Mad Mex - Melbourne Central

Ah, La Cocina de México! Melbourne is currently experiencing a Mexican revolution, with heaps of South-of-the-Border eateries popping up all over town, and another two opening in the CBD in the next few weeks.

Mad Mex opened their first few stores in Sydney and are now franchising in Melbourne. I first visited their shopfront in Sydney about a year ago and was very impressed with the quality of ingredients, friendly staff and yummy flavours presented to me. I'm happy to tell you the Melbourne Central outpost has the same qualities - somehow the staff managed to get our orders out accurately, fast, and with smiles and jokes all around. Oh, and they're licensed to sell booze! I wish I was paying attention to this when we ordered - I could have gotten a frozen margarita or a Mexican beer.

For my dinner, I chose the Vegetariano burrito ($10.90 with eggplant, zucchini & mushrooms) minus the cheese and sour cream, plus three (yes three!) salsas and guacamole (free with a veggie burrito!).

The salsas I had on my burrito were the corn, the tomatillo, and the roasted tomato. They were all bursting will flavour, but the smoky, deep flavour of the roasted tomato sauce was the winner - it's like no sauce I have tried before at an Aussie Mexi food place. The tortilla was very authentic-tasting - I must say, even better than the tortilla at Trippy Taco! My bf's tacos were also quite authentic, with a double layer of tortilla (because the first one always breaks!). Gluten-free people will have no problem here either - you can get a "naked" burrito - basically an awesome burrito minus the flour tortilla.

I couldn't finish my overstuffed burrito but the serving of two tacos weren't enough for the bf so he ordered a side of nachos ($3 with roasted tomato salsa) for takeaway.

These were hot, fresh and went superbly with the roasted tomato salsa (yes, I somehow found room in my tummy for a few...) Even though we got the chips for takeaway, I wouldn't have minded eating in the food court at a table that looks over LaTrobe Street - this part of Melbourne Central seems to be the only sane place to sit and eat. And check out the Corona-bottle chandelier!

The only thing negative I can say about Mad Mex is that the guacamole was maybe a little bit old and had that slight warm-avo taste. Normally I would say $10.90 was too much for a burrito, but this burrito was so yummy that it was most certainly worth it. Honestly, I would love to see a place like Mad Mex put a horrible place like Taco Bill out of business. The people of Melbourne are finally able to find some near-authentic Mexican food, and it's maravilloso!

Easy Delicious Mexican Rice

This week limes and avocados are cheap so I have been making lots of guacamole and burritos. The first night of burritos we had charcoal tofu and refried beans on them, but it was a bit too much bean-action for the bf to handle, so the following night I mixed it up with dry-fried veg chicken (the nugget-style ones from your local asian grocery) and mexican rice. I found the rice recipe here and I must say, it turned out wonderfully. It looked and tasted quite similarly to rice I've had in burritos in the US. I used slightly different proportions so have posted my version of the recipe. Makes enough for about 6 burritos:


Ingredients:

• 1 cup of long grain white rice
• 2 cups of vegetable stock
• 1 tablespoon of olive oil
• 1 small brown onion, diced
• 2 cloves of garlic, minced
• just less than 1/4 cup tomato paste
• the juice of 1/2 a juicey lime
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh coriander
• 4 shakes of ground cumin
• salt and pepper to taste

In a small to medium-sized pot, add rice and vegetable stock. Bring to the boil over high heat. Stir and cover the pot. Lower the heat and simmer for another 17-20 minutes until just cooked. Remove from heat and keep the pot covered while you perform the second step.

Cook your onions in a small fry pan with the olive oil for about 5 minutes, until the onions are translucent. Add the garlic and stir for another minute or two. Add the tomato paste and cumin and stir again. Now mix in the lime juice, coriander and, finally, the rice.

Stir until the tomato paste mixture is fully combined with the rice. Taste, and add more cumin, lime juice, salt and pepper to your liking. (My stock was salty enough that I didn't need to add more salt.) Cook for 5 more minutes, stirring every minute or so. Serve next to your other sides for an awesome DIY burritoathon!

Other suggestions for burrito fillings:

grilled corn, cut off the cob with a knife
charcoal bbq tofu chunks
dry-fried "chicken" sprinkled with ground spices of cumin, coriander and chilli
cos lettuce, chopped
tomato, diced
jalapenos, thinly sliced
black beans
refried beans
guacamole
red onion
coriander leaves
vegan sour cream
vegan cheese
HOT SAUCE!!!

Another burritorrific tip:

Instead of leaving leftover ingredients in the fridge to go bad, chuck them into some lettuce as a salad and make a dressing out of warmed refried beans, olive oil, sour cream and lime juice!

My beautiful burrito: