Freezer-friendly breakfast tacos or breakfast burritos
I really want to find a recipe for a breakfast taco or breakfast burrito that I can make in advance and freeze, then pull out on rushed mornings. I love the idea but I just never seem to get around to trying any recipes. But finally today I tried these vegetarian breakfast burritos from Cookie and Kate. I wanted to have enough to freeze so I bought ingredients for two whole batches. (Enough for 12 8″ tortillas.) We made the first batch for breakfast, but unfortunately, they weren’t a hit, and we didn’t bother to make the second batch. So I’m still on the hunt for a good freezable breakfast taco. Maybe next time I’ll try this Love and Lemons breakfast burrito recipe. Or if anyone has a recipe they love and can recommend, please post a comment! Read the rest of this entry »
Vegetarian Posole in the Instant Pot
My Mom sent us a pound of hominy in a Chanukah package, and I decided to try to make posole from it. The package said you should simmer the hominy for 1 to 2 hours, which seemed like a long time, so I decided to make the posole in my Instant Pot. I looked in my “Vegan Under Pressure” cookbook but they don’t list any cooking times for dried hominy. But I looked in the index and found posole. Success! But when I actually turned to the recipe I discovered it with calling for pre-cooked, canned hominy. I guessed that the hominy would cook in about the same amount of time as dried beans, so I soaked both overnight, and then roughly followed the recipe. Except I wasn’t sure exactly how much hominy to use for the 1 can of hominy the recipe calls for. I had soaked the whole pound of dried hominy so I decided just to use the whole thing. I also had soaked 500g of cranberry beans. So that’s where I started. I sauteed some aromatics, then cooked both the soaked beans and hominy together in the instant pot for I think about 12 minutes (but that’s a guess, I didn’t write it down and now I’ve forgotten), followed by a natural release. But at that point the hominy was clearly undercooked. I cooked the beans and hominy for a bit longer under pressure, at which point the beans were definitely soft enough but the hominy was still a bit underdone. Whoops. Maybe I should have put the soaked hominy in with unsoaked cranberry beans instead, and cooked them together for 35 minutes under pressure + NR? In any case, despite the hominy being a tad firm, the posole was yummy. Derek and I both really enjoyed it, but Alma said it was too spicy for her and she really didn’t like the texture of the hominy.
I don’t remember exactly what I did, but here’s my best guess:
Ingredients:
- 1 pound cranberry beans, soaked overnight
- 1 pound dried hominy, soaked overnight
- 4 large cloves garlic, mined
- 2 cups finely chopped onion
- 1 Tbsp. olive oil
- 1 Tbs. ground cumin
- 1 Tbs. chili powder + 1 Tbs. ancho powder
- 1/2 tsp. smoked paprika
- 5 cups vegetable broth
- 1.5 tsp. salt (total guess)
- whole tomatoes (maybe 1.5 cups?)
- tomato puree (maybe 1 cup?)
- frozen corn (maybe 1 cup?)
I sauteed the onion over medium heat, then added the garlic, ground cumin, chili powders, and smoked paprika and sauteed another minute. I added the soaked hominy and soaked, drained beans, and added I think 5 cups of vegetable broth and salt. After the beans and hominy were cooked (see note above) I added some whole tomatoes from a jar, about a cup of tomato puree, and maybe 1 cup of frozen corn. I locked the lid back on and let it sit for 3 minutes. I seasoned with lime juice and cilantro to taste.
Instant Pot Tortilla Soup
On the vegetarian Instant Pot Facebook group, this Peas and Crayons recipe for Vegetarian Lentil Tortilla Soup gets rave reviews. It seems like every week I see someone posting it and gushing over it. And it looks good in the photo. So I decided to give it a try. If you have the black and pinto beans cooked already, it’s a pretty quick recipe. You just saute up some onions and peppers, then add the beans and lentils, tomatoes and salsa, corn and spices. I was out of corn so I skipped it, but I did add some sliced corn tortillas, because what kind of tortilla soup doesn’t have tortillas in it?
I was a bit distracted when trying to make this recipe, and I ended up adding the lentils too soon, and some of them stuck to the bottom and were starting to almost burn. So I added the water and gave it a good stir, and figured that would work. But when the Instant Pot almost got up to pressure I got the “Burn” warning and it wouldn’t come to pressure. I let it sit for maybe ten minutes, then quick-released it and try to scrape the bottom of the pot well (but didn’t actually wash it out). I tried to bring it to pressure again and got the same burn warning. Again I let it sit for a while and this time the lentils were cooked enough to eat, even though it never came up to pressure. I think there are some comments on the blog about how to prevent getting the burn warning. I’ll definitely read them next time I try this recipe. (I suspect that the soup was too thick because of the tortillas I added, and I should have added more liquid to compensate.)
Despite never coming to pressure, the soup turned out well, although it tasted nothing like any tortilla soup I’ve ever had. It was more like a thick bean stew, almost like chili, except there wasn’t that much chili powder in it. It was yummy over some corn tortilla chips. I like the idea of making a Mexican bean stew with lentils in it. I don’t usually combine pinto/black beans with lentils. It worked well.
We found the cream unnecessary, especially if you are eating the soup with sour cream. The pickled jalapenos were essential–the soup needed the acid and salt.
Alma wouldn’t try it the night I made it (after I referred to it as tortilla soup), but she did have a little bit when I served it another night (when I just called it “beans”). The wasn’t a big fan though.
