Taco Salad in a Tortilla Bowl

A couple weeks back I ate a very tasty and satisfying Taco Salad in a Tortilla Bowl at the Microsoft cafeteria. It had layers of greens, rice and veggies, topped with salsa, guacamole etc. all served in a deep fried tortilla bowl. Since I love making Mexican style dishes at home, I immediately set out to replicate this. For the rice, I borrowed the Mexican Brown Rice with veggies recipe from Kids Lunch Box. I marinated and cooked the veggies in a fajita-style sauce from this recipe from Cooking from A to Z. I baked the tortillas into bowls using the same process as I posted here. It turned out to be such a wonderful and quick meal!

So here's how it all come together:

First, brush tortillas (I used whole wheat tortillas) lightly with oil (I used olive oil). Press down gently into oven safe bowls. Bake in a pre-heated 400 F oven for 10 mins till edges brown and tortilla bowls crispen.

Cool the tortilla bowls for a few minutes, then spread a layer of mixed greens/lettuce.

Layer desired quantity of the Mexican Rice over the greens. For the rice, I sauted some onions, garlic, carrots, green and red bell peppers in oil, added chopped tomatoes, handful of spinach, cooked mixture of brown rice plus quinoa, salt, sugar, red chilli pwd, cumin pwd, soy sauce, dried oregano and chopped cilantro (all per taste). Gave the whole thing a good mix till heated thru.

The fajita-style veggies go on top of the rice. For this, I cut some onions, green and red bell peppers, zucchini, yellow squash and mushrooms into long thin strips. For the marinade, I pretty much followed the recipe linked above, the only addition I made was cumin pwd since I love its flavor. Marinated the veggies for about 2 hrs, then sauted them in a little olive oil in a wok on medium high heat for about 10 mins until just cooked.

Over the veggies go some black beans. I used canned ones, drained and rinsed.

Now just add the toppings per your choice. For myself, it was some chipotle peppers in adobo suace, mild salsa and a big dollop of guacamole (all store-bought). Hubby also had some sour cream. And kiddo had the salsa, guacamole, sour cream and some shredded Mexican cheese blend.

This Taco Salad in a Tortilla Bowl goes to the BB8 - One Dish Meal event at One Hot Stove.