Mexican Eggs

This delicious dish is perfect for brunch, lunch or later in the day. Incorporating the black beans makes it a more substantial meal.

The veggies can be swapped and switched around to suit what you have available. Kale and spinach are highly nutritious; kale offers more than twice the amount of vitamin C as spinach, and spinach provides more folate and vitamins A and K.

Ingredients

Handful spinach leaves or 3 kale leaves

1 medium onion (or 6 spring onions or a small leek)

2 peppers (e.g.1 x red & 1 x green)

1 chilli or ½ x 5ml spoon chilli flakes (optional)

1 courgette

1 garlic clove

2 x 5ml spoon smoked paprika (optional)

1 x 5ml spoon cumin

500ml tomato passata (or a 400g can chopped tomatoes)

1 x15ml spoon olive oil

8 eggs

freshly ground black pepper

400g can black beans (optional)

To serve

handful fresh coriander leaves (optional)

4 soft corn or flour tortillas, warmed in the oven

Hot chilli sauce (optional)

Equipment

Chopping board

Sharp knife

Medium bowl

Cutlery fork

Garlic press (optional)

Sieve

Large frying pan with lid

Fish slice

Colander

Measuring spoons

Mug or cup

Scissors

Instructions

1. On a chopping board finely chop the spinach/kale, peppers and courgette, set aside in a bowl.
2. Peel and chop finely the onion (spring onions or leek), garlic and chilli. Use the fork secure method to avoid getting chilli on your fingers.
3. Heat the oil in a frying pan over a medium heat and add the onions, peppers and courgette. Saute gently until the veg is softened and the onion translucent. Add the garlic, chilli and spinach (together with the cumin and smoked paprika if using) and cook for 2/3 minutes.
4. Open the can of black beans and drain them into a sieve. Rinse under cold water and add to the vegetables in the frying pan.
5. Add the passata to the other ingredients and mix well with a fish slice. Season with black pepper.
6. Adjust the heat and simmer the sauce for a few minutes. Remove half the sauce and set aside. Make 4 wells in the remaining sauce then break an egg into each space.
7. Put the lid on the pan and cook for 3-4 minutes. The dish is ready when the eggs are cooked and the whites are firm.
8. Slide the eggs and sauce onto a plate and keep warm. Repeat step 6 with the remaining sauce and the second batch of eggs.
9. While the eggs are cooking chop the coriander in a mug using a pair of scissors. Set aside until you are ready to serve.
10. Sprinkle each plate of Mexican eggs with chopped coriander leaves and serve with warm tortillas and chilli sauce (optional).

Skills used include: Peeling, chopping, measuring, mixing/combining.

Top Tips

• To remove the kale leaf from its stalk, hold the bottom of the stalk in one hand and with your thumb and forefinger at the base of the leaf draw upwards to detach the leaf from the stalk. Place 2 or 3 destalked leaves on top of each other and roll them tightly from the top to the bottom then use scissors or a vegetable knife to slice the cylinder of leaves into very thin strips.

Something to try next time

• For a vegan friendly version make scrambled tofu ‘eggs’ to serve with the sauce. In a separate pan saute finely chopped onions and garlic with crumbled tofu and a squeeze of lemon juice. Saute until the tofu is cooked through. On your serving plate top the tomato sauce with the scrambled tofu and garnish with chopped coriander.
• You could also add some sliced avocado if you have some to hand.
• For meat eaters chopped chorizo makes a great addition. Add 100g chopped chorizo or bacon at step 3.

Prepare now, eat later

• Make the sauce up to step 5. Allow the sauce to cool then refrigerate in a covered container until needed. Use within 24 hours.
• This sauce also freezes well.