Arroz non Pollo
This Arroz non Pollo recipe from Jill Nussinow’s Vegan Under Pressure cookbook gets rave reviews in the Instant Pot Vegan Recipes Facebook group. Other than the cilantro, all the ingredients seemed like something Alma would eat. So I decided to give it a try.
The technique is interesting. You first dry-saute mushrooms. I was impressed to see that the water very quickly came out of the mushrooms and they started to cook without burning. Then you add carrots, garlic, turmeric or a pinch of saffron (I used both), and cayenne (I omitted it for Alma). You saute them briefly (without oil) and then add brown rice, vegetable broth with 1 bunch of cilantro blended into it, and soaked pinto beans. You cook the rice and let the pressure release naturally, then at the very end you throw in red bell pepper, peas, and corn.
I forgot to soak any pinto beans so I reduced the amount of broth by 1/4 cup and threw in some already cooked kidney beans at the end with the final veggies.
I wasn’t sure how much 1 bunch of cilantro was. My bunch looked really big so I only used 2/3 of it. I wish she would have given a weight measurement.
And 1 cup of sliced mushrooms only seemed to be 2 ounces? That’s just a few mushrooms. I doubled it and added 4 ounces.
I kept looking for tomatoes in the recipe, but couldn’t find any. Instead, the cilantro and turmeric turn the rice a yellow greenish color. It’s very pretty. And the texture of the rice came out perfect.
Unfortunately, Alma refused to eat it and Derek didn’t like it very much. He said it tasted “muddy”. I think he didn’t like the flavor of the very cooked cilantro? Normally we throw cilantro in at the very end and it’s a much greener, brighter flavor. But I liked how the blended cilantro colored the rice. If I wanted to keep the basic idea but cook the cilantro less, how could I do it? Would I soak the rice first? Would that cut the cooking time substantially? Would I cook the rice for 15 minutes and then quick release and then add the cilantro only for the last 5 minutes of cooking?
Also, maybe my homemade vegetable broth was too strong and funky? Maybe I need to use a more mild vegetable broth? Maybe make a simple one with just onions and carrots and cilantro stems?
I liked the combination of veggies and rice but I actually wanted more veggies and less rice. And it made a *huge* amount. I think if I make this again I will leave the veggie amounts the same (except use 8 ounces of mushrooms and a whole bell pepper), but cut the rice amount back by 25%.
Borlotti bean mole with winter squash and kale
I made this 101cookbooks recipe right before I left for Israel last month, when I wanted to use up some steamed kale and some roasted squash. I only had one serving, but I quite enjoyed it. I thought the dish was extremely hearty and flavorful, and made a great one-pot dinner. Beans and greens and chocolate. How can you go wrong? I’ll definitely be trying it again. Read the rest of this entry »
The lazy cook’s black bean recipe
This recipe from Serious Eats is supposed to be a super easy way to make tasty black beans. Black beans? Yes please. Lazy cook? Double yes. Clearly I had to try it. It’s interesting in that they recommend simmering the aromatics rather than sautéeing them first. Not only is it easier and faster, but the author claims that sautéeing sweetens the aromatics too much, so that they overpower the beans. I was intrigued. Read the rest of this entry »
Kohlrabi slaw with cilantro jalapeño lime dressing
I bought a large kohlrabi without having any specific plans for it, then found a recipe on thekitchn.com for a kohlrabi and carrot slaw. I used the recipe as a jumping off point, altered it based on what I had in the fridge, and ended up with a kohlrabi, carrot, fennel, and apple slaw with a cilantro jalapeño lime dressing. It was a little spicy and a little sweet, and both Derek and I liked it a lot! I didn’t measure anything, so below is my best guess at what I did. Read the rest of this entry »
Chipotle-braised pinto beans with delicata squash
I made this recipe for “braised pinto beans with delicata squash, red wine, and tomatoes” a few years ago when I was visiting Derek’s parents in New York. My mom joined us for dinner. Since Derek’s father can’t eat much salt, I cut the salt back substantially, and just let each person salt the dish to taste. At the time, my mom really liked the dish, but no one seemed to want to eat the leftovers, but maybe it was just because I cut out the salt. Adding salt at the table doesn’t get the salt into the center of the beans and squash, where it’s needed. I do remember being impressed that the delicata squash skin really wasn’t tough at all. But overall I just found the stew a bit boring. But I finally found delicata here in small-city Germany, and decided to give it another try. Read the rest of this entry »
Seitan and vegetables with mole sauce
Years ago I ordered the OLÉ MAN SEITAN at Angelica Kitchen in New York City, and loved it. It was a whole wheat tortilla stuffed with seitan and roasted vegetables and topped with mole sauce. It was huge, but so tasty I finished the whole thing. Afterwards, however, I regretted it, as I went into one of the worst salt comas of my life. Still, I have fond memories of that mole sauce. The recipe for the dish is in the Angelica Kitchen cookbook, and I tried making it once many years ago, without success. I no longer remember the details, but I remember it didn’t taste nearly as good as at the restaurant. But I had some homemade seitan to use up, and decided to give it another shot last night. Read the rest of this entry »
Vegetarian Chili, Serious Eats Style
Serious Eats’ Food Lab column is similar to Cook’s Illustrated in that it seeks the absolute best version of a particular recipe. But Serious Eats is a bit more adventurous. Their recipe this week was actually vegetarian chili, which I can’t imagine Cook’s Illustrated will ever attempt. I’ve tried many vegetarian chili recipes before, but I haven’t really liked any of them. (Although I have liked the waffling recipes for chili-ish lentil soup and chili-ish black bean soup reasonably well.) In the end I’ve always remained loyal to my mom’s chili recipe. The addition of the frozen, marinated, baked tofu raises it several notches above any purely bean-based recipe. But Serious Eats titled their recipe The Best Vegetarian Bean Chili, so I had to at least give it a try. Read the rest of this entry »
Cuban black beans
My sister told me she has a recipe for Cuban black beans that are out of this world. Unfortunately she still hasn’t sent me the recipe, so I found one on the internet instead. The author of the Eat, Live, Run blog says she was a black bean virgin until she tried Cuban black beans, “inky beans simmered with garlic and spices that literally melt in your mouth.” She says that the recipe is lifechanging.
