Mexican inspired paneer lettuce wraps.

Ok, so let’s ‘taco bout’ food! Talk about food. Get it? We found this little gem while looking for Mexican food puns. We’re saving the ‘nacho cheese’ one for when we share a recipe for .. well, nachos. But until then, we’ve got another classic Mexican recipe for you today. Ok, not exactly classic - we’ve changed a couple of key ingredients. Ok, a few. Ok, nevermind - let’s just call this recipe ‘Mexican-inspired’, shall we?

But wait, before you run away, our ‘Mexican-inspired’ recipe isn’t just a click-baity, word-play - it's delicious, easy to put together with all the goodness of Mexican flavours. It’s also vegetarian and lower in calories when compared to the more traditional tacos. How’s that, you ask? Because we’ve simply replaced the classic tortilla wrap with lettuce, that’s bright, fresh and crunchy.

Anyway, I don’t know about you, but all of us here at Spyce, love Mexican food. It’s delicious, right? And it offers the same punchy, spicy, flavour bombs that all of us Indians love. 

Right, let’s jump straight into it. Our Mexican inspired wraps are made with a delicious filling of paneer (Indian cottage cheese), onions, peppers, topped with a reduced tomato salsa and sour cream, all served on healthy, crunchy lettuce leaves. They’re low on calories, super flavourful and very affordable to make. And what’s also really interesting, is that you can serve this in a variety of ways - lettuce wraps, as we’ve done today. Or a more traditional tortilla wrap. With a bowl of rice, like a burrito bowl. Or if you’re being indulgent, between two tortilla wraps with some amazing cheese and toasted to perfection - the options are endless. 

But it all starts with the filling. For this, you need paneer, onions, peppers, Spyce Tex-Mex seasoning and olive oil, all of which need to be mixed through until fully coated with the oil and seasoning. You could do this in one bowl and cook them together but we chose to do it separately, only because we wanted the paneer to be golden and crispy. But if you prefer one less bowl to wash up, go right ahead.

Once fully mixed, they get pan fried with no additional oil (we added it to the marinade, mind?) for a few minutes and you can set them aside while you crack on to the salsa.

For this, you need some classic tomato sauce ingredients. Garlic, onions, tomatoes. Easy, right? Start by pan frying garlic in olive oil for a couple of minutes, before adding the onions and cook them until soft and translucent. Then add the tomatoes and cook it until soft, tender and mushy. This should take about 5 minutes. At this stage, you can add the Spyce Tex-Mex seasoning and cook it for another 5 minutes, until the spices have cooked off and the moisture content has significantly reduced. You don’t want a runny sauce, like a spreadable pizza sauce, you want something thicker and more intense and concentrated in flavour. And in the last minute or so, throw in some chopped coriander and allow it to slightly wilt down. And that’s it - salsa ready. Set aside till you start constructing the wraps.

For the wraps, take a large head of lettuce and carefully peel 12 outer leaves. Give them a little wash and pat them dry with kitchen towels and spread them out flattened on plates or a large flat surface like a cutting board, to start assembling the fillings.

Btw, these are great when you’ve got guests over too. Leave all the individual ingredients on the table and let everyone get involved, making their own wraps how they like it. You could add other condiments like hot sauce, spring onions, cheese, guacamole, beans and so on. We’ve done this before and believe us when we tell you, it’s a lot of fun, especially if one goes in with too much of the hot sauce :) 

Right, time to construct! Start by generously spooning over all the individual ingredients over the lettuce wraps, with dollops of the tomato salsa and garnished with sour cream and coriander. Serve with a wedge of lime and dig in! 

We’d love it if you gave this recipe a try and if you do, don’t forget to follow and tag us on Instagram (ILoveSpyce) and subscribe to our newsletter where we share weekly recipes. And if you liked our spice blends, please check out our other blends from around the world - they’re delicious, if we may say so ourselves.

Please check out the recipe on our YouTube and download the recipe card for yourself and to share with loved ones who Mexican food like we do. And if you want to get your hands on the Spyce Tex-Mex spice blends, the listing is right here!

Tex-Mex | 130g

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Thanks for reading and remember, #saynotoboringfood!