Crispy Stuffed Tacos & Chocolate Fondue

A quick weeknight meal needn't be mundane or boring. With just a few easy steps, it's possible to have a meal that is delicious & different from the usual. I didn't have a lot of time two days back and needed to think of something for dinner and remembered that I bought a pack of crisp taco shells at the grocery store last week along with a can of refried beans (vegetarian of course) and decided to use them. The resultant was a crisp taco, filled with beans, spiced boca soy crumbles, rice & veggies topped with lettuce, sour cream, tomatoes and cheese. To round off the meal, I made a super quick chocolate fondue into which we dipped pieces of luscious strawberries and banana chunks - yummy! Now tell me if that is not a sure fire way to brighten up a weeknight dinner :)

CRISPY STUFFED TACOS


Ingredients:
Crisp Corn Tacos (I used store bought) - 1 pack
Refried beans (Vegetarian) - 1 cup (make sure there is no lard in the ingredient list)
Romaine Lettuce - about 2 to 3 cups
Tomatoes - half cup, chopped or use Salsa if you have that.
Spring Onion Tops - 3 tbsp, chopped
Shredded Cheese - 1/4 cup
Avocado/Guacamole - some (optional, I didn't have any so skipped it)

For the Rice, Veggie and Soy stuffing
Boca meatless ground burger - half packet, thawed

Cooked Rice - 3/4 cup
Onion - half, chopped
Spring Onion whites - 2 tbsp
Garlic - 2 cloves, chopped
Tomato Paste - 2 tbsp, mixed with little warm water
Carrot - 1, cut into small cubes

Green Bell pepper - half cup, chopped
Olive oil - 1 tbsp
Sambar powder - 1 to 2 tsp
Salt - to taste

Method:
1) Heat oil in a pan and add garlic,and onions and when slightly browned, add the carrots and bell pepper with some salt and fry till a bit tender. Add the sambar powder along with the boca meatless burgers crumbles, tomato paste and water mixture, cover and allow to cook on medium till the veggies soften.

2) Now add the cooked rice, toss together and let it cook until the mixture is dry. Adjust salt as necessary.

Assembly:
Take each crisp taco shell, warm them in an oven lightly and put in first a thin layer of refried beans, followed by the rice-soy mixture and add toppings of your choice.. except for the guacamole, I added the rest - lettuce, tomatoes, green spring onions, shredded cheese & sour cream and bite into it.

CHOCOLATE FONDUE (makes a small portion)

Ingredients:
Semi sweet chocolate chips - 2/3 cup
Heavy whipping cream - 1/4 cup (or substitute with 1/4 cup milk + half tbsp butter)
Instant coffee granules - 1/4 tsp (optional, I like the coffee - chocolate combo)
Vanilla essence - half tsp

To Dip: Washed & dried strawberries, peeled banana chunks

Method:
1) Find a combination of a bowl and saucepan such that the bowl fits in the saucepan (see pic below) so as to form a double boiler.

2) Take some water in the saucepan making sure that the bowl on top will not touch the water beneath and bring the water to a light boil. Reduce flame and allow to simmer gently.

3) Place the bowl on top and add the chocolate chips, cream (or butter & milk), coffee granules and keep stirring. In a few minutes, the chocolate will start to melt and become smooth and satiny. Stir in the vanilla essence and switch of the stove.


You could transfer this to a fondue pot or in our case, we just moved the entire arrangement to the table and started dipping the fruit in with our skewers :)


I know the picture is not good but believe me it tasted great.