Saturday, April 16, 2011

A little Saturday Tex-Mex: Black bean sweet potato enchiladas

Yes, those are two of my favorite nutrient dense foods encased in delicious salsa and tortillas that remind me of my Texas roots!

It has super nutrient rich sweet potatoes (which everyone knows I love from my previous blog entry all about sweet potatoes) and protein rich black beans and lots more veggies- tomatoes, onions, jalapeño, garlic and cilantro and whole wheat or corn tortillas (I would probably have used corn but the store I went to was out so I grabbed the whole wheat ones.) I also made a fresh picante salsa to use on the side to have a cold contrast to the warm enchiladas. Unless you want to add some cheese on top this recipe is vegan!

I found this recipe thanks to nomeatathlete.com who linked me to the recipe, which I of course changed a little from the original recipe here http://www.care2.com/greenliving/enchiladas-black-bean-sweet-potato.html. My sous-chef in this endeavor today was my sorority little sister Charlotte! We had as much fun cooking it as eating it, (although eating it took considerably less time than the cooking,) but we did not enjoy the 5-6 minutes it took us to open the jar of whole foods salsa that I used!

Enchilada Ingredients: (probably makes around 6-8 enchiladas depending on whether they are smaller corn or larger whole wheat tortillas, but I made three and saved the rest of the cooked ingredients for later)
- one can of black beans rinsed
- two medium sweet potatoes diced
- 2 tbs olive oil, salt and pepper as needed
- 1/4 cup white or yellow onion
- one garlic clove minced
- 1/2 jalapeño minced
- 1/2 - 1 cup non chunky salsa 
- 1 tsp chili powder (spiciness can be adjusted by leaving this or the jalapeño out or adding more)
- fresh cilantro for garnish


In a 400 degree F oven roast the diced sweet potato tossed with 1 tbs olive oil, salt and pepper for 15 to 20 minutes, shake the pan once while cooking so it gets evenly cooked.


In large saute pan or sauce pan heat olive oil then add onions, cooking till they are translucent (not brown), add garlic, rinsed and drained black beans, jalapeño pepper, and chili powder. Heat the beans through then keep at low heat till potatoes are done. When potatoes are done, turn the oven down to 350 degrees F.


Warm tortillas so they are more pliable for 10 seconds in the microwave or I just used them as a lid over the sauce pan and let the steam warm them. In a baking dish put a little bit of salsa on the bottom (like one tbs.) Fill tortillas with some bean mixture and some sweet potato then roll them up and put the seam side down on the bottom of the baking dish, repeat with the desired amount of tortillas. Then pour some of the remaining black beans and sweet potatoes over the top with the salsa, make sure all of the tortilla gets some of the salsa on it so the edges don't burn in the oven. Bake for 10 minutes. 
Remove from the oven and sprinkle fresh cilantro over the top, side it with some fresh picante sauce and enjoy!



Picante ingredients:
- three medium sized or two large tomatoes diced, seeds removed
- juice from 1/2 a lime
- two garlic cloves minced
- 1/2 jalapeño minced
- 1/4 cup white or yellow onion diced
- 1 tsp cumin
- 1 tsp chili powder
- 2 tsp chopped fresh cilantro
- salt and pepper to taste

Super easy to make: Mix all the ingredients together and refrigerate for a few hours before using, gets better the longer you let all the flavors meld together!


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