Deconstructed Nachos

From a dinner party appetiser, movie night snack or a sports game highlight, nachos are always a winner.


These messy, crunchy, gooey bites of delightfulness are notoriously delicious especially when they come with lashings of fixings to complement a beautiful range of authentic flavours.

Hailing from Mexico, the nacho has travelled the world creating a name for itself as the perfect sharable finger food.

As you may already be aware, the inexpensive and convenient commercially made nachos and their condiments have an unwanted dark side, often disguising an assortment of allergy-ridden ingredients, additives, excess sodium and unwanted inflammatory fats not to mention the radio-active looking orange cheese and cardboardy taste.

Today I’m officially deconstructing a nacho recipe as part of my mission to make ugly beautiful but still honour it’s colourful heritage.

I hope you’ll enjoy my healthy version of nachos, because let’s face it, everyone deserves to indulge in a thin and crispy nacho chip, creamy guacamole, fresh ripened tomatoes and cukes and cumin and paprika spiked mince.

Holding a magnificent amount of nutrients in each luscious component, the days of limp and bland nachos are long gone. With quality protein from the meat, essential good fats from the guacamole and fibre dense cucumber my colourful nacho dish is more balanced and nourishing than ever before.

A good simple recipe to impress any crowd, give it a go and let me know what you think in the comments section below. 


Serves 5-6

Mexican Mince 

Ingredients

• 1 tablespoon olive oil


• 1 red onion, finely chopped


• 2 garlic cloves, crushed


• 750g  beef mince


• 1 teaspoon chili powder


• 2 teaspoons ground coriander

• 1 teaspoon cumin

• 2 teaspoons dried oregano


• ½ tsp paprika
• 1 jar tomato passata
 

Method

• Heat oil in a frying pan over medium-high heat.
• Add onion and garlic and cook until translucent about 3 minutes.
• Place mince into pan and break up clumps and cook, stirring, with a wooden spoon, for 8 minutes or until browned.
• Add remaining ingredients and stir to combine.
• Season with salt and pepper.
• Reduce heat to medium.
• Simmer, stirring, for 25 minutes or until sauce has thickened slightly.
• Transfer to a serving dish.

Guacamole

Ingredients

• 1 avocado, peeled and stone removed
• 1 heaped teaspoon cumin powder
• juice of 1 large lime
• 1 teaspoon lime zest
• 1 garlic clove
• big pinch of Celtic sea salt
• 1 tablespoon cold-pressed extra virgin olive oil

Method

• Blend all the ingredients except the olive oil in a food processor until smooth.
• With the motor still running, add the olive oil very slowly in a thin stream until the desired creaminess is reached.

Tomatoes and cucumber with coriander,

Ingredients

4 tomatoes, diced

• 1 large cucumber, diced
• handful coriander chopped

Method

Place into a bowl to serve

Nachos chips

Ingredients

• 150 gms 1 1/2 cup) almond meal
• 2 organic eggs
• 1 teaspoon turmeric
• 1/4 teaspoon cumin
• 1/4 teaspoon coriander
• 1 teaspoon grated orange zest
• 1 teaspoon Celtic sea salt

Method

• To make the chips, preheat the oven to 180°C  (350°F/Gas 4).
• Place all the chip ingredients in a large bowl and mix with a wooden spoon to form a dough.
• Place the dough on a clean work surface between two pieces of baking paper. Roll the dough out until it is 2 mm (1/16 inch) thick.
• Remove the top piece of baking paper and transfer the dough and bottom piece of baking paper to a baking tray. Using a sharp knife, deeply score the dough every 3 cm (11/4 inch), then do the same in the opposite direction  so you form squares.
• Bake in the oven for 12 minutes.
• Allow to cool before breaking them apart.
• To assemble the nachos, place the nachos chips on a chopping board, and top with the remaining ingredients.
• Any leftover chips will keep in an airtight container for up to 3 days.

Serve with Cashew Cream or sour cream

Cashew Sour Cream

Makes 1 cup

Ingredients

• 155 g (51/2 oz/1 cup) raw, unsalted cashews
• 2 teaspoons apple cider vinegar
• 2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice, plus 1 teaspoon extra
• 1 1/2 teaspoons nutritional yeast flakes
• 1/4 teaspoon Celtic sea salt

 Method

• Soak the cashews for 2 hours in filtered water. Rinse and drain.
• Place all the ingredients in a food processor with 125 ml (4 fl oz/1/2 cup) of filtered water and blend until smooth.
• You may need to add a little more filtered water to reach your desired consistency.
• This will keep for 2–3 days in an airtight container in the fridge.