Vegetarian Bean Quesadilla

My daughter is that stage of growing where she wants to try different kinds of cuisine and food. She also tells me that she does not want to eat baby food anymore. She wants to eat "grown up" food. So for dinner the other day I decided to make some thing that she could eat. She prefers vegetarian fare. I know she likes rotis/ chapatis which are basically Indian flat bread that is like a whole wheat tortilla. She also likes cheese and sour cream. I decided to make a bean quesadilla using most of the ingredients that she likes or will eat. I swapped the sour cream with Greek yogurt. The beans stuffing was easy to make and she liked it.

I added some picked jalapeños to half it for my husband and I to spice it up a bit. I served it with fresh salsa with avocado and Greek yogurt. The end result was so good that my husband asked me where I had gotten the quesadilla from!!

Do try it. It is great because you don't have to slave in front of the stove in this warm weather.The recipe is also in time for Cinco de mayo and Mother's Day which is around the corner!

Servings: 3-4

Prep time: 10 minsCook time: 15 minsTotal time: 25 mins

Ingredients:

Whole wheat tortillas/ roti/ Chapati: 2, large.
Mexican shredded cheese mix: 1 cup
Greek yogurt: 1/2 cup

For the bean stuffing:
Cooked & drained red kidney beans : 2 cups ( or 1 can (8oz).
Cooking oil: 1 tsp ( I used coconut oil)
Onion: 1 small, diced fine
Cumin powder: 1/4 tsp
Bell pepper/ capsicum, diced fine: 1/4 cup
Black pepper, freshly ground: 1/2 tsp
Salt: to taste
Cilantro, chopped fine: 1 tbsp ( optional)
Pickled jalapeños, chopped: 1 tsp ( optional)

Method:

Heat the oil in a sauce pan or sauté pan on medium heat.

Add the dice onion. Sauté until the onion begins to sweat.

Add the diced bell peppers. Sauté for a minute.

Add the cumin powder. Sauté for 10-20 seconds.

Add the cooked and drained red kidney beans, salt, black pepper and mix well until it all comes together.

Using a potato masher, lightly mash this mixture.

Add finely chopped cilantro. Mix.

Turn off the flame and keep aside.

Heat a griddle/ tawa on medium flame. Place one roti/ chapati/tortilla on it. Reduce the flame to low.

Spread the bean mixture on top of the tortilla evenly.

Sprinkle the pickled jalapeño pieces if you want it spicy.

Sprinkle the shredded cheese on top.

Place the second roti/chapati/ tortilla on top. Let it cook for a minute or two.

If possible, flip the quesadilla and cook for a minute on the other side. If you cannot flip, it is ok. Just continue cooking for couple more minutes until the cheese melts.

Turn off the flame. Using a pizza cutter or serrated knife , cut it into six pieces/ wedges.

Top it with a dollop of Greek yogurt.

Serve it with salsa/ guacomole /picco de gallo or all of them!

Enjoy!

Cooking made easy:

If you are gluten free, you can use corn tortillas. If the tortilla is really small, just cut it into 2 or 4 pieces.

Alternatively, you can use just one tortilla, put the filling on one half of the tortilla, top it with cheese and fold the other half of the tortilla on top. You can then choose to cut it into 3 pieces/wedges or just 2 halves.

Tip for healthy living:

You can enjoy any of your regular food by switching high calorie, high fat ingredients with low calorie, low-fat, healthy ingredients. For eg, in the above recipe, I have switched the sour cream with healthier Greek yogurt.