I have been looking for delicious healthier recipes the past few weeks,
and I was SO excited when Sarah offered to share this on with you guys.
It looks delicious and I can't wait to make it for the hubs this week!
Hello, WTF readers! I'm Sarah, and I blog over at The Quixotic Chica. I'm a huge nerd, and lately I've been pretending that I have mad culinary skills. The hubs and I love Mexican food. Like, really love Mexican food. I'm not talking about American food that calls itself Mexican food (though I admit I do enjoy crispy tacos from Chipotle every now and again), I'm talking about authentic cuisine involving fresh corn tortillas, crispy vegetables, and smoky sauces. In a word: yum.
Since we have a surplus of corn tortillas in our fridge and a bag of dried black beans that I am pretty sure I bought about four years ago, we decided to make black bean enchiladas. We used a recipe from a great cookbook (The Art of Mexican Cooking) as a reference, but we also improvised a bit. Here's what we needed to get started:
*1/2 lb of dried black beans (1/2 of a 1 lb bag)
*Corn tortillas
*1 can enchilada sauce (you could make this from scratch, but a can is easy)
*1/4 white onion, chopped
*2-3 cloves garlic, chopped
*1 sliced jalapeño
*1 cup shredded cheese (cheddar or pepperjack)
*Vegetable oil
If you're using canned beans, you can just saute them with the onions and some oil in a pan. Since we used dried beans, we put about half of the bag (1/2 lb) in a medium crock pot with water, the water line being about 2.5-3 inches above the beans, on the high setting. We dropped in the onion and garlic and let it sit for four hours. This created a delicious bean soup.
When the beans were done, we sliced a single jalapeño pepper. If you want to add this to the beans for the last hour or so, it might add a nice kick to the beans, but it you prefer a crispier pepper, leave it out of the crock pot for now.
The next part is the really fun part. In a deep pan, pour a shallow pool of vegetable oil. You don't want too much oil in there, but you want enough to cover a tortilla when it's placed in the pan. Allow the oil to heat over medium heat for a couple of minutes, then place the corn tortilla into the oil. Flip it after a minute, or until it becomes golden. You don't want the tortilla to become too crispy. Rest the tortilla on a plate with paper towels to allow the excess oil to be absorbed.
For two people, we fried seven tortillas. As we waited for the paper towels to absorb the excess oil, we heated up the enchilada sauce in a small pan on low heat. While that heated, we also grated some cheddar cheese (pepperjack would also taste great with this!).
When you're ready, transfer the tortillas onto plates with a high rim. They will need to be able to hold the enchilada sauce, so a deep dish works best. Next, using a slotted spoon, scoop the beans and onions on to the tortillas. Add the jalapeños. Sprinkle some cheese inside.
Next, roll the tortillas and sprinkle the remaining cheese on top. Carefully pour the enchilada sauce over the top.
That's it! They're really easy to make, and you could add other vegetables, rice, or meat if you so desire.
If you'd like to check out some of my other (vegetarian) recipes or follow along on my adventures traipsing around Washington DC and other places, come say hi at The Quixotic Chica! Big thanks to Kristen for being so awesome. :)
