Nachos

This is our go-to party snack and the savior appetizer to feed large number of guests at home. It's very simple and requires a little creativity with assembling the dish. You can play around with the ingredients you have at home and get wacky with ideas. Nachos are now easily available at all super-markets and stores and tastes great with a dip and some extra ingredients. My daughter loves nachos and it is also a great idea to sneak in some interesting veggies and sauces for the little ones. Also, in this recipe, I use fresh set curd instead of the traditional sour cream. I think it pretty much tastes the same and curd is easily available in Indian households.

At home, we usually make it for game parties and weekend breakfasts. I use both canned beans and home-cooked beans for this recipe. Both tastes great. This is a very simple recipe and can be made in big batches for parties. I keep reiterating how simple it is, because every time I made this, it has never missed to impress my guests. After having made it a million time, I feel it is such a waste to pay so much money for this humble dish at cinemas and theme parks. Did I sound like the calculative wifey material, lol!

A humble combination of crispy nachos, beans and sour cream!

Ingredients

• Nachos – 1 pack

• Onion - 1

• Tomato – 1

• Lemon juice – 1 tsp

• Salt – to taste

• Chilli powder – ½ tsp

• Fresh set curd – 1 cup

• Dried Black Beans – 1 cup

• Cheese, grated – 1 cup

Method

1. First, prepare all the elements required for the dish and have them in small bowls ready to be assembled.

2. Beans: Soak dried black beans overnight. Drain water. Transfer to a pressure cooker with 2 cups of water, salt and a tsp of chilli powder and cook until soft. It took 10 mins in my pressure cooker on medium-high heat.

3. Salsa: Finely chop onions, tomatoes and a few coriander leaves. In a bowl combine the chopped vegetables. Add a drizzle of lemon juice and salt to taste. Mash it slightly and mix well.

4. Creamy curd: Whip curd along with a pinch of salt.

5. Assemble: On a baking tray, arrange nachos chips leaving space between each of them. Top each chip with salsa, beans, curd and grated cheese. Bake for 3 mins or until cheese melts. Remove and serve.

*Notes

• I like to keep each chip separate so that it's easy to pick from the tray and pop in your mouth. You can all crush and add all ingredients in layers to scoop away using a fork and spoon.

• You can add seasonal vegetables to this dish as an extra layer: avocado mash, grated carrots, smoked and mashed aubergine or brinjal, stir-fried pumpkin etc.

• You must consume immediately after preparation. It will turn stogy otherwise.

• You can use canned beans instead of cooking dried beans. If it is a can of beans in tomato puree, I drain out the liquid to avoid excessive tanginess from the tomatoes.

• You can directly assemble and serve if not using an oven. Cheese still tastes better without heating.