Indian rice pudding
I was making an Indian dinner for company, and Derek decided that he needed to make rice pudding for dessert. He used this recipe from Alton Brown. The recipe has received excellent reviews. I’ve never had a rice pudding I’ve loved, so I had pretty low expectations. But I enjoyed it. The raisins and pistachios were tasty, and I liked the freshly ground cardamom. (I’d probably add even more if we ever make rice pudding again.) That said, given all the wonderful desserts in the world, I don’t think this one is worth the calories. Derek had higher expectations than me, and ended up a bit disappointed. He thought there was too much rice and in general just too much “stuff.” Read the rest of this entry »
Melon jalapeno “salsa” salad
Despite the last disaster, I decided to try another melon recipe from the Vegetarian Table: Mexico cookbook by Victoria Wise. The author says that melons are an old world ingredient (originally cultivated in Persia), but that they’re extremely popular in Mexico. She uses the melon as the basis for a fruity, tropical salsa.
Black bean and seitan tostadas
I brought back a big stack of very fresh corn tortillas from Austin. The first thing I did with them was throw together some bean and cheese tortillas one morning. But something was wrong–neither Derek nor I liked them that much. So I decided to try Peter Berley’s Fresh Food Fast recipe for black bean tostadas with seitan. The black bean mixture turned out much better than my improvised version. Read the rest of this entry »
Guacamole
I made a huge bowl of guacamole today. Below is the recipe I used. It’s based on a Cook’s Illustrated recipe but I increased most of the seasonings. It was delicious.
California-style vegetarian tortilla soup
Visitors from Austin brought us 90 perfect corn tortillas from El Milagro in Austin. Despite languishing in lost baggage for two days, they arrived in Saarbruecken in perfect shape. They were so fresh and corny tasting, I think our visitors must have purchased them right from the factory. Derek and I ate most of the first 30 ourselves, just plain or with refries or scrambled tofu. I froze the second and third batches. Before the last few tortillas in the first package were gone, I decided I wanted to try to make tortilla soup with homemade baked corn “chips”. I love Peter Berley’s miso-based tortilla soup, but I wanted to try something a little different today. I decided to try the california-style vegetarian tortilla soup from 101 cookbooks.
Simple winter salsa
Last night I made the recipe for pico de gallo from my mom’s blog, to accompany some black bean and sweet potato burritos.
Ingredients
- 4 cups of canned small-diced tomatoes
- 1/2 onion
- 2 cloves of garlic
- 1/4 cup of lime juice, from one lime
- 1/4 tsp salt, or to taste
- 1 cup finely chopped cilantro, from 1 bunch
- 1-2 jalapenos, with seeds
Instructions:
- Chop cilantro including stems to make about 1 cup.
- Chop onion, jalapeno and garlic, finely.
- Combine garlic, onion, cilantro, jalapeno and tomatoes.
- Add salt and lime juice.
- Let sit for at least 30 minutes to combine flavors.
My notes:
I used a large can of tomatoes with the juice, but only got about 3.5 cups total. After letting the salsa sit for 30 minutes it tasted a bit bland. I had added 1/4 tsp. salt but I added a little bit more, some chipotle powder, and some fresh ground cumin. Those additions helped. It wasn’t the greatest salsa ever, but it was perfectly fine. I served it with the burritos and although I thought the sweet potato burritos actually go better with a green salsa verde, my guests seemed to like this red one–almost the entire bowl of salsa was eaten. I only had about 1/2 cup left after the six of us were done with dinner.
The homesick Texan’s pico de gallo recipe is similar
1 tablespoon olive oil (she says it’s for flavor and texture, but can be omitted)
Salt to taste
White Flour Tortillas
Back in the 70’s, when my parents lived on a farm in Tennessee, my mom used to make hundreds of tortillas. She stopped making them once we moved to Austin, where tasty and cheap tortillas are readily available. Thus, I never learned how to make tortillas myself. However, the quality of tortillas available in Saarbruecken is quite low. I’m sure like other Texans I’ll get homesick for tortillas, so I asked her to show me how to make them.
- 1 cup white wheat flour
- 1/2 tsp. salt
- 1/4 tsp. baking powder
- 1 tsp. oil
- 6 Tbs. water
- Whisk dry ingredients together. Add oil. Mix with wooden spoon, mixing as little as possible. Over-working the dough will result in a stiff dough and tough not tender tortillas. Add 3 Tbs. of water all at once and mix. Add remaining 3 Tbs. of water and mix again. Next use your hands to form the dough into a ball. If the dough is sticky add a little more flour. If there are bits of dough that won’t stay incorporated into the dough ball, add another teaspoon or two of water. Divide dough into four or five balls.
- Preheat cast iron skillet on medium heat.
- Sprinkle flour on counter. Roll one dough ball around to lightly coat with flour. Press ball into a flat four-inch disk. Use a rolling pin to roll the disk into a thin circle, sized to fit your skillet, about 8 to 9 inches in diameter. Use the same method to roll the dough as is used to roll out a pie crust: always roll from the center of the disk.
