I have a confession to make. Actually, two confessions:
1) I concocted this whole mexican chilli quinoa bake recipe purely so I could show off my beautiful new Le Creuset dish which was taking pride of place in front of the fireplace on Christmas morning. You know you’re getting old when cookware is your most exciting present 😉
2) I used a sachet of spice mix for this recipe instead of, y’know, actual spices. I’m sure that breaks some kind of food blogger rule but, whatever, sometimes I get lazy. After all the craziness of Christmas/new year I make no apologies for that!
As a general rule, topping with cheese + baking makes pretty much any dish approximately 10x better and this mexican chilli quinoa bake is no exception. There’s virtually nothing that oozy, melty cheese can’t improve. The addition of quinoa makes it a little healthier (let’s just ignore all the cheese!) and more substantial. Feel free to skip it if you want – I know it’s still a bit of an uncommon ingredient but one that I am fully in love with nonetheless.
Ingredients
- 200g dry quinoa, rinsed
- 200ml vegetable stock
- 1 tbsp chilli oil (or any other oil)
- 2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
- 2 red onions, finely chopped
- 2 peppers, finely chopped
- 500g beef mince
- 1 sachet mexican spice mix
- 500ml passata
- 1 tin kidney beans
- 500ml beef stock
- 25g tortilla chips, crushed
- 100g grated cheese
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 180°c.
- In a dry pan, toast the rinsed quinoa for about 5 minutes until all the water has evaporated and it has a nutty smell. Pour in the vegetable stock and simmer over a medium heat for 15-20 minutes.
- Meanwhile, heat the oil in a large pan and add the garlic, onion and pepper. Stir for a few minutes then add the mince and spices. Stir until the meat is browned. Add the passata, kidney beans and beef stock and simmer for 5-10 minutes.
- Add the cooked quinoa to the chilli and mix well. Pour into a deep baking dish and sprinkle cheese on top. Bake for 20-30 minutes until cheese has melted.