When making a meal, a lot of people don’t think much about side dishes. They tend to get cast aside or thrown together without much thought or love. I’ve been guilty of the same thing, especially when making fajitas or tacos. I never really think about side dishes that could complement the main focus of the meal.

However, I was made to re-evaluate my idea of Mexican side dishes when I made tacos for a friend the other day. He told me he’d like to have more vegetables in addition to the pork belly tacos I had already planned.

So, naturally, I did some research into Mexican side dishes. Unsurprisingly, there was a lot of corn crema salad on Pinterest, and very little else. But then I read about dishes that combined mushrooms, spinach and corn and realised that this was something I could make easily and would taste delicious.

My friend and I couldn’t finish the whole thing during our first meal, so we had it again the next night, but I added a couple of tomatoes and half a red pepper. It worked really well, so you can definitely mix up the veggies that you use in the dish.

To be honest, you don’t even need a Mexican meal to make this dish. You could have it with some rice or grilled chicken breast and it’ll do you wonders.

Ingredients

1 bag fresh spinach
150 grams button mushrooms, diced
1 chipotle chilli
1/2 red onion, diced
1/2 red pepper, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
150 grams canned sweetcorn, drained
grated cheese
salt
pepper

1. Place the chipotle chilli in a bowl of boiling water, fully submerged, for 20 minutes to re-hydrate it. Dice the chilli carefully.
2. Preheat the oven to 180°C.
3. In a large frying pan, wilt the spinach over a medium heat for 5 – 7 minutes. Once wilted, remove from the pan and squeeze as much moisture out as possible. Set aside.
4. In the same pan, cook the onions, mushrooms and garlic over a medium heat until mushrooms start to brown.
5. Add the chipotle chilli and red pepper. Season with salt to taste.
6. Sprinkle a handful of cheese into the pan, and add the corn. Stir well.
7. Pour the vegetables into a baking dish and cover with more grated cheese.
8. Bake for 10 minutes or until cheese has fully melted.
9. Serve hot.