Serves: 4
This Tex-mex classic is given a healthy injection of vegetables and pulses although keeping the faintly trashy elements (melted cheese, sour cream) that make it so delicious. I prefer to make my own tortilla chips but you won’t lose brownie points if you open a packet of ready-made chips; however, the ready- made chips do tend to go soggy quite quickly. Serve as a substantial starter or light main course.
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
- 1 red onion, peeled and finely chopped
- 2 garlic cloves, peeled and finely chopped
- 3 peppers, (red, yellow or orange), halved, deseeded and roughly diced
- 1 red chilli, deseeded and finely chopped
- 1 x 400g tin black beans, drained
- 125g cherry tomatoes, quartered
- ½ teaspoon dried oregano
- ½ teaspoon ground cumin
- 200g tortillas ( I like Wahaca Flour and Yellow Corn tortillas)
- For the avocado salsa
- 2 (or 3 small) avocadoes, halved, stoned and peeled
- Juice of 1 lime
- 1 tablespoon finely chopped coriander
- 125g Monterey jack cheese, grated or grated cheddar
- Sour cream to serve
- Tomatillo salsa –Wahaca is the best (optional) to serve
Method
- Heat the oil in a saucepan and add the onion. Cook over a moderate heat for 5 minutes, stirring regularly. Add the garlic, peppers and chilli and continue to cook for a further 15 minutes until the peppers are just soft.
- Stir in the black beans, cherry tomatoes, oregano and cumin. Season with salt and ground black pepper and cook for 5 minutes. If you want you can prepare up to this stage in advance.
- For the avocado salsa, dice the avocado flesh and toss with the lime juice. Season with salt and ground black pepper and stir in the coriander.
- Heat the oven to 200˚c, fan oven 180˚c, mark 6. Cut the tortillas into quarters and place on a baking sheet. Toast in the oven for about 8 minutes until crispy. To assemble the nachos, place about half the tortilla chips in an even layer in an ovenproof dish. Scatter over the black bean and pepper mix. Place a final layer of the tortilla chips on top and sprinkle over the cheese. Bake in the oven for 8-10 minutes until the cheese has melted. Serve with the avocado salsa, sour cream and tomatillo salsa.
