Mexican Casserole
Ingredients
- 1 medium bag corn chips (Fritos or similar; tortilla chips don't
- work as well)
- 1 16 oz can diced tomatoes
- 1 can chickpeas
- 1/4 cup sliced black olives
- 1 small can diced green chile
- 1 small yellow onion, chopped
- 2 or 3 cloves of garlic, minced fine
- 1/2 teaspoon cumin seed
- 4 cooked, crumbled vegetarian sausage patties (I use Morningstar Farms)
- 1/2 to 1 cup grated cheddar cheese
- Sour cream (optional)
Instructions
Serves 6 (at least). Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Lightly oil a 9x12 (approx.) glass baking dish. Put a layer of corn chips in the bottom of the glass dish. Drain chickpeas and combine with "sausage," onion, cumin, garlic, tomatoes, and green chile (a tablespoon or so for a milder flavor, two or three for more heat) and pour over chips. Cover with grated cheese and sprinkle black olives over the top. Place in oven for about 35 minutes, until casserole is hot and cheese is melted and bubbly. Serve with sour cream on the side, and a green salad. I've had considerable success serving this to both vegetarian and meat-eating friends, with no complaints about missing meat. I adapted it from a recipe using ground beef, but you could even leave out the "sausage" altogether if so inclined -- it's still quite substantial and filling. The corn chips should turn into a soft, tamale-like layer on the bottom. If you want to keep them a little more crunchy, drain the tomatoes and chiles *very* well before adding to the other ingredients.