Receta Baked Taco Bowls / Vegetarian Taco Bowls
Hola Amigos, Finally feels great to update the space after a week’s absence. This month, We the Avant Garde Cookies chose to visit Mexico to whet our appetite. As next week my elder one will be celebrating his birthday, I wanted to make some appetizers for his friends who have been invited for a small party at home. As I will be very much busy with more guests and with the weather being so bad I wanted a make ahead appetizer that could be stored to save time. These taco bowls seemed a perfect idea and I chose to bake them instead of the usual deep fried tacos.
Last year I had made Gulab Jamoons and potato baskets for his friends which I’m yet to post. He wanted something along the same lines. If you look at the recipe it is really long with a lot of ingredients but the recipe can be divided into 3 segments and while the filling can be made ahead at least 2 days before, the bowls can be baked 1 week in advance and stored in air tight containers to retain their crispness. On the day of the party, all you have to do is thaw the filling to room temperature before serving.
You can have your guests to fill up these bowls by themselves. Just arrange the bowls on a plate, place the filling and the toppings separately and they can do the arranging by themselves. I baked these bowls for 7 minutes and got it real crisp. Keep an eye on them else it will become burnt. Do not press hard while filling the tortillas with beans before baking else they will tear and you will have a hole at the bottom.
Some other filling suggestions are Guacamole and Salsa. As the filling I made itself was very tangy, I did not go for the salsa. I had a great time making these and the kids really enjoyed them. I’m sure these will be a hit with their friends as well.
- Baked Taco Bowls
- Soak Time: 8 hours | Prep Time: 10 Mins
- Cook Time: 15 Mins | Bake Time: 7 Mins
- Makes: 6
- Ingredients:
- For the Tortillas:
- Whole wheat flour – 1 cup
- Salt – 1/4 tsp
- Water – to knead
- Oil – 1 tsp
- For the Filling:
- For topping:
- Onion, chopped
- Tomato Ketchup (optional)
Coriander leaves, chopped
Instructions:
For the Tortillas:
1. Place the whole wheat flour, salt, oil together in a mixing bowl and mix well with your finger tips. Add water little by little and bring together into a dough. Knead well for 5 mins to a pliant and soft dough. Cover the dough with a damp cloth and let it rest for 1/2 hour.
2. Take lemon size balls from the dough and roll into small circles on a rolling board to the size of your palm.
3. Cook these tortillas on a griddle on both sides. Keep aside.
To Bake the Tacos:
4. Preheat the oven at 230 Degrees Celsius.
5. While the tortillas are still warm, insert them into muffin cups. To hold them in place you can fill them with pie weights. As I do not have them I just filled them with dry beans of my choice.
6. Place them in the oven and bake for 6-8 minutes or till crisp.
7. Take out from the oven and let it cool to room temperature. shake out the beans or weights, whatever you are using and store in an air tight container till ready to use.
For the Filling:
8. Heat a pan and dry roast cardamom, cinnamon and cloves together until you get a nice aroma. Keep aside and let it cool. Grind to a coarse powder and keep aside.
9. Soak the red kidney beans or rajma over night. Pressure cook with enough water for 7-8 whistles over medium flame or till soft. Retain the cooked water.
10. Heat a wide pan with oil. Add the finely chopped onions and let it cook till transparent. Add ginger garlic paste and cook till the raw smell disappears.
12. Add finely chopped tomatoes, salt and mix well and cook until the tomatoes become mushy and raw smell has disappeared.
13. Add the drained cooked beans, mix well. With the help of masher mash the entire contents well while the beans is still getting cooked over the stove. You should not be able to make out the beans at all. This helps the absorb the juices of the tomatoes and the spice powders well and reduces the cooking time as well.
14. Add the retained cooked water of the kidney beans, ground spice powder and let the curry cook for 8-10 minutes over low flame with the lid closed for all the flavors to evolve and mingle.
15. Take off stove and serve hot as a side dish with the tortillas/chappathis.
16. As we are going to use it as a filling, let it come to room temperature.
How to serve:
17. With the help of a spoon fill the taco bowls with the kidney bean curry.
18. Top with finely chopped onions, tomato ketchup and coriander leaves.
19. Enjoy the crunchy taco bowls with the soft, healthy and protein packed red kidney bean filling.
Notes:
You can also use corn or brown rice flour for making tortillas instead of whole wheat flour.
You can use the usual tortillas and cut them into small circles with the help of a cutter to insert them into muffin cups.
The filling can be of your choice. I made a vegetarian version. Non vegetarians can use either white or red meat of your choice.
The freshly ground spice power adds a kick to the filling and you can easily replace with garam masala powder.
Oven timings will vary accordingly.