- Place tortilla in dry, pre-heated skillet (still on medium heat), and cook until the top starts to bubble (about 30 seconds to 1 minute depending on how hot your skillet is). Flip. Cook for 30 seconds on second side.
- Eat immediately or stack and cover with a lightly damp cloth. To keep warm, wrap the tortillas in foil and place in a warm oven.
Makes 4 to 5 tortillas. Tortillas will be thicker and slightly larger if you make four, and thinner and slightly smaller in diameter if you make five.
My Notes:
I really enjoyed these flour tortillas. They’re just like the Austin tortillas I grew up on: a bit puffy, nice and chewy, and browned in just a few spots. They’re pretty easy to make too, if you don’t count getting the flour off of everything.
My sister Hanaleah really liked them too. Her comment: “I want another one. Why’d you only make four???” So the second time we made them we doubled the recipe, but everyone was still pining for another even after their second tortilla.
The homesicktexan recipe I link to above is similar to this one except that they use milk instead of water, and they use three times as much baking powder. The also knead the dough briefly and then let it rest for 20 minutes. I’m curious to see how their tortillas differ from this one. We also want to try making whole wheat tortillas. Stay tuned.
The joys of peruvian pepper sauce
I can’t recall if I’ve blogged about aji amarillo sauce before, but it’s worth a second mention in any case. This Peruvian sauce is simply a puree made from yellow aji peppers. It’s bright yellow, somewhat spicy, a little salty, and very flavorful. Actually, I’d describe it more as “piquant” than seriously spicy. The first time I had it was at La Feria in Pittsburgh. Although I enjoyed adding it to their various grain and cheese casseroles, and using it in place of butter as a spread for french bread, I was never really sure what to do with it at home. Then a few months ago Derek and I went to Madre, a tiny nouveau latin restaurant on the east side of Montreal. We weren’t all that excited about the experience (see our review), but there was one memorable dish with peruvian pepper sauce that Derek loved, and has been on my mind ever since: a duck “ceviche” with seared duck marinated in yellow pepper sauce, with onions, parsnip puree, and roasted corn kernels.
I finally found the yellow pepper sauce at the South American store on St. Laurent (and then later at the Mexican store behind Jean Talon market). The Mexican store also had the roasted salted corn kernels. Visiting Derek in Germany this week, I bought adorable French fingerling potatoes, fresh garlic, and a medium bag of spinach. I sliced five of the fingerling potatoes, and sauteed them in olive oil with a half of head of fresh garlic and a small red onion sliced into rings. Once the potatoes were almost soft I added about a 1/2 cup of yellow pepper sauce, and the spinach (leaves torn). After the spinach was wilted I sprinkled on some fresh thyme and a dusting of roasted corn kernels. I had meant to add mushrooms and white wine as well, in mimicry of the white wine and garlic saute from Kaya but forgot both. Even so, everyone really enjoyed the dish, even me! I couldn’t taste the thyme, and next time might try a more south american herb like cilantro. Also, I’d like to try using parsnips instead of potatoes. Either way, I’ll definitely be trying this type of recipe again, as well as looking for more opportunities to use this delicious yellow pepper sauce, even if I have to smuggle it into Germany from Montreal or the States.
Other ways I’ve eaten this sauce lately:
- plain, as a dipping sauce for roasted brussels sprouts
- mixed with yogurt and lemon juice as a dipping sauce for chickpea patties
- as a flavorful addition to a sandwich, in place of mustard
If you have any other suggestions, please post a comment!
I’ve seen a large number of different brands of this pepper sauce: Goya, Dona Isabel, La Nuestra, various local Canadian brands. If you can’t find it in the ethnic food section of a large grocery store, try to hunt down a South American store, or better yet a Peruvian or Bolivian store. If you still can’t find the jarred aji amarillo pepper puree, here are instructions on how to make it yourself.
Arroz Sin Pollo
This recipe is adapted from a recipe for arroz con pollo in the book This Organic Life: Confessions of an Urban Homesteader, which tells the story of Joan Dye Gussow’s attempts to source the majority of her food out of her own back-yard garden. Some reviewers complain that the book is repetitive, lacks focus, and has an annoyingly self-righteous tone. Although it does occasionally shift into lecture mode, I found it to more memoir than diatribe. Gussow was a nutritionist, professor, and lecturer before she retired, but this book only briefly discusses that part of her life; instead, it focuses on her life post-retirement. It’s rare in this youth-obsessed culture to read about a woman over 60, so I enjoyed that aspect of the book. I realized I was really curious about what the life of a highly educated and passionate woman is like after retirement. Both I and my mother thought that This Organic Life is a fun and moving memoir. If you enjoyed Barbara Kingsolver’s Animal, Vegetable, Miracle I highly recommend you pick up This Organic Life, as I enjoyed it even more than Kingsolver’s more recent veggie biopic. Read the rest of this entry »
Texas Tofu Chili
Every vegetarian cookbook has a chili recipe. Some are interesting, some are bland, some are just weird. I’ve tried recipes with exotic ingredients like dried peaches, cinnamon, and peanuts. This recipe, however, makes a very traditional chili (ignoring the fact that it has tofu instead of meat). Maybe I’m biased because this is based on my mom’s recipe, but I like it better than any of the other chili recipes I’ve tried, including various recipes claiming to be the “best ever vegetarian chili.” Read the rest of this entry »
Tomatillo Sauce
Making tomatillo sauce sounds so simple, I invariably forgo following a recipe and decide to just wing it—which is inevitably a disaster. I don’t know why but my improvised tomatillo sauces are typically inedible. Here’s what I did this week:
I roasted at a high temperature in the oven until the peppers were slightly blackened:
- a little over a pound of fresh tomatillos, husks removed
- 2 small red onions, halved
- 4 garlic cloves, peeled
- 1 jalepeno, seeded
- 1 poblano, seeded and halved
Then I removed the pepper skins and threw everything into the blender. The resulting sauce tasted truly horrible. It sounds like it should be fine, right? A friend on hearing this tale said it probably just needed cilantro and lime, but I’m skeptical. I didn’t want to add it because I was certain it was going to be a waste of perfectly good cilantro and lime. It really tasted awful. I compared this recipe to a recipe in Rick Bayless’s cookbook, which called for roasting tomatillos. The major difference I saw was that he didn’t roast the onions (and maybe the garlic?), but instead put them in raw. That makes sense, as you want the onion to give a little bit of bite. Next time I improvise this sauce, I will not roast any onions. Repeat, I will not roast onions.
