle. Water and oil was added to the well and stirred with a knife until it all came together. Extra water or flour can be added to get a nice soft, not too dry -not too wet dough. Turn the dough out onto a floured surface, knead for a few minutes until smooth. Cheney rolled the dough into a log and cut into even-sized pieces, whilst I wrapped each piece with clingwrap and put them into the fridge to rest before cooking. To cook, preheat a frying pan, in our case an electric one, until it is hot. Roll or handpress the dough until a couple of mm's thick. Add some oil to the pan and slide the dough over the top. Done when both sides are browned. Put on a tray in a warm oven to keep them fresh whilst the chili is cooking. 

 

 

 

Vegetarian Chili

2 large-ish red onions, chopped
1 tbs olive oil
1 tsp sugar
1 tsp paprika
1 tsp dried chilli flakes
1 tsp ground coriander
1 tsp nutmeg
1 tsp cumin seeds, cracked

2 cups chicken/vegetable stock 

2 tins diced tomatoes
2 tins 4-bean mix, drained
1 tin kidney beans, drained
1 tin butter beans, drained

2 medium red capsicums, diced

 

Add sliced onions and olive oil into a stock-pot over medium heat. Carmelise the onions on a moderate-low heat (adjusting as required). You can add sugar or balsalmic vinegar and butter for more carmelised onions. When the onion is soft, add the spices. You can adjust the flavour to your liking later on. Cook the onions and spices for a minute, then add 3/4 of the stock, plus tomatoes, kidney beans and 4-bean mix (or whatever beans takes your fancy). Bring it to the boil, turn down to a good simmer and put a lid on it. Puree the white beans with a few tablespoons of stock until smooth. Add the puree to the chili about 10 minutes before serving to add creamyness and thickness to the sauce. You can also adjust your seasonings now as well.

 Stir-fried Corn

1 tbs vegetable oil
3 large cobs' corn, stripped from the cob

2 tsp cumin seeds (cracked)
1 tsp dried chilli

 

Put the vegetable oil in a frypan on high heat and add the spices. When they have cracked and spluttered a bit, add the corn stir-fry for about 5 minutes or until some of the bits of corn go a little brown. Easy as bro and ready to serve! 

 

Serve chili in a bowl with flat bread to one side, and delicious juicy corn sprinkled on the top. Yum yum! If we could have afforded sour-cream, guac or cheese, it would have been even more marvelous!

 

Whilst I was partially able to succeed in my challenge (flat bread: check. Cost under $2.50 each: check. Guacamole: Fail), did Cheney succeed in hers? Can you really make a healthy meal for less than $2.50 per person? You can read about the success and failures of the challenge on Everyonebutsix.com

A big thanks to Cheney for a wonderful afternoon, and full-credit to her for these ideas.