March 8th, 2009
Vegetarian Quesadillas
Quesadillas (pronounced with the l and s silent) is a Mexican snack that is also treated as an appetizer in restaurant menus. Queso means cheese in Spanish and a Quesadillas is typically a filling of cheese and other ingredients stuffed inside a tortilla and cooked again. The tortilla could be corn, wheat or made with plain flour. The stuffing can vary according to region and the cook’s imagination. The combination of cheese and vegetables is quite irresistible in any form and this makes a tasty treat for children and adults alike.
Picture hungry kids coming back from school and devouring piping hot quesadillas, satiating their appetites without compromising on their much wanted nutrition. Or a ravenous executive, back from a busy day at work and warming up a quesadillas to satisfy those hunger pangs. The quesadilla suits both these occasions perfectly well, and can also fit into an everyday meal or as part of a lunch or dinner party.
Since I don’t get good ready made tortillas here in Mumbai, I prefer to make my own*. Once you have the tortillas ready, you can throw in any vegetable combinations of your choice and along with the cheese you are in for a fast, easy and delectable meal by itself.
Vegetarian Quesadillas Recipe
You can play around with vegetables here. Leftover Indian rotis are an acceptable substitute to the tortillas.
Ingredients:
4 large (8” or 9”) flour Tortillas
Vegetable oil for cookingFor stuffing:
300 gm Monterey Jack Cheese or Sharp Cheddar cheese
1 Green bell pepper (chopped fine)
10 to 12 black olives
1 cup cooked corn or 1 tin canned yellow cornMethod:
Heat a cast iron griddle or frying pan over a medium flame. Divide the stuffing into 4 equal portions. Take a tortilla and place a portion of the mixture over one half of the tortilla. Fold the tortilla covering the mixture into a half moon shape. Place this on the moderately hot pan and smear a little oil over the tortilla.
Press the tortilla slightly for a few seconds and allow the cheese to melt.Flip the quesadilla to the other side and smear some oil over it. Cook until nice brown spots appear and the quesadilla is slightly crisp. Take care of the heat source for the pan so as to not to blacken the tortilla. Cut into triangles.Serve with lettuce, salsa, sour cream or guacamole.
Makes 4 Quesadillas
* Tortilla recipe
½ cup whole wheat flour
½ cup plain flour
2 tbsp vegetable oil
½ tsp salt
¼ cup warm waterMethod: Mix all the above ingredients and make into dough. Divide into 4 parts. On a floured, clean surface roll into a circle. Lightly cook on a griddle or in a frying pan and use as required.
March 9th, 2009 at 1:45 pm
Nice… I kind of made this the other day without knowing the recipe. Ofcourse, you cant label it authentic. But I tossed in some cheese and capsicum.
How do u make sour cream? And what is guacamole? And could you give a snapshot of the types of cheese and what they are used for? Am so clueless about them Cheese types. I know, I can google and figure out, but why take choose a tough option, when you’re there!
PS: “Picture hungry kids coming back from school and devouring piping hot quesadillas, satiating their appetites without compromising on their much wanted nutrition. Or a ravenous executive, back from a busy day at work and warming up a quesadillas to satisfy those hunger pangs.”
The latter sounds very familiar :). But I guess the two are hardly different.
March 9th, 2009 at 4:53 pm
Simi: Sour cream is not readily available in India, but you can make a mock sour cream. Guacamole is a delicious dip made with ripe avocados. Will post the recipe soon. Try looking for Monterey Jack cheese in gourmet departmental stores. You can use mature cheddar which is easily available.
March 9th, 2009 at 10:02 pm
wow… quite yummy, I shoudnt have checked this during the dinner time
March 10th, 2009 at 12:39 pm
Yummmm! So mouthwatering!
March 12th, 2009 at 2:14 am
My kids love quesadillas… yes they are great after they come back from school screaming food
stunning pics as usual.
March 12th, 2009 at 9:26 pm
Hi Anushruti,
This is Anu from My Scrawls. I was searching for some cake recipes and I landed here. Cool collection of recipes and nice presentation! Gr8 job.
I love quesadillas. U r right stuffing varies as per our imagination and taste. I love to add broccoli and basil leaves and finish it off with yummy salsa
Thanks for sharing.
Do visit my blog when u get time. Ur comments are highly appreciated
March 13th, 2009 at 9:45 pm
I see something red also in the filling.. is that tomatoes or red pepper? i dont see anything red in the ingredients.. cool pic..looks yumm!! am trying it right now
March 24th, 2009 at 5:46 pm
Soumya: The red you see is red bell peppers.
April 10th, 2009 at 11:37 am
Hi…Is there any alternative instead of cheese. I hear ppl using hung curd, can it be used here too??? I am following a diet and cheese is a strict “NO”, so i was wondering.
April 10th, 2009 at 9:28 pm
Beena: I always make Quesadillas with cheese. You could experiment with hung curd, tofu or you could leave out the cheese altogether and substitute with more vegetables. Do let me know the results.
April 14th, 2009 at 5:29 pm
Hi ANu…i tried this out in two ways. One with hung curd and another with white sauce. The hung curd one came out pretty well, tasted something like the eggless mayonnaise dressing, but the one with white sauce tasted good but failed in presentation as lot of the sauce has oozed out. Will try out some variations (low fat)another time and update you…
Cheers
Beena
April 15th, 2009 at 11:54 am
Beena:
Nice to know about your experiments. Do keep me posted.