I love Mexican food. I was first introduced like most Irish people via an Old el Paso Fajita dinner kit. During my college years I probably had one of these a least once a week. With my diagnosis, the dinner kit was no longer an option but I found there was still plenty I could eat both in my own home and in restaurants. It also forced me to experiment which is always a good thing.

I use a great Mexican cookbook (Thomasina Miers) for recipes and there is also a great source of home grown mexican food to order online and recipes to follow at mymexicanshop.ie and amexicancook.ie. The online shop has a dedicated section for coeliacs which is really handy.  I also follow Lily Ramirez Foran(@mexicancookeire) on twitter, she is the brainchild behind these ventures.

In Dublin, both Cortinas in Dundrum and Acapulco in the city have gluten free/coeliac options. Cortinas actually have a separate menu. For more authentic (apparently) mexican fare, 777 will cater for coeliacs although they don’t note anything in particular on the menu. There’s plenty more options, these are just the ones I am most familiar with.

So, on to the food. One of my favourite comfort meals is a mini mexican feast which includes tomato salsa, guacamole, refried beans, lime, coriander & corn rice, sour cream and spicy chicken with peppers and onions. Not very adventurous I know but it is a challenge when you are first diagnosed to learn what you can and can’t have, the different brands etc – I started making this as an alternative to fajitas way back when and I still love it.

The recipe below will feed 4.

Tomato Salsa

I like cooked and raw salsas equally. The raw salsa is pictured.

You need:

  • 4 large or 6 smaller ripe tomatoes
  • Handful of chopped fresh coriander or 3 tsp of dried coriander leaf
  • Juice of 1 lime
  • 3 spring onions, chopped finely
  • A small red chili, chopped finely (add more if you really like spice!)
  • 1 clove of garlic (for the cooked salsa only)

This is how we do raw salsa: 

  1.   Chop up your tomatoes finely
  2.   Mix in your chopped coriander, spring onions, lime juice and chilli
  3.  Taste as you go and add more or less of the chilli/coriander to taste as well as salt if you feel it’s needed

This is how we do cooked salsa – robbed directly from Thomasinas book:

  1.  Place the tomatoes, chili and peeled garlic blub in non stick frying pan on medium heat, no oil needed. Your aim is to blacken them and get them cooked to a point that you can bash them to bits with a pestle and mortar
  2.  Keep and eye on them and once they start to get quite soft, move to your pestle and mortar and bash away until you have a more liquid consistency (but still with a bit of substance)
  3. Mix in your chopped coriander, spring onions, and lime juice.
  4. Enjoy while still warm or leave to cool

 

Guacamole

You need:

  • 3-4 ripe avocados, preferably the Hass variety (They are ripe if you press them and they give a little. A rock hard avocado won’t work)
  • A small tomato, chopped finely
  • Juice of 1 Lime
  • A small amount of red chili, chopped finely (add more if you really like spice!)
  • 1 bulb of garlic, crushed

This is how we do it:

  1. Mash up the avocados, a fork is a good for this.
  2. Add the tomato, lime, chilli and crushed garlic and mix well
  3. Enjoy!

 

Lime, Coriander and Corn rice

You need:

  • Rice – whatever kind you like and about a third of a mug of rice per person
  • A handful of finely chopped coriander or 2 tsps of dried coriander leaf
  • A small tin of sweetcorn
  • Juice of half a lime
  • Salt to taste

This is how we do it:

  1. Boil the rice
  2. Drain the corn and add to the rice when there is a little water still left in the boiling rice, it will only take a few minutes to heat up
  3. Once the water has boiled off, mix in the coriander and lime juice and leave covered to steam for a few minutes
  4. Add Salt if you wish to taste

 

Refried beans

Okay, I haven’t made these from scratch just yet, so my recipe extends to – open a tin of Discovery refried beans which are clearly marked as GF on the packet. You can buy them in Dunnes and some Tescos.

Spicy Chicken

This is just fajita chicken.

You need:

  • A chicken breast per person
  • Half a chicken stock cube
  • A red and yellow pepper, sliced thinly
  • 1 large onion, sliced
  • Fajita Seasoning – I use the Discovery brand which is marked clearly as GF

This is how we do it:

  1. I think chicken is nicest if you poach it. Bring a pan of water to the boil, add half a chicken stock cube and your chicken fillets. Simmer for around 20 minutes.
  2. Once cooked (check at 20 minutes and leave in a little longer if you needed to), take the chicken out and leave to cool for a couple of minutes, then slice up.
  3. In the meantime, fry up the onion and peppers
  4. Allow to cook for a couple of minutes and add  the chicken back in and fajita seasoning to taste
  5. Leave to cook and get all flavours going for a few minutes before serving

Serve a little of everything in a bowl with a spoon of sour cream and some grated cheese if you wish. You could also buy some GF Bfree wraps or tortilla chips. Better yet make your own, I’ve been meaning to try Lily’s tortilla chip recipe for ages.

This meal is delicious with a gluten free beer.