Vegetarian Tamales
I remember really loving tamales as a kid, but it’s hard to find vegetarian ones outside of Austin, so I haven’t had them much since I finished college. I made them a few times with my mom when I was younger, but it’s been such a long time I didn’t remember much. I started out with two recipes: one from Peter Berley’s Modern Vegetarian Kitchen and one from the vegetarian resource group. I tried the dough recipes but didn’t really follow the filling instructions. Instead, I made up my own fillings:
- corn cut off the cob and seasoned with fresh minced sage and tons of garlic sauteed in a little olive oil. It was a bit bland so I added a touch of gruyere ribboned on a microplane. Delicious plain, and not bad in the tamales, although maybe not quite strong enough tasting.
- barbecued tofu. Delicious plain, did not belong in a tamale.
- black beans and sweet potatoes seasoned with nutmeg, from the black bean and sweet potato burrito recipe on my blog. I love the burrito, but I just didn’t like this combo with the masa.
- black refritos with feta. I used the black beans from above and added cilantro, then sprinkled on a little goat feta. I was going to add tomatillo sauce too but I forgot, so instead I dipped the tamale in the sauce. This one was by far my favorite.
I first started with Berley’s recipe, which I will post here when I get a chance. The dough seemed extremely thick and dry, and I didn’t see how I was going to possibly get the tamales thin enough, so I added quite a bit of extra broth. Then it was lumpy and sticky and a total disaster. I made the tamales anyway, and they came out bland and dry and not very good. I also think his recipe doesn’t call for nearly enough salt (weird for Berley.)
The VRG recipe worked out much better. I had to add just a touch more broth than they called for, and my tamales still came out a bit thick, but the consistency was much closer to the desired consistency. I think I upped the salt on this one as well. I thought the final tamales were quite nice, with pretty good flavor and richness, and not too oily. Derek liked them better than the first batch, however when he took some leftovers for lunch a few days later he said they were dry and greasy. I only tried them right after I made them so I can’t confirm his statement. In general, though, Derek is not a tamale fan. He doesn’t even like the ones at Frontera Grill, and we all know he has a thing for anything Rich Bayless creates. Anyway, Derek says he’d rather just eat the filling, who needs all that dough, and all that extra work? He just doesn’t get it. I’m going to keep working on my tamale making skills in the meantime, and see if I can’t change his mind. The key will be getting the dough thinner I think. Any advice on how to achieve that goal?
A few comments on making the tamales:
- you’re supposed to put a layer of corn husks on top of the steamer basket before you put the tamales in, and over the top layer of tamales once they’re all in. I think the top layer is key so that the water doesn’t drip off the lid and get the tamales all went.
- With one of those folding steaming baskets, I found that the water lasted only about 45 minutes before I had to refill it. I tried to pour in additional boiling water without getting the tamales all wet, which was tricky but doable. But I had no idea how much to put it since I couldn’t see the bottom through the tamales. Next time I’ll measure how much water is needed before adding the tamales.
- When rolling the tamales, it seemed to work best with two people: one to fill them and a second to roll them up and tie them. If you try to fill them and tie them you get dough and filling all over the corn husks.
- I kept forgetting to leave extra room at the top and bottom of the masa, and not put the filling all the way across the length of the dough. This is necessary so that the top and bottom close up and your filling doesn’t fall out.
I really want to try making a sweet tamales sometime. I’ve seen recipes for apple tamales. Any other ideas?
Oh, another question for you blog-readers-o-mine. When I was to get masa harina they had lots of brands. My mom told me (via her Guatemalan friend) to get Maseca brand. But they had two kinds of masa harina by Maseca: one was specifically for tamales, and the other one said it was for tamales, corn tortillas, and other things. Both said “instant” on them. Both had recipes for tamales on the back, and the one specifically called “masa for tamales” called for adding lard to the tamales. The all-purpose masa recipe for tamales didn’t have any added fat. The ingredients were identical though: corn, lime. Can anyone explain the difference to me?
Also, I tried and failed to find corn husks in Montreal. I looked at the Mexican grocery near Jean Talon (which had masa harina but no corn husks), and at the south american grocery on St. Laurent just north of Pins. They had banana leaves but not corn husks. Suggestions?
Update Sept 23, 2007: I made the corn dish again. I used 4 ears of corn on the cob, which yielded 1.5 pounds of corn kernels after steaming. I used 2 Tbs. of garlic, 1 Tbs. olive oil, 2 Tbs. sage, 1/2 ounce parmesan, and a sprinkle of truffle salt and black pepper. It definitely needed more garlic (maybe 1/3 cup?), and probably a bit more olive oil and/or parmesan as well.
