Taco salad

Please excuse my English! If something doesn’t make sense, please let me know. All the units are approximate, since I always make this from left overs.

“Taco meat” is minced beef/hamburger meat, fried and seasoned with either store bought taco seasoning or with garlic powder, cumin, dried coriander, paprika, salt, pepper and cayenne pepper. “Chili beans” are red kidney beans in some sort of spicy sauce in a can. I usually drain them a bit before use, since the salsa brings enough heat for my palate.

The salsa is also storebought but could easily be home made by blending diced tomatoes from a can, half an onion, some dried red chili flakes, a clove of garlic, a squeeze of a lemon, a pinch of sugar and some salt in a Mix Master/Kitchen aid.

The preparations are pretty straight forward. Wash the veggies, chop them up into pieces, and layer the salad in this order: strips of iceberg salad (a nice mound), diced tomatoes, red bell pepper and english cucumber, chili beans, blobs of salsa and sour cream dispersed all over, taco meat, grated Jarlsberg cheese, taco chips that you’ve crumbled to pieces and chopped black olives.

I always try to get a fork filled with all the flavours in each bite. It’s fresh, savoury, crunchy, creamy and spicy, all at the same time! It’s a napkin killer but I mostly manage to eat it without spilling half of it on my shirt.