The Saucy Meat Sauce
- 500g minced meat nuked out of their frozenness by the defrost button of my microwave
- 1 or 2 onions (red, purple, yellow, white - they all taste good in this!)
- As much garlic as you like ( I used 2 cloves)
- Various vegetables found in the corner of my fridge (I used mushrooms, zucchini and carrots).
- A few tomatoes that will otherwise languish on my counter top
- 200g (more or less) of passata tomatoes (which is actually just store-bought tomato sauce or a tablespoon or 2 of tomato paste depending on how tomatoey you and your fussy eaters like it)
- A few tablespoons of corn from the can or from the freezer
- As much kidney beans as you like (I used half a can coz I don't really appreciate the after-effects of eating too many beans...)
- 1 tablespoon cumin powder
- 1 tablespoon coriander powder
- (Or if you have garam marsala, feel free to use that, though the cinnamon that it contains might make someone think of Christmas, like my husband)
- A pinch of salt
- A dash of black pepper
- A sprinkling of paprika or cayenne pepper or pieces of 1 fresh chilli for those who like it pepped (or have no toddlers)
- My secret weapon : 1/3 glass of apple juice (you can also use vegetable or chicken granules but I don't coz I don't wanna use MSG)
2 packs of Tortilla chips
A few (or a LOT) of slices of Gouda cheese or any other melty cheese that you prefer
Creme fraiche (that's what I had) or Sour cream to serve
If you have an avocado or 2 sitting around, just mash them up with a couple of teaspoonfuls of cream cheese, a squeeze of lemon, a few shakes of salt and pepper and voila! You have some type of guacamole that tastes equally yummy and no one will dare tell you that is not guacamole.
Ready? Set. GO!
Nuke the minced meat. While it is defrosting, cut the onions, garlic and vegetables in about the same size, as small as your knife skills will let you. Experience tells me that the smaller the vegetable pieces, the higher the likelihood of your toddlers/children eating them as what they can't see, they can't pick out (hehehehe...)
Put the itty bitty vegetable pieces into a frying pan that is already hot with about 2 tablespoonfuls of olive or canola oil (or whatever you prefer). Add a pinch of salt to prevent the onions from burning (a magic trick I learnt from Mr Jamie Oliver). Then add the defrosted meat. Or the tomatoes. Doesn't really matter coz they all coddle up together easily in the end.
Cook until the meat is mostly brown with a few pink patches and then add the rest of the ingredients. No need to be careful about it. Just dump them in. Except for the salt. For the uninitiated, add as much salt as you dare in the beginning and continue adding as it bubbles and cooks merrily, until it tastes somewhat acceptable to your tastebuds. Remember with salt, it is easier to put in, than to take it out.
Leave the magic potion to fuse together for the next 20 mins or more if you want. Just remember to stir ever so often and chant the magic words - You will be yummy for the tummy.
When you are ready to serve, open the pack of tortilla chips and place them on the plate. Then top them with as many slices of cheese as you want, placing a few slices in between chips for an even distribution of cheese, and place them in the microwave for 1 minute thereabouts (some microwaves require less but I used an 800w microwave for a dinner plate sized hill of tortillas with cheese). They will come out all warm and crunchy with a melty cheese topping.
At this point is when you artfully splosh sour cream or creme fraiche and mashed avocado guacamole mess on top and serve in the middle of the table, with each dining guest having their own plate or bowl of chilli con carne to eat as they like.
Some will like it crunchy. Some will like it messy. But at least my toddlers ate it all up.
Mission accomplished.