For future reference, here is the tamale recipe from post punk kitchen.
Guacamole
I got adventurous and tried Cook’s Illustrated light guacamole recipe using… frozen lima beans. That’s right, scary, but true.
- 1 medium tomato (about 5 ounces), cored, seeded, and chopped fine (about 1 cup) ~ I used canned petite diced
- 1 cup frozen *mature* lima beans (about 5 ounces) (I accidentally bought baby lima beans. They say in this case it’s hard to skin them so I just left the skins on for the fiber. The guacamole was a tad bit grainy due to the skins.)
- 1 medium ripe avocado, preferably Haas (about 7 ounces)
- 3 Tbs. juice from 2 limes
- 2 Tbs. reduced-fat mayonnaise (I omitted this since I didn’t have it)
- 1/2 tsp. salt (I used 1/4 tsp. It was fine, but prob. would have been fine with 1/2 tsp. as well.)
- 1/4 cup minced fresh cilantro leaves
- 1 medium jalepeno chile, stemmed, seeded, and minced
- 1 Tbs. minced red onion or shallot
- 1 medium garlic cloves, minced or pressed through a garlic press (about 1 tsp.)
- 1/2 tsp. ground cumin
- fresh ground black pepper
- Place the tomato in a small colander set inside a bowl and set aside to drain while preparing the rest of the guacamole.
- Bring 4 cups of water to a boil in a small sauce pan over high heat. Add the frozen lima beans and cook until creamy, about 5 minutes. Drain the beans and rinse under cold water until cool. Pat the beans dry with paper towels then remove the skins by pinching the beans so the skins slide off.
- Halve the avocado, remove the pit, and scoop out a quarter of the flesh. Puree a quarter of the avocado, skinned lima beans, lime juice, mayo, and salt together in a food processor until smooth, 1 to 1 1/2 minutes, stopping to scrape down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula as needed.
- Cube the remaining three-quarters of the avocado into 1/2-inch pieces, and scrape into a medium bowl. Add the pureed lima mixture, drained tomato, cilantro, jalepeno, onion, garlic, and cumin, and stir gently to combine. Season to taste with pepper. Transfer the guacamole to a serving bowl; cover with plastic wrap and let stand at room temperature until the flavors meld, about 1 hour.
Makes 2 cups. They say a serving is 1/4 cup:
70 cal, 4g fat, .5g sat fat, 0 chol, 8g carb, 2g protein, 3g fiber, 210mg sodiumMy Notes:
Cook’s Illustrated says that the guacamole, covered with plastic wrap pressed flush against the surface of the dip, can be refrigerated for up to 1 day. Bring to room temperature and season with additional lime juice, salt, and pepper, as needed before serving. I’m in a bit leery of plastic wrap touching my food, esp. fatty foods, so I just stored mine in a regular tupperware, and it was fine~didn’t brown at all. It lasted fine for two days. It might have been fine for longer even, but I couldn’t tell you, since after two days it was all gone 
.
The adulterated guacamole has more fiber and protein, and less fat than normal guacamole. I think standard guacamole is about 77% fat, but this is about 40% fat.
The flavor was very good~it basically tasted like guacamole. It definitely didn’t taste as rich as normal, but with all the tomatoes, cilantro, jalepeno, garlic, lime juice etc. once it was in my burrito I’m not sure I would have noticed. I gave it to a friend and she said it “tasted very fresh”. I told her that I put it in a new ingredient and asked her to identify it~she had no idea. Said it tasted like very yummy guacamole to her.
I don’t know if I would make this just to lower the calorie/fat content of guacamole, unless I was eating it with chips, in which case the chips have enough fat already. I do consider the recipe a keeper though, for those situations where I only have one avocado and want to make a bigger batch for more people! Those things are expensive!
BTW, cook’s illustrated said they tried green peas and asparagus and edamame but they liked the lima beans the best. They said peas gave it an earthy flavor and too sweet, asparagus watered it down and had a fibrous texture and unappetizing army green color. Edamame worked well to carry the flavor, but gave it a grainy texture.
Rating: B
Jicama Salad
We had a jicama salad at Frontera Grill yesterday for brunch. It was made of long fat rectangles of jicama, small squares of pineapple, and long juliennes of cucumber, with the peel on. The produce was dusted with a slightly spicy chili powder, and they served it with lime wedges. Both Derek and I enjoyed it–a nice refreshing appetizer. Derek especially liked the cucumber. I thought the three flavors (jicama, pineapple, and cukes) didn’t really meld together–they each kept their separate identity, without really complementing each other. But the three separate identities were so yummy who cares! I tried making it with some Indian chile powder I bought (nothing like Mexican chile powder) and it was delicious. Definitely a keeper. Sorry but I didn’t record amounts. Next time.
Update: I just improvised a jicama salad and it didn’t turn out so well. I use long fat pieces like at Frontera, which were good. But I added an avocado and a grapefruit. The avocado pieces turned to mush when I stirred it and the grapefruit pieces kind of fell apart, and left the whole thing sitting in a huge pool of liquid. The pink grapefruit and greenish avocado left the whole thing looking kind of putrid green color. I added 1/2 jalepeno, and some lime juice, and a bit of honey, chili powder, and salt, then drained all the liquid out. It look a little more appetizing, but definitely not something I’d try this way again.
