burrito bowls

My brother bought me a burrito salad from Morrisons  a few years ago when we were doing some gardening and sorting out my Mum’s house after she died. It was delicious.  They are too expensive for me to buy and so I decided to replicate them and this is now one of our favourite meals to eat during the summer or on a sunny day.  It is made with barley which is 24% protein and so this can be a vegetarian meal if you do not want the chicken on the top.  Barley is still reasonable priced and so I am trying to add it to my food more often and experiment with other grains.  You can use brown rice for this recipe instead if you want.  It stretches a chicken breast for two people and you can basically add what you want to it, but this is what was in mine which I tried to make look like the bought one. Luckily I had everything in the fridge, freezer or growing in the garden.

Ingredients

200g of barley
1 chicken breast
Fajita seasoning
Tomato puree
Tomato sauce
Lazy chilli (or chilli sauce)
Smoked paprika
Defrosted sweetcorn .(handful)
2 or 3 spring onions sliced thinly
A quarter of a chilli diced small
I large tomato diced small
A couple of slices of capsicum pepper diced small red onion diced small
Small bunch of coriander, chopped small
1/2 small red onion
8 spinach leaves
A handful of cooked beans (I used pinto but black would be best)
Lime juice (optional)

Method

1. Put 200g of barley in a pan with a litre of cold water and the lid on. Bring to the boil and boil for 10 mins and then simmer for 45 to 50 mins.
2. Cut the chicken in to strips. Put some oil in a pan and cook the strips until no longer pink. Add the fajita seasoning and a splash of water and cook 4 or 5 more mins (I add about 5 tsp full). Set to one side to cool.
3. In a mug mix a big squeeze of tomato puree, big squeeze of tomato sauce, a squeeze of lazy chilli (or some chilli sauce), 2 tsp of smoked paprika and half a cup of warm water and stir together.
4. When the barley is cooked drain if necessary, but mine didn’t need draining.
5. Stir the sauce in the cup through the barley.  Add the sweet corn, chilli, pepper and the onion and mix. Put into the serving dishes.
6. Sprinkle the coriander on top and squeeze a bit of lime on if wanted. Arrange the chicken on top.

This is a really filling, tasty meal. It feeds two of us and there is enough for a packed lunch too. You could put defrosted frozen peas or beans in it, or any bits of cooked veg in if you wanted, and can make it as cheap or expensive as you desire