Spicy Smashed Kidney Bean and Sweet Potato Burrito

When approaching dinner last night, I went for something more tried and true. What follows is yet another recipe I’ve modified from over at VegWeb. They have great recipes there, and I love to use them as templates to create things to mine and Brett’s tastes. I’m sure many of you vegan foodies out there do this as well, pretty much the only recipes I follow are ones from cookbooks, and even then, I don’t always follow the directions completely. I guess that is my inner rebel showing itself.

So dinner was a Spicy Smashed Kidney Bean and Sweet Potato Burrito. I remember when I first came across the original recipe, I wasn’t sure about it, but thought I would be brave and try it. The reason is, before I went veg, I wasn’t a huge fan of sweet potatoes (I had only had the candied yam variety), nor was I particularly interested in mixing sweet and spicy flavors. That has all changed now, thankfully, I am much more willing to try unusual flavor combinations, as well as foods that I’ve had in the past (most of the time only once) and decided that I didn’t like.

You know, I was talking with Brett about this the other day, and I was curious if anyone else out there had had this experience. It seems that, since going veg, I actually eat a much wider variety of food now than I ever did when I ate meat. There are whole cuisines, flavors, textures, that I missed living on the traditional “giant hunk of dead animal accented by veggies and other non-descript foods” diet. Sometimes I almost want to laugh when people say “If you are a vegetarian, then what do you eat”, I’d like to respond with “Pretty much everything you’re not”.

Moving on to the real goods, the recipes and the picture. I top this, as I do many of my recipes, with homemade tofu sour cream. I got this recipe from over at Primary Consumer’s old blog, it is so simple to prepare and so delicious, I am thankful for her posting the recipe for others to enjoy. She is so nice, that she gave me permission to post her tofu sour cream recipe on my blog. So Lizzy, yes, the tofu sour cream recipe is simple, and here she be, go try it now, your food will thank you for it!















Primary Consumer’s Tofu Sour Cream (with some of our 'edits')
10 oz. soft silken tofu, drained
2 tbsp vegetable oil
1 tsp. brown rice syrup
juice of 1 lemon
1/2 tsp. salt, or to taste

Blend all ingredients until very smooth, in blender or food processor.

Simple and delicious!

Spicy Smashed Kidney Bean and Sweet Potato Burritos
1 large sweet potato or yam, cooked and mashed (see note below)
2 cups cooked kidney beans
2-3 cloves garlic, minced
1-2 jalapenos, diced
onion, diced
1-2 tbsp. stone ground brown mustard
2-3 tbsp. shoyu (Japanese soy sauce, other soy sauce would work too)
chili powder
cumin
cayenne pepper (optional)
salt
water (enough to sauté veggies, and cover the beans)

flour tortillas
avocado, diced
tofu sour cream
salsa

Now many of you out there may already know how to cook a sweet potato, I did not when I found this recipe, so I am providing directions to the “Jennifer’s” of the world, who want to cook, but need a little extra assistance at times, ‘cause they are new to the whole thing.

Preheat oven to 425.

Wash sweet potato and pierce a couple of times with a fork.

Put potato on a foil or parchment paper covered baking sheet (it will stain your pan if you don’t line it).

Cook potato for about an hour or so, or until potato is leaking juices and you can easily pierce it with knife.

Remove from oven, let cool for a few minutes. Cut potato in half, remove insides from skin and mash with a fork.

In a medium sized pan, sauté onion and jalapeno in water or a bit of oil until they begin to get soft. Add the garlic and cook for a few more minutes.

Add the beans and just enough water to cover the beans about halfway. Add cumin, chili powder, cayenne, salt, mustard, and shoyu.

Simmer until about half of the water has evaporated, stirring often. Put mixture in glass bowl and lightly mash with a fork or potato masher, leaving some of the beans whole.

Layer desired amount of mashed sweet potatoes and bean mixture to a warmed tortilla. Add tofu sour cream and avocado, and roll ‘er up. If you like, top the burrito with your favorite salsa.