Update 2: I tried another Frontera Grill version except I didn’t have pineapple so subbed in mandarin oranges. Derek said he liked it better than the pineapple, but I thought it was not quite as good. Just a touch of salt, chili powder, and lime juice worked well–much better than the soggy mush I ended up with last time.
Update March 2010: I made this with daikon radish instead of jicama. The radish isn’t quite as sweet as the jicama but it’s a reasonable substitute. I julienned the cucumber and daikon, and used my “french fry cut” blade for the pineapple Next time I would use the french fry cut for all the veggies, but certainly for the cucumber. I made the salad the day before and by the next day the salad was drowning in a sea of liquid. Maybe if I had cut the cucumber into bigger pieces it wouldn’t have been so bad, but I think it’s probably best to not cut the cucumber until you’re ready to eat, and maybe the pineapple too.
Tamale pie (Cornbread pie)
Look in just about any vegetarian cookbook from the 70’s or 80’s and you’ll find a recipe for Tamale pie. True tamale pie is made with masa, but more often the topping is a simple cornbread. This is a great one-dish meal that’s healthy, filling, and hits the spot when then windchill is -15 and you’re in the mood for some comfort food.
Update 7/7/2019:
I made cornbread pie for lunch yesterday and it was a pretty big success. Everyone liked it, including Alma (at almost 4.5 years). I followed this AMA cookbook cornbread recipe for the cornbread portion, but I didn’t follow a recipe for the bean portion. I first sauteed up some red onion, garlic, green bell pepper, then added some finely chopped tomatoes and frozen corn, and seasoned the whole thing with cumin and a little chili powder and a little crumbled feta cheese, then added 6 cups of (already pretty nicely seasoned) pinto beans including the thick goo (essentially reduced cooking liquid) that surrounded them. I added the cornbread mixture when the beans were simmering, then I baked it in the oven for 20 minutes, following the cornbread instructions. The cornbread pie turned out well. The cornbread wasn’t soggy on the bottom, like it sometimes gets (presumably because the beans were hot when I added the batter, so it cooked the bottom).
In the past I’ve often felt like there was way too much cornbread in comparison to beans, but this time the ratio seemed right, because I added more beans and made a slightly smaller cornbread (only 1.5 cups of total flour not 2 cups). The only problem was that my cast iron skillet was so full it started boiling over a bit in the oven. Luckily I had put it on a baking sheet. But next time I think I will use slightly less beans—3 cups is clearly not enough, but 6 cups was a bit overfull. Maybe 4.5 or 5 cups? This time the cast iron skillet was almost completely full even before I added the cornbread. Next time I want there to be a tiny bit more space. Alternatively, I could try cooking it in cast iron my dutch oven.
The “recipe” as written above made a lot, maybe 8 servings? Derek and Alma and I ate it for brunch and there was more than half left.
Original post from 2/10/2017:
I don’t quite have a “recipe” yet–I tend to just eyeball it. But here’s approximately what I did last night:
- 1/2 Tbs. olive oil
- 4 large cloves of garlic, minced
- 3 cups of homemade, lightly salted, black beans, with their juice filling in the measuring cup
- about 1 cup of Frontera salsa
- 1/2 can diced green chilies (I put the other half in the cornbread)
- ground cumin, maybe 2 tsp?
- chipotle powder, maybe 1 tsp?
- 3/4 cup frozen corn kernels
- I sauteed the garlic in my cast iron pan (I usually add onions too but I was out). Then I added the black beans and mashed them a bit with a potato masher. I added the other ingredients and just let the beans simmer while I made the cornbread.
- I preheated the oven to 425, then made the cornbread (I’ll post recipes in a separate post). I poured the batter on top, using a spatula to spread it out evenly. I baked for about 30 minutes.
This came out quite well–the beans were especially tasty. I usually use pintos but the black beans were nice as well. Derek thought the bean to cornbread recipe was too low, but I actually thought it was perfect. Maybe a compromise is to make extra beans and take them out before adding the cornbread, so Derek can have extra beans on the side?
Obviously, this “recipe” needs work, but I think it has great potential.
I made it again using 4.5 cups of canned beans and it still didn’t have enough beans. I think next time I’ll try 6 cups of beans, and cut the cornbread recipe down from 3/4 cup of cornmeal and flour each to 1/2 cup.
Rating: B
Derek: A-
Historical tidbit: When I made fast food at my co-op in college, this was a regular. I’d get out all our cast iron pans (we had about 5 of them, and some were huge). I’d make an enormous pot of beans and tons of cornbread then fill them all up and bake them in batches. They were always popular, except for one time… I found some cute little red and yellow peppers in the fridge. They were tiny, colorful, and adorable. I thought they were some kind of mini bell pepper, so I threw them into the beans even though I’d already added jalepenos and chipotle powder. I discovered only after making all five enormous cornbread pies, that the peppers were actually habaneros. Many of the members of the co-op prided themselves on their love of (and tolerance for) spicy foods. But no one could down more than one bite of these cornbread pies. Sadly, they all ended up in the trash.
Quack’s Salsa (B+)
Captain Quackenbush’s Intergalactic Dessert Company and Espresso Café (commonly known as Quackenbush’s or just Quack’s) was Austin’s first coffeehouse and an excellent example of the laid-back style of old-school Austin. In college, I used to eat lunch there occasionally, always getting their black bean burrito with verde sauce and a side of their excellent tomato salsa. It was a great deal: three and a half bucks for a tasty, filling, healthy burrito and salsa that couldn’t be beat. Unfortunately, Starbucks and other newer, trendier coffee shops soon showed up on the drag, and Quack’s was eventually closed down in the face of reduced business and rising rents. Before they closed, however, I made a desperate plea for their salsa recipe. It’s restaurant-sized, but so good you won’t have trouble getting rid of a gallon at a time (right?).
