I was looking for something easy and tasty to make for dinner last night. I figured I'd end up making some sort of legume curry. I stumbled across this TexMex-looking recipe in the "contemporary curries" section though and figured I'd give it a go.

I had to make a few substitutions, but managed to stick mostly to the recipe. I used whole wheat flour torillas instead of corn ones. And I baked one large stack in a pie plate rather than doing several smaller ones on a baking dish. I also ended up using crumbled tofu in place of the ground turkey. I cooked it with a bit of stock, soy sauce, and ghee to give it a flavour boost. And I had to use a mix of guajillo and California chilies since I didn't have enough guajillos on hand. And, of course, I halved the salt as usual. Everything else stayed the same.

The recipe didn't call for garlic, but I would be inclined to add some next time. TF also felt like the sauce could've used a little boost. It had a nice gentle heat and beautiful colour with some good smoky flavour, but I don't think it was as well-rounded as she'd hoped. I'm wondering if adding just a touch of amchoor or apple cider vinegar would help with that.

Indian Spiced Taco Pie

Adapted from 660 Curries by Raghavan Iyer

Ingredients

Sauce

• 12 dried guajillo chilies, stems removed
• 3 c. boiling water
• 2 tsp. dabeli masala
• 3/4 tsp. coarse sea salt
• 1/4 tsp. amchoor or 1 tsp. apple cider vinegar (optional)

Filling

• 2 Tbsp. canola oil
• 1 onion, chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 450g thawed frozen tofu, pressed and crumbled
• 1/4 c. stock (chicken, beef, vegetable, or mushroom)
• 1/2 tsp. light soy sauce
• 1 Tbsp. ghee
• 2 c. cooked black beans
• 2 tsp. dabeli masala
• salt, to taste¹
• 1-2 fresh or frozen green Thai chilies, chopped

Assembly

• 3 large (25-30cm/10-12") tortillas
• shredded cheese
• 1/4 c. chopped fresh cilantro
• 1 scallion/green onion, chopped (optional)

Directions

Sauce

1. Place dried chilies in a bowl with the boiling water. Use a pot or similar to weigh the chilies down so they stay submerged. Set aside for 20 minutes.
2. Reserving the soaking liquid, remove the chilies from the water and place them in a blender.
3. Pour 1/2 c. of the soaking liquid into the blender and purée.
4. Place a fine mesh seive over a pot and pour the puréed mixture into the seive. Stir and mash it around to force as much through the seive as possible.
5. Swish out the blender with the remaining soaking liquid and pour this through the seive as well, ~1/2 c. at a time. Being sure to stir as mash to continue working material through the seive.
6. Once all the liquids have gone through the seive, discard the pulp and bring the sauce in the pot to a boil.
7. Stir in dabeli masala, salt, and amchoor/vinegar (if using).
8. Remove from heat and set aside.

Filling

1. Heat oil over medium heat.
2. Add onion, garlic, tofu, stock, and soy sauce and cook for ~10 minutes.
3. Add ghee to pan and cook for another 5-10 minutes.
4. Add the beans, dabeli masala, salt, and chilies and cook for another 5 minutes.
5. Remove from heat and set aside.

Assembly

1. Preheat oven to 180°C (350°F).
2. Grease a 23cm (9") deep dish pie plate.
3. Place a tortilla in the bottom of the pie plate.
4. Scoop some of the filling onto the tortilla and spread it into an even layer.
5. Top with cilantro and cheese.
6. Place a second tortilla on top and repeat the layers of filling, cilantro, and cheese. (You will have some filling left over.)
7. Place a final tortilla on top of the pie. (Trim the edges to make it slightly smaller than the inner diameter of the pie plate if necessary.)
8. Ladel ~1 1/2 c. of sauce over the pie and top with a bit more cheese.
9. Bake at 180°C (350°F) for 10 minutes.
10. Sprinkle with cilantro and green onion (if using).
11. Serve with rice and/or salad.
12. If desired, make a second pie with the leftover filling and some more tortillas and cheese.

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¹ Iyer's version of the recipe uses turkey rather than tofu and doesn't call for the stock or soy sauce. He calls for 1 tsp. of coarse sea salt. I swapped in tofu, but used homemade stock with very little salt, so I opted to add 1/2 tsp. of salt to my filling. If you're using commercial stock, you may wish to reduce the salt further. ^Back