Upgraded Depression Meals - Re-fried Baked Bean Quesadillas - From 25c per Quesadilla - 10 mins - (V)
Ingredients
Baked Beans (25c per can)
Wraps (€1.75 for 8)
Cooking Oil
Salt
(Optional)
Onions, Stock, Butter, Tomato Paste, Dried or Fresh Herbs and Spices [Parsley,Oregano,Coriander,Paprika,Thyme,Cumin] Chilies in whatever form, Nuts, Fresh or Frozen Veg, Lime Juice, Leaves.
1. Preheat a neutral oil on high in a saucepan. Use roughly a 10 to 1 ratio of beans to cooking fat. Light and start pre-heating the grill.
(Add Diced Onions or Stock to the oil at this point)
(Add Butter to make the mixture creamier and richer)
2. Drain the beans of all of their sauce.
3. Add the beans to the oil and mash them with either a potato masher or a fork. Keep going until you have a thick paste which still has bits of beans visible. This should only take a few minutes. The beans should look shiny and glossy. If their texture and appearance is still a little powdery just add more of the cooking fat a little at a time until the mixture is rich but not oily.
(Add your Spices and Dried Herbs at this point. Be generous.)
(Add Tomato Paste to amplify the savory flavors)
(Add Lime juice, this will help balance any spice in your mix. This is a great way to save the mix if you make it too spice. You can buy shelf stable lime juice pretty cheap in most supermarkets, its perfect for a dish like this.)
4. Taste, adjusting the salt and spice until the mix is rich and strong. Take the mixture off the heat.
(Once the mixture is off the heat, you can add Frozen or Fresh Herbs, Soft Fresh or Frozen Veg like corn or peppers including leftovers, Crumbled nuts)
5. Add the bean mixture to the wraps. Fold over the wraps and grill each side for a few minutes. Brush some extra oil over the top to get them nice and crispy.
(Add cheese, just melt it under the grill for a minute before you fold the wraps.)
(Add some salad leaves here, just not anything that will taste bad if it wilts. Rocket and Spinach will do well)
(Add extra Hot Sauce or Lime Juice here.)
You can make the basic version of this recipe super cheap, quick and easy. The recipe and the suggestions are just meant to give you some inspiration and motivation. The aim here is, if you feel like you don’t have the spoons to cook for yourself to find the way to use the least spoons to feed yourself as well as you can. These are easy to make in bulk, just fold them and stack them in the fridge. The bean paste keeps great in the fridge and is a surprisingly versatile base to throw into a lot of meals. You can use any tinned bean for this, but baked beans are just cheap, handy and versatile.