Stir together:
- 10 pounds of whole tomatoes, broken up with a wooden spoon
- 1 yellow onion (1/2 lb.), diced
- 3 jalepenos, minced
- 1 poblano, diced
- 1/2 cup whole garlic, minced
- 1 bunch cilantro, chopped
- juice of 1 lime
- 1 1/2 tsp. salt
- 1/2 tsp. black pepper
- 1/2 tsp. ground cumin
- 1 cup water
My Notes
When I made this for fast food at the co-op, it would all disappear in twenty four hours.
Rating: B+
Reduced version:
- 2 pounds whole tomatoes (I used 1 lb 13 oz canned tomatoes in juice + a 7 oz fresh tomato)
- 1.6 oz diced onion (I used 4 oz)
- 3/5 jalapeno, minced (I used 1.5 seeded jalapeno + 1/2 with seeds)
- 1/5 poblano (I used none, adding 1/2 tsp. chile powder)
- .8 Tbs. whole garlic, minced (I used 3 cloves, 17g total)
- 1/5 bunch cilantro, chopped (I used 40g)
- juice of 1/5 of a lime (I used 1 lime, just over 1.5 Tbs.)
- 3/10 tsp. salt (I used 1/2 tsp.)
- 1/8 tsp. black pepper (I used a few grinds)
- 1/10 tsp. ground cumin (I used 1/2 tsp.)
- 1/5 cup water (I used 1.5 oz or 3 Tbs.)
- I added 1 Tbs. olive oil for mouthfeel
Refried pinto beans
Back in college, when I lived in a housing co-op, one of my jobs was to make “fast food”–food to have in the fridge for lunches, or when someone wanted a quick snack. I made a lot of hummus, and tofu salad, and since this was Texas, massive quantities of salsa and refried beans. I’ve reduced my recipe down so it no longer makes a gallon!
- 2 cups dry pinto beans (or 5 cups cooked, drained beans, juice reserved)
- 7 cups filtered water (I need to double check this amount)
- 1-1.5 tsp. salt
- 1 Tbs. olive oil
- 1 large red onion, chopped (about 1.5 cups)
- 1 large jalepeno, partially or completely seeded, minced (optional)
- 2 Tbs. minced garlic
- 1 Tbs. cumin
- 1.5 tsp. chili powder
- 1.5 tsp. oregano
- 1-2 cups of cooking water from the beans
- 1 Tbs. tomato paste
- 2-3 Tbs. of lime juice
Instructions
- Cook 2 cups of dry pinto beans with 1 tsp. of salt and 7 cups of water in a crockpot on the low setting overnight. This should take about 8 hours, and the beans should be very soft, almost falling apart, when done.
- Saute the oil, onion, and jalepeno together until soft. I use a 9 inch cast iron skillet, but any heavy-bottom pan will do. Add the garlic and cook for a few more minutes, then add the cumin and chili powder and toast briefly.
- Add the drained beans, the oregano, the tomato paste, and 1 cup of the bean cooking liquid. Use a potato masher or a fork to break the beans down into a rough paste. If you prefer your refries chunky, reserve a cup of whole beans and add them at the end.
- Off heat, and add the lime juice. Taste and adjust the salt if needed, adding up to another 1/2 tsp. salt. Either serve immediately, or if you’re going to store it in the fridge add another 1 cup of the bean liquid. The beans get very thick and dried out after a night in the fridge, so they should be pretty soupy going in.
Yields 5 cups of refries, about 6-10 servings.
My notes
It’s funny, I went looking for a recipe for refried pinto beans in my cookbook collection and didn’t turn up much–not even in my bean book! AMA has one fat-free recipe where you add raw onions and garlic and the beans to a blender, but I’m scared to try it. Berley has a more normal looking recipe, but I think I tried it a while back and it was incredibly bland.
Regarding cooking the beans. It’s important to cook the beans with the salt for the best flavor. You could also throw in kombu, a bay leaf, or other seasonings at this stage if you want. I’d like to experiment with this and see if adding the cumin and other spices at this point improves the recipe. This recipe also works fine with canned beans, but you may have to reduce the salt.
Other ingredients I have added to my refries at one time or another include coriander, chipotle powder, garlic powder, salsa, tomato sauce, cilantro, pickled jalepenos, green bell peppers, poblano chiles, and lime zest. I still want to futz with this recipe a bit more to recall if any of these ingredients should make it into the final recipe, and maybe experiment with some other ingredients. There’s a very popular recipe on RecipeZaar that calls for black beans and a bottle of beer. Sounds very sour. I’m open to other suggestions as well. Just post a comment!
In any case, I do think the essential ingredients are salt, cumin powder, something spicy, something tomato-y, and lime juice. Everything else is secondary.
10/22/06 I served these for brunch today and Derek said they were “delicious, wonderful, everyone loved them. Perfect.”
Rating: B+
Derek: A
Nutritional Stats
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Serving Size: 1/2 cup |
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| Amount Per Serving | |||||
| Calories | 154 | ||||
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| Total Fat | 2.1g | ||||
| Saturated Fat | 0.3g | ||||
| Cholesterol | 0mg | ||||
| Sodium | 363mg | ||||
| Carbohydrate | 26.6g | ||||
| Dietary Fiber | 6.7g | ||||
| Sugars | 2.2g | ||||
| Protein | 8.7g | ||||
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Percent calories from: fat 12%, protein 22%, