Veg*n Cooking and Other Random Musings: Spicy Smashed Kidney Bean and Sweet Potato Burrito

Wednesday, January 23, 2008

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.

6 comments:

Lizzy said...

Aww that's so sweet of you to post this =D
Thanks a lot! And believe me I got so excited when I read this, because I bought silken tofu some time ago that expires in a week and I didn't know what to do with it(don't feel like baking at the moment) so this recipe comes just in time =) And lemon, yess ha ha finally I get to use the stuff I almost never buy because I rarely ever use them =D
I think I will try the black bean chili recipe you posted, perfect for topping it with the sour cream!!

Do you know how long I can keep it in the fridge? Because I'm probably going to have to eat it all by myself since my boyfriend is most likely not going to eat it if he knows it's made with tofu(yeah he's intolerant like that, sigh). Not that I would tell him, I love fooling with people, giving them vegan food while knowing exactly that they are the ones who never try it, but always slam vegan food down anyway.

Ohh btw, I felt really honoured(and a little proud, haha) to read that you saved the Lamb's lettucce recipe =)
But I just realized I forgot to add the 3/4 tsp. fig mustard I usually use. It's optional, but it fits very well.
About your question regarding the use of a different lettucce, I am not sure. Of course it would work, just make sure to pick a lettucce that you think fits the taste and consistence of a Mango =)
I'm rather surprised to hear that you've never seen Lamb's lettucce before. A lettucce that's only available in Europe? Now that would be odd =p

In Berlin they charge you around 50€ =/ So I was rather lucky!

Anonymous said...

mmmmmm...truly beautiful stuff. I love beans and sweet potatoes together.

J said...

Lizzy - Super cool about already having the silken tofu, this is the perfect remedy to your "what should I do with this stuff" quandary.

I have kept it in my fridge for as long as three weeks and it seemed fine, but I don't think you want to go beyond that. I think after it has been in the fridge for a week or so, it might be smart to do the "sniff test" before eating it, just to make sure, 'cause you just never know.

You'll have to tell me how your chili turns out!

That sucks about the boyfriend. I take it he is not vegan. I understand though, mine is an omni but he tries to be pretty cool about it. He's not afraid to tell me when something isn't very good, but he is always willing to try. Sometimes I just don't tell him what it is before he eats it, then if he likes it, he can't reject it because of something in there he isn't too sure about.

I bet that fig mustard would really round out that salad. Lamb's Lettuce may be available here in Missouri I've just never seen it. I can't wait for the Farmer's Market to start back up - I'll have to check there for it in the spring.

Megan - Thank you very much! I agree beans and sweet potatoes were made for each other.

ChocolateCoveredVegan said...

Mmmm blueberry pancakes sound good too... it's such a tough choice, maybe you should make one type on Saturday and another on Sunday hehehe. Then you can always ship the leftovers to me!

Lizzy said...

Good luck finding the lettucce =)
If you should ever try it with a different one make sure to let me know if it was good!

I am SO excited to make the chili =D
I asked my boyfriend if I was supposed to make him some, too. Surprisingly he said yes. I expected a no, because my ex used to hate beans and one time I made chili and the leftover plate was filled with neatly picked out beans.
And yes you are right. He's an omni. But sadly one that is convinced you will be malnourished as a vegan or even a vegetarian. It's so dumb. I gave up on him when he said "Yeah sorry, but I'm intolerant when it comes to that." because he's somebody who doesn't want to be lectured by someone. Ughhh, frustration!
Anyway, I'm rather excited about his reaction to the sour cream. If he wants it he's got no choice, because he's not gonna find any non-vegan stuff in my fridge! Muahaha, the evil comes out again =p

The sniff test, always a must ;)
I can't seem to tell by smell whether soy milk has gone bad or not though. Either it has never been bad when I suspected it to be or I've been drinking bad milk without realizing it. Anyway, I'm still alive =p

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