Taco Salad

There's this Mexican fast food place close to my house, called Costa Vida. Ankit and I went there once when I didn't feel like cooking. We picked up the taco salad there. We were quite disappointed because we felt it wasn't worth the price. The put very little rice and beans and filled it up mainly with just lettuce. So a few night ago, I decided to make my own homemade taco salad!

Here's my recipe:

Taco Shells --
I used these salad shells called Azteca from Walmart. They bake easily into nice crispy shells within 8-10 minutes and tastes pretty good.

Chipotle Beans (also from Walmart) --
I cooked the beans in 1 tbsp olive oil,
Then put salt and pepper (as per your taste),
1 tsp of paprika,
half a tsp of curry powder,
half a tsp of dried basil,
1 tsp of garlic powder,
half a tsp of oregano.
Takes like 3 minutes to do this.

Rice --
Take 2 tsp of olive oil,
Once the oil is hot, put 1 tsp of cumin seeds,
1 tsp of dried parsley and immediately put precooked rice.
Stir everything,
Put half a tsp of salt and
Half a tsp of paprika.
Stir well.

Patties --
Since my husband is vegetarian, I used two veggie patties (available at Walmart or Costco), heated it in a pan with a tsp of olive oil and mashed it. Put some taco seasoning, salt and pepper and it's done.
The usual way to do it would be to get hamburger patties and mash them. Or shredded chicken -- and you'd have to season it.

Salsa --
I used two roma tomatoes,
A little less than half an onion,
Less than half a bell pepper,
2-3 olives,
Everything chopped and mixed in 1 tbsp olive oil with salt and pepper (as per your taste).
Add a little bit of chili flakes and oregano,
Then add the juice of one lemon and mix everything.

Now Assembly:

1. In the baked taco shell, place pieces of lettuce, large enough to cover the base.
2. Then on the lettuce, put a layer of rice.
3. On the rice, put a small side layer of the beans.
4. Put the mashed patties on the other side of the beans.
5. On top of that, put a layer of salsa.
6. Over that, put a big scoop of guacamole and sour cream.
7. Add over that some shredded Mexican blend cheese, like chedder, monterey jack, asadero, etc.
8. Cover with small lettuce pieces and crushed tortilla chips (if you wish).

And you're done! Before digging into it, make sure you add some ranch over everything for more flavor :)
I think one shell is enough for one person. It's quite fulfilling.

Try it and let me know how it went!
Bon Appetite!
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