Chipotle Veggie bowl is one of the first restaurants meals I tasted in the USA. For those who are new to this, Chipotle Mexican Grill is a chain of restaurants located in United States serving Mexican food like burritos, Tacos and bowl. This Veggie bowl is a healthy meal, consisting of rice, beans and salad, and this is what attracted me to this dish.
I fondly call it Mexican Biryani, why?? The basic concept of Biryani is it's a one dish meal cooked with alternate layers of rice and curry (gravy), topped with garnishing of dry fruits and onions. This veggie bowl has a similar concept of layers but each layer is unique.
This dish fits well with casual parties as it has all the required dishes - rice, curry, salads, sides like sour cream, guacamole , add some tortilla or chapati's and you are all set. Your guest can do any permutation /combination to create the flavor they would like to eat.
There are couple of dishes that combine together to make this one dish meal which are...
Cilantro-Lime Rice:
1 cup of white rice - boil/steamed this & allow to cool.
Freshly chopped coriander
Juice of 1 lemon (or as per taste)
Salt to taste
Allow the rice to cool & then mix all the ingredients together, toss well. If you mix with warm rice chances of rice grains braking are more.
Black Beans:
Fajita Vegetables:
1 medium capsicum and 1 medium red onion cut in julienne
½ teaspoon oregano
1 tablespoon oil
Salt and pepper to taste
Heat a pan and add oil to it. Once oil is hot saute the sliced green bell peppers and red onion until bright and slightly crisp. Add salt and oregano, mix well.
Fresh Tomato Salsa:
1 tomato finely chopped
½ red onion finely chopped
½ jalapeno pepper deseeded and finely chopped
½ tablespoon lemon juice
Salt to taste
Corrainder finely chopped
Mix all ingredients together to get a refreshing tomato salsa
Corn Salsa:
1 cup boiled corn kernel
1 roasted poblano peppers finely chopped
½ jalapeno pepper deseeded and finely chopped
½ red onion finely chopped
Salt to taste
Coriander finely chopped
Mix all ingredients together to get a sweet & hot corn salsa.
Tip: Poblano pepper is a mild chilli pepper popular in Mexico. If you are unable to find it replace with regular green bell pepper, it would taste slightly different but still great.
Tomatillo-Red Chili Salsa :
2 tomatillos
1 jalapeno
⅛ onion
½ teaspoon chili flakes
Salt, pepper,
½ tablespoon lime juice
1 tablespoon tomato sauce
Coriander finely chopped
Blend all the ingredients together in a blender to get a smooth, spicy sauce
Tip: Tomatillo is staple in Mexican cuisine & a key ingredient for fresh cooked sauces. If you are unable to find it replace with green tomatoes,it would taste different but still great.
Guacamole:
you can refer to my earlier post on Guacamole-Avocado dip for the complete recipe
In addition to these we will need some Sour cream, lettuce and cheese (optional)
To make the bowl:
Now that we have all our dishes ready, its all about layering.
Start with a layer of rice followed by some black beans curry, Fajita vegetables, tomato salsa, corn salsa, red chilli salsa.
Top it with some sourcream, Guacamole, cheese and Lettuce!! That's it our Mexican biryani is ready, Enjoy!!
Happy Cooking!!
Shweta
Shweta Arora says
Hi Deepti, Thank you for giving this recipe a try, its our family fav. So glad you all liked it 🙂
du says
Hi Shweta,
i made this yesterday for dinner, it was delicious. We really loved it.
Thanks a lot. Deepti
Shweta Arora says
Thanks Neetu, truly glad that you and your daughter liked the recipe. Thanks for giving it a try. Hope you will try some more 🙂
Neetu Sudarshan says
Hey Shweta.. I tried your recipe and it came out well..even my 2 years daughter seemed to love it..thanks for the recipe...
Saurabh says
I made this with my mother. It was a fun project. Thanks for everything!
Santhi says
Thank you very much for the recipe. I love Chipotle Veggie bowl.