Celiacs and the City

This is something I used to make a lot of when I was in the United States, and lo and behold, it turned out to be naturally gluten-free! There are a ton of fast-food burrito joints all over the US, and they are typically considered healthier alternatives to your regular fastfood.

A burrito bowl is basically a burrito without the wrap. Easier to eat (no wobbly wet wraps) and easier to eat more of the good stuff.

Ingredients

• Rice
• Beans (kidney, red, or lentils)
• Avocado
• Lime juice
• Coarse, raw salt (e.g. Himalayan or Celtic)
• Olive oil
• Tomatoes
• Capsicums
• Onions
• Meat (if you prefer)

The base is always rice, cooked in a rice cooker with tomatoes or other veggies if you prefer.

Make a side of beans—kidney, red, or lentils work well. Just boil the beans, adding a little salt and pepper to taste.

Then, the guacamole (my favorite part). Remove the skin and seed from an avocado. Add the juice of half a lemon or lime. Add a pinch of any raw, course salt (Celtic or Himalaya Rock are the ones we use at home—stay far away from table salt. It’s so bad for you.). Add some chopped cilantro (hard to get in KL, so you could substitute with coriander) and some small tomato cubes (say 4-5 grape tomoatoes or half a large one). A generous amount of olive oil goes into the mix as well (say 15-20 ml to start, I usually double that). Mix, making sure to mash the avocado well.

Finally, pepper stir fry. Cut up some capsicums in various colors in long, thin strips. Chop up a little onion. Stir fry with olive oil, salt and pepper. And voila! You’re done!

Add some chilli sauce if it’s too bland. You can stir fry and add some meat (beef, chicken or pork is usually used) cooked with spices (chilli, peppers, paprika powder) if you’d like to go non-vegetarian as well.

Alternative preparation

Ingredients

• Tomatoes–the more, the thicker the soup
• Parmesan cheese
• Olive oil

Make the guacamole as above and put on gluten-free bread, Cook down a bunch of tomatoes on your stove top—say 8-10 for two people. Just place tomatoes in a covered dish on low heat. Add a little water if tomatoes are hard and don’t cook down easily. When in a watery pulpy mess, transfer to blender. Add 3 table spoons of olive oil and a cup of parmesan cheese. Blend. Delicious.

Peace,

Daisy