Shredded Chicken Quesadillas

Quesadillas are just another of the seemingly endless variations of dishes that can be made using tortillas (either flour or corn varieties). Although authentic Mexican quesadillas are usually made from corn tortillas, in the Tex-Mex variation and also in Northern Mexico, flour tortillas are much more common.

The concept is very simple - place the ingredients of your choice in one half of a tortilla and heat in a frying pan or on a comal - a Mexican cast-iron griddle pan. Then fold over and cut into wedges and eat! In Tex-Mex cuisine, 2 tortillas are often used instead of 1. In Mexico this would be called a sincronizada (synchronised) rather than a quesadilla. Confused?!?!




The humble quesadilla is often seen as the Mexican take on a pizza, with cheese being the principal ingredient (queso is Spanish for cheese). The type of cheese used is usually a stringy cheese like Mozzarella or Monterey Jack, although you could replace with Cheddar or Red Leicester. In Mexico, the most popular cheese used for making quesadillas is Queso Oaxaca. Other ingredients can be added depending on what you like - beans, ground chili beef, chicken, diced red pepper, guacamole, salsa, sour cream, pulled pork are all popular ingredients.

In this variety of quesadilla we will use shredded chicken, which is a common ingredient in many Tex-Mex recipes and is a healthier alternative to chili beef. It can be used in tacos, burritos or enchiladas, and is also very good with rice.

Ingredients

500g chicken breasts

1 small onion

3 cloves of garlic

1 red chili pepper

1 tin of tomatoes

1 200g can of kidney beans (drained)

1 tsp chili powder
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp black pepper
1 sprig of fresh coriander
200g grated strong Cheddar cheese
200g grated Mozzarella cheese
1 yellow bell pepper
1/4 iceberg lettuce (shredded)
1 jar of sour cream
3 Tb red salsa (see recipe here)
8 large flour tortillas
a dash of sunflower oil

Method

Place the chicken breasts in a pan of water (enough to cover the chicken completely) and 1 garlic clove. Cook for about 20 minutes or until the chicken is white throughout. Drain and rinse in cold water. Using 2 forks, separate the chicken breast into shredded pieces.

Peel and finely chop the onion and 2 cloves of garlic. Fry the onion in a frying pan with a little sunflower oil for a couple of minutes until soft. Add the garlic and fry further for 1 minute. Add the shredded chicken and the chili powder, garlic powder, cumin and black pepper, and the sprig of coriander. Finely chop the chili pepper and add this to the pan. Cook gently for about ten minutes.

Open the can of tomatoes and empty this into the pan, chopping the tomatoes into small pieces as you go. Add the drained kidney beans, mix thoroughly and continue cooking for another 5 minutes.

Finely dice the yellow bell pepper and shred the lettuce into thin strips.

Lightly brush 1 tortilla with sunflower oil on one side and place into a large heated frying pan or griddle pan, oiled side down. Spoon some of the shredded chicken mixture onto the tortilla, enough to cover one half. Add some of the diced pepper, lettuce, a spoon each of sour cream and salsa and top with equal amounts of the cheddar and mozzarella. Then fold the tortilla gently over into a semi circle. Turn the tortilla gently over using a spatula or fish-slice. When the cheese is melted the quesadilla is done!

¡Buen provecho! Enjoy!