NAKED MEXICAN

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How good is Mexican food? Seriously. I can't get enough of that combination of avocado, lime, red onion, chicken and cheese. It's pretty amazing really. So inspired by the idea of eating the BEST burrito ever but without the burrito wrap bit, I decided to make the most awesome mexican salad ever.

Seriously, I doubt you could fit more salad veggies in this if you tried. This is what you'd call a layered salad - it all goes together in lovely little nacho-like layers but then by the time you take a mouthful of it I reckon you'll be tearing into it like a crazy donkey.

Naked Burrito Salad
Serves 6 - or make one big one for a party
Ingredients:

• 1/2 iceberg lettuce, shredded
• 1/2 red cabbage, shredded
• 2 large tomatoes 
• 1 can of red kidney beans, drained and rinsed
• 1/2 can of corn kernels, drained and rinsed
• 1 red capsicum sliced thinly 
• 1 small red chilli, de-seeded and sliced thinly
• 1 medium green chilli, de-sedded and sliced thinly
• 1/2 red onion, finely  diced
• 1 slightly firm avocado cubed
• 500g chicken breast, cubed
• Burrito packet seasoning (cheat!) or use a bit of smoked paprika, some salt, some pepper and mexican seasoning and do it yourself.
• 2 strips of bacon (optional)
• 1 lime cut into eighths
• 1 small handful of mexican jack or asadero cheese
• 1 small bunch of corriander

For the dressing:

• A good drizzle of olive oil
• 1 big tbsp of honey
• 1 tsp of chopped chilli
• A squeeze of lime juice
• Pulp from the centre of the tomatoes used in the salad
• Salt

The Method

In a frying pan, heat oil and add chicken and burrito packet seasoning (or the one you made yourself) and cook until browned - in fact if you get a bit of black on your chicken even better, crispy is good. In the same frying pan cook your bacon until its nice and crispy. Put on a paper towel to drain. Once it's cooled down break up the bacon into tiny flecks to put through your salad later.

Now comes 30 minutes of chopping, shredding and peeling. Shred your lettuce, red cabbage and put in a bowl. Slice the capsicum and chilli, wash and set aside. Cut your tomatoes into small squares and discard the center pulpy bits of the tomato. Drain corn and beans and set aside. Peel and cube your avocado, squeeze a bit of lime juice on it so it doesn't brown before it gets its chance to join your salad.

In a bowl add all the ingredients of your dressing including tomato pulp and stir vigorously.

In individual bowls (or one big bowl) start layering your salad. Add iceberg lettuce first, then red cabbage on top, then kidney beans, then corn, then tomatoes, then capsicum, then avocado. In the centre create a small indent and add a handful of shredded cheese and some of the real bacon bits. Add a generous scoop of chicken and then drizzle your dressing over the layers. Top with a bit of coriander and a lime wedge or two.

A word of warning, it'll look pretty now but to get the dressing through you'll have to mix it up when you're eating it. I hope you enjoy a bit of mexico in your bowl - I sure did.