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Chickpea Spinach Corn Quesadillas

By Manali Singh

5 from 1 vote

Feb 25, 2015, Updated Jan 02, 2018

Vegetarian Chickpea Spinach Corn Quesadillas with Mexican Blend Cheese and served with creamy cucumber dip!

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So I have been posting all the dips and sauces for the last few days because I wanted to share this – chickpea spinach corn quesadillas with cilantro mint chutney and creamy cucumber dip! I have spoken about my love for Mexican food several times on the blog. I love it because it’s awesome and also because Mexican food introduced me to avocados. I had no idea what avocados were when I moved to US few years back and now it’s one of my favorite things to eat. Seriously I make avocado sandwich for breakfast all the time. Anyway this post isn’t about avocados but about these stunning vegetarian quesadillas.

If there’s one thing I don’t like while eating Mexican in restaurants is that they overfill the burritos and quesadillas so much. Okay, that maybe an Indian thing, we have small portion sizes there and nothing is ever over-stuffed. So yeah I’m not used to eating the huge cheesy stuff and that’s why I prefer making things at home just like these quesdillas.

They are fantastic as it is but then you serve them with this creamy cucumber dip and they become magical.

These quesadillas have chickpeas, corn and spinach in them. I crushed the chickpeas slightly so that it’s easy to stuff them in. And now for the ingredient which pretty much sealed the deal in this recipe – cajun seasoning! Now this seasoning is popular with fries and meat but trust me it went so well with the veggies too. To make the quesadillas I first covered the tortillas with my favorite coriander mint chutney and then filled them with veggies and cheese and toasted till the tortillas were nice golden and crunchy.

I used a Mexican cheese blend that we get at Trader Joe’s. It had cheddar, monterey jack, asadero and queso blanco and it tasted pretty great. You can use any cheese of your choice.

Few things that I would like to say about cooking quesadillas

# Use cheese generously because that it what holds the filling together.

# Quesadillas taste best when made fresh. I did make few ahead of time and by the time I wanted to eat them, they were soft. I like crispy quesadillas so I would suggest to make them fresh. You can prepare the filling in advance.

# There are 2 ways to fold these – a) take 1 tortilla, spread the filling and cheese all over and then cover with 2nd tortilla. b) take 1 tortilla, place filling on one side of the circle and then fold to form a half moon. I did the latter as I find filliping 2 tortillas together difficult than flipping one but you can do it in any which way you like.

# Don’t overfill them. As you can see mine were really thin, you could definitely fill more but don’t overfill else the filling will come out when you flip the tortillas.

These quesadillas were really good, it’s a shame that pictures don’t do justice to how good they were! Now only if I can figure out a way to shoot good pictures of wraps, sandwiches, quesadillas etc. Urghh!

Method

Place the spinach leaves in a wok with 1 tablespoon of water.

In 2-3 minutes, the leaves will be all wilted. Remove, wash under running water, chop and set aside. This is called blanching of the spinach leaves.

In the same pan, heat 2 teaspoons of oil and add the chopped onion. Saute for 1 minute.

Add chopped spinach leaves, chopped tomato, sweet corn and mix.

Now add the boiled chickpeas, salt, cajun seasoning and mix.

Crush the chickpeas slightly using the back of your spatula. You can crush some and leave the remaining as it is. Give a final mix and the filling for the quesadillas is now ready. Set aside.

I used a Mexican blend cheese from Trader Joe’s for these quesadillas. You can use any cheese of your choice.

Heat a flat skillet on medium heat. Smear some oil and place the tortilla over it. Cook for 20 seconds on each side.

Apply coriander mint chutney all over the tortilla. Place 2-3 tablespoons of filling on one side, you can fill more but do not overfill.
Sprinkle shredded cheese over the filling. Use a good amount of cheese as it helps in holding the filling inside the quesadillas.

Fold the tortilla in half, forming a semi-circle. Pour some oil on the side facing you and flip the tortilla. Cook till it’s nice and crisp from one side, now pour some oil over the second side and flip again to cook this side.

Quesadillas are done when tortillas is golden brown and crisp. Cut the tortilla into 2 using a sharp knife or pizza cutter.

Serve the quesadillas immediately with creamy cucumber dip and some chips and salsa on the side!

* You can use corn tortillas too but I would recommend flour tortillas for quesadillas.

Chickpea Spinach Corn Quesadillas

5 from 1 vote

By Manali Singh

Servings: 4

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Vegetarian Chickpea Spinach Corn Quesadillas with Mexican Blend Cheese and served with creamy cucumber dip!

Ingredients 

1x2x3x

• ▢ 1 bunch of spinach leaves [around 2.25 cups firmly packed spinach leaves]
• ▢ ½ cup sweet yellow corn
• ▢ 1 cup cooked chickpeas
• ▢ 1 to mato chopped
• ▢ 1 red onion medium, chopped
• ▢ ½ teaspoon cajun seasoning
• ▢ salt to taste
• ▢ 4 large flour tortillas
• ▢ 2 teaspoons oil more as required to toast the tortillas
• ▢ ⅔ cup mexican shredded cheese blend or any cheese of your choice
• ▢ coriander mint chutney as required

To serve

• ▢ creamy cucumber dip

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Instructions 

• Place the spinach leaves in a wok with 1 tablespoon of water.
• In 2-3 minutes, the leaves will be all wilted. Remove, wash under running water, chop and set aside. This is called blanching of the spinach leaves.
• In the same pan, heat 2 teaspoons of oil and add the chopped onion. Saute for 1 minute.
• Add chopped spinach leaves, chopped tomato, sweet corn and mix.
• Now add the boiled chickpeas, salt, cajun seasoning and mix.
• Crush the chickpeas slightly using the back of your spatula. You can crush some and leave the remaining as it is.
• Give a final mix and the filling for the quesadillas is now ready. Set aside.
• Heat a flat skillet on medium heat. Smear some oil and place the tortilla over it. Cook for 20 seconds on each side.
• Apply coriander mint chutney all over the tortilla. Place 2-3 tablespoons filling on one side, you can fill more but do not overfill.
• Sprinkle shredded cheese over the filling. Use a good amount of cheese as it helps in holding the filling inside the quesadillas. I used a Mexican blend of 4 cheese.
• Fold the tortilla in half, forming a semi-circle. Pour some oil on the side facing you and flip the tortilla. Cook till it's nice and crisp from one side, now pour some oil over the second side and flip again to cook this side.
• Quesadillas are done when tortillas is golden brown and crisp.
• Cut the tortilla into 2 using a sharp knife or pizza cutter.
• Serve immediately with the creamy cucumber dip.

Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.

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