With the holiday season a distant memory for most of us, I’m clinging on to the memory of my “time off” and reflecting on how desperate most of us are at that time of year to have a break and let our hair down (so to speak). The Festive Season gives us a reason to indulge and then New Year’s Eve gives us a reason to get silly, stay up late, have fun, either celebrate a good year or kiss a difficult year goodbye and hopefully sleep in the next day. That said, I have to admit that generally I’ve been a bit over the whole New Year’s Eve thing. In the last couple of decades my thoughts have been that if I have a resolution to make, I’ll make it now and start living it now. Why wait?! I also try to practise gratitude on a daily basis (see my halo 😉 ) and work to leave the past in the past every day of the year. So, on December 31 my treat usually involves going to bed at 10pm, or, if I’m feeling daring, 11pm. Sad (perhaps) but true, but it’s such a treat to have a good sleep!
This last New Year’s Eve, however, things were a bit different. In bragging about my excellent nachos recipe, I found myself promising a friend I’d make it on New Year’s Eve, so we could sit on the sofa, dig in to the corn-chippy, cheesy, beany goodness and watch the Blues Brothers. After making this promise I anxiously hoped I’d remember to put my plate aside when my “Shake your tailfeather” reflex kicked in or I’d be twisting in my nachos and shaking over spilled beans. I also hoped that, while I was dancing embarrassingly poorly, my friend would either be asleep, in the bathroom, looking the other way or dancing in an equally (or hopefully more) embarrassing style. But it was not to be. Instead, I have probably scarred my friend for life, emblazening in his memory the image of me doing a crude imitation of the funky dancers in the film, but in no way even touching the pinky-toe of their level of cool.
Did somebody say “sangria”?
Is the best way to recover from uncool to sit back, sip my fruity Spanish-style drink and pretend it never happened? Possibly. But I’ve never been good at pretending and, in truth, I’ve always been just a big dag who likes to flail about repetitively and call it dancing. So these days I guess I just don’t care (though it’s a good excuse to pour another glass of sangria). I reckon any real friend who wants me to make nachos for them again would know well enough to unsee what they think they saw and never speak of it again!
The recipe for nachos…
is probably a very individual thing. I never order it when I eat out because nobody makes one as delicious as mine. And that’s because I make mine how I like it. That’s always the benefit of home cooking: you can make things how you like them. That said, I’m sure there are many wonderful and delicious recipes for this dish out there, many of which I haven’t tried. But I’ll stick with what I know and love and I’ll even share it with you:
Nachos
Ingredients:
- 30ml olive oil or butter
- 2 medium onions, one finely chopped, the other finely sliced
- 3 cloves garlic, finely chopped or crushed
- ½ tsp chilli powder (or to taste)
- 2-3 tsp cumin. (I love cumin so I always use a lot, but you can use less if you like)
- 1 ½ tsp paprika (you can use 1 tsp regular and ½ tsp smoky if you like that flavour)
- 1 tsp brown sugar
- 400g tin chopped tomatoes
- 3 tbls tomato paste ( I sometimes add an extra tbl depending on my mood)
- 2 tins kidney beans, drained and roughly mashed
- optional tomato passata to thin out sauce if you prefer a thinner sauce
- 2 tbls chopped fresh coriander (the stems are just fine if you have some left over from another dish)
- salt and pepper to taste
To serve:
- Corn chips (I like the organic ones by “Eureka” brand from my favourite shop, the Blue Mountains Food Co-Op)
- Grated cheddar to taste
- Sour cream (optional)
- Avocado, mashed with a little salt and lemon juice to taste (or proper guacomale if you prefer)
Method:
Heat oil or butter in a large saucepan on medium, then add onions and cook until starting to soften. Add garlic and cook for a few more minutes. Add chilli, paprika and cumin and cook for a couple of minutes to release the flavours. Add tomatoes, tomato paste, beans and sugar. Cook for 15-20 minutes until the flavours have carried into the beans, adding passata as you go if you prefer a thinner topping. If you cover the pan and stir several times during cooking, this will also help prevent it from getting too thick so you may not need passata at all. Season with salt and pepper, add coriander and cook a further 5-10 minutes.
Put your corn chips on a plate or in a bowl and top with grated cheese, then place in oven to melt the cheese. Top with the sauce, then add more cheese on top and place in the oven again to melt the cheese. I love a lot of cheese, but you can skip one or other of the cheese steps if you like. Top with avocado and sour cream to taste. Settle down in front of your favourite movie and don’t forget the sangria!
