Mexican Taco Pasta Salad

Mexican Pasta Salad makes a quick and easy dish in our dinner rotation. I have used penne pasta here but any other pasta shape should work pretty well. Make sure to use a great quality olive oil. This is the kind of recipe you can make any day with everything you already have in your pantry and fridge. Keep things fun by changing up the toppings each time based on what ingredients we have on hand.

September Shhhhh Cooking Secretly Challenge Theme

This month Shhhh secretly cooking challenge concept is Mexican cuisine suggested by Narmada, blogs at "Nams Corner".

Check out some her interesting recipes like

 Italian Frittata

Dark Chocolate Truffles

My Partner for the Mexican Cuisine

It was a lovely experience to work with these types of cuisines. This month I was paired with Poonam Bachhav who has a very beautiful and a lovely blog with step wise clear pictures for everyone to understand. She gave me two secret ingredients Salsa and Black bean.(I have made Mexican Pasta). I gave her Cumin and Tomato as secret ingredients, whereas she prepared Mexican One-Pot Quinoa.

Check out some of her wonderful recipes like

Coconut stuffed banana

Eggless Butterless choco muffins

Thank you once again Narmada and Poonam Bachhav for the lovely ingredients.

Prep  time	Cooking time	Serves
30  mins	20 mins	4 persons

Recipe Type: Main course

Course: Mexican

Ingredients Penne pasta – 2 cups Olive oil – 2 tbsp. Onions – 2 no’s Capsicum(deseeded) – 2 no’s Minced garlic -2 tbsp. American Sweet corn – ½ cup Onion tomato salsa – ½ cup Taco seasoning mix – 2 tbsp. Black beans – 1 cup Salt and pepper – to taste Grated cheese – optional (if needed)

Method

1. Cook the pasta in a large pot of boiling salted water until cooked, drain and set aside. 

2. Keep all the ingredients ready.

3. In a large skillet heat oil over medium heat, add in minced garlic for 2 minutes.

4. Now add onions, red or green bell pepper and sauté for about 3-4 minutes. 

5. Add in onion tomato salsa.

6. Season with taco seasoning mix, salt and black pepper to taste.

7. Stir in occasionally and now add the sweet corn and black beans. 

8. Add in some cooked pasta, stir until combined and heated through.

9. Top with grated cheddar cheese if desired. (Optional).

Notes

• If using fresh or frozen corn, simply steam/thaw first before adding to pasta.
• You can prefer avocado and cilantro for toppings which gives a lovely taste.