Veg*n Cooking and Other Random Musings: Black Bean, Brown Rice, and Red Chile-Sweet Potato Burritos

Tuesday, November 4, 2008

Black Bean, Brown Rice, and Red Chile-Sweet Potato Burritos

Happy Election Day! I hope all our readers from the US go out and cast their votes today!

I thought some of the readers of this blog might be starting to wonder where all the Mexican food was. Don't worry, we've been having plenty of it, we've just been having some of our "tried and true" meals lately while some of the yummies of the growing season are still around. I have all sorts of ideas on how to "Mexicanize" a lot of the local food we put up for winter - I'm pretty excited about that.

This meal was really good, albeit, with the sauce, it is a little involved, so this probably isn't a weeknight meal (unless the sauce is already made, then this would be a 45 minutes or less meal). The sauce that I used for the potatoes, Chile Colorado, is often also used as an enchilada sauce. I really like the way the semi-spiciness of the sauce complemented the sweet potatoes, and they managed to get a nice glaze too.

The sauce isn't really all that spicy, at least not to me. New Mexican Chiles are very mild, so if you don't like things spicy, omit the cayennes and just use the New Mexican Chiles. The pepper and onion studded beans, some plain brown rice, and Chile Colorado smothered roasted sweet potatoes came together to make one of those meals where there isn't a whole lot of talkin' just a lot of shoveling food into one's face. Not a pretty sight I'm sure, but it lets you know that we really liked this.

The local booty legend:
no asterisk = grocery store
+ = The Root Cellar
* = farmer's market
** = CSA
*** = Container or Community Garden
**** = the non-profit buying club, Blue Planet or Purcell Mountain Farms















Chile Colorado
Makes about 3 cups.
Adapted from this recipe at Pepper Fool.

3 oz. dried New Mexican Chiles, washed, stems removed and seeds discarded (I saved them to plant next year, it is how I got the seeds for the plant we had this year)
3-5 dried long red cayenne peppers, washed, stems removed and seeds discarded ***
3 cups of boiling water
1 vidalia onion, cut in half *
2 cloves of garlic, peeled *
a few dashes of Mexican oregano
a few dashes of cumin
a pinch of salt

Combine all the ingredients in a sauce pan and simmer on low for about an hour. Make sure to add water if needed throughout the process to keep the chiles covered.

Remove from heat and let cool.

Puree in a food processor until well blended.

Some people will then strain the sauce for a smooth sauce, but we don't mind a little chunkiness so we just ate it as is.

Black Bean, Rice, and Red Chile-Sweet Potato Burritos
2 cups of black beans, cooked ****
1/2 cup long grain brown rice, cooked ****
2 jalapenos, seeded and minced *
1 red bell pepper, seeded and minced *
2 cloves of garlic, minced *
1 small yellow onion, minced **
cumin
ground coriander
black pepper
salt

Heat a few tablespoons of water in a small skillet. Add the mushrooms, peppers, garlic and onion. Cook for 10-15 minutes or until veggies soft. Drain any excess water.

Combine all ingredients in a bowl and season to taste.

Red Chile Potatoes:
safflower (or other) oil in a mister
1 large sweet potato, peeled and cubed *
1 cup Chile Colorado * and ***

Preheat oven to 425.

Spray a baking dish with oil.

Combine all ingredients, cover with foil, and roast for 30-35 minutes or until potatoes soft.

Layer potatoes, beans, and rice in warmed tortillas. Fry if desired.

Oh my Mexican yumminess - so, so good. Thankfully, I have 2 cups of Chile Colorado frozen now, so we'll be able to enjoy this over winter as well. Wahoo.

'Til next time!

12 comments:

Lisa (Show Me Vegan) said...

i love the colors in this dish! And I should try Mexican oregano sometime; I only have the regular type in my pantry.

jessy said...

that's a nice glaze, indeed! and what a perfect combination of awesomeness, fo 'sho! mmmmmmmmmmm! the Chile Colorado sauce sounds gloroius, we're totally going to have to make some soon - ooooo, yay!

thanks for another rock'n mexican themed recipe, Jennifer! damn, it's all sooooo good!

oh, and i'm going to vote on my lunch break today (as the lines won't be as long as they are in the morning)! i can't wait! yippppeeeeeeeeee!

LizNoVeggieGirl said...

I totally ate something SUPER similar to that, yesterday - you rock :0)

hmd said...

You're food always looks so good!

T said...

Fingers crossed! If I COULD cook, I would cook this! (I even bought some sweet potatoes for it... oh well, tomorrow!)! :)

hmd said...

T - I consider myself a sucky-y cook too, but I still surprise myself at what I can pull off. Good luck with your meal. I'm sure it will great!

J said...

Lisa - Thank you. Mexican oregano has a slightly different flavor and adds a good depth to a lot of Mexican food - you should try it out!

Jessy - Thank you! I hope you guys enjoy the Chile Colorado as much as we did. And be creative, use it as a marinade, an enchilada sauce - it can be used for all sorts of things.

Wahoo for voting on your lunch break! I took election day off - Brett and I headed to the polls (with no snafu's). Then we went downtown to have lunch and run a few errands. The atmosphere downtown was amazing. Kids on the street corners with their Barack Obama signs, folks out making sure anyone who wanted to had a ride to vote. It was an historic event in our history. We are lucky to have witnessed it.

Veggie Girl - Too cool! Aw, thanks!

Heather - Thank you!

T - Haha, nerves were too much for me last night too. I could barely eat, and I was getting so frustrated with the differences between the electoral counts on all the stations. Luckily, it turned out how I hoped it would. Missouri now even has a democratic governor and a renewable energy standard!

Bianca said...

This is one of my favorite food combos, and since I have a HUGE box of sweet potatoes to eat, I'll likely be making these soon.

I love the word Mexicanize!

miss v said...

the colours are amazing... and i can imagine it tastes just as good as it looks!

DP Nguyen said...

This dish does have some great colors, and it sounds so delish!

Alicia said...

I'm glad to see your Mexican inner core is still there ;-). They look great!

J said...

Bianca - I don't think I could ever get sick of the black bean/sweet potato combination. It is amazing! I hope you like this if you try it!

Haha, who says you can't make up words?

Miss V - Thank you - I like it when dishes are accidentally colorful. It was really damn tasty - and spicy too - yum!

DP - Thank you - it was!

Alice - Oh don't worry, it hasn't gone anywhere at all. I just can't justify blogging about things I've already blogged about before - which is a lot of what we have been eating.