Wonderful and amazing things can happen when you’re in a pinch and trying to make something quick for dinner. That’s the case with this recipe, which you should really look at as more of a template on how to use up leftovers and bits and pieces floating about. I’m not a fan of leftovers, i don’t like eating the same thing twice in the same week and so things will go bad if i don’t figure out some way to change them up and make them new. I almost always have tortillas, cheese (dairy or vegan), salsa, leftover indian food of some sort, and usually some mexican OR bits of vegges about. With those things you can create some super quick and enchanting food that no one will ever guess is “leftover” stuff.
So this is what we’re working with (again, you can use your imagination and switch things around) for each quesadilla you’re gonna want a large (burrito size) flour tortilla (brushed with ghee or oil), about half a cup of sauteed vegges spiked with some red or green mex seasoning (bell pepper, onion, jalapeno, and spinach in this case), 2 oz of cheese (dairy or non-dairy, something mild that melts good), a cup of indian masala or curry warmed to about room temp (just about any will do, the best are pulse based ones like kala chana aloo masala, but aloo gobi is wonderful too), a cup of mamra (indian puffed rice), 3 Tbsp pico de gallo or a dry chunky salsa, 2 Tbsp spicy salsa (we used salsa de arbol) and 3 Tbsp of aloo sev (indian dry potato “sticks”), some chaat masala, and some sour cream, yogurt, or raita for drizzling, as well as some chopped fresh cilantro if you have it.
Put the oiled side of your tortilla down, and spread the vegges over half of it, then top with the cheese, fold and bake in the oven until browned and crispy (you can also do it over medium heat on the stove, but i find baking way easier.) Nothing else to the quesadilla itself…
Put your lovely toasty quesadilla on the plate, pour/plop on your leftover indian, then toss the mamra with the pico and just cover everything. Drizzle with the salsa, then sour cream (or whatever you’re using, or nothing), then the sev, lastly sprinkle with a nice dusting of chaat masala and some cilantro. Then gorge yourself!
You may be leery of just throwing random stuff together, but don’t be, indian and mexican cuisines share a lot of similar spices, cumin, coriander, chiles, onion, cinnamon…..they just naturally seem to go together, even when you think they shouldn’t. Saag over a quesadilla? umh, yes please. Vegetable korma? oh yes, many times, yes….
I feel almost silly writing a recipe for this, but it is my most requested food ever, and so many people love the pictures and are so intrigued….so here ya go…go crazy and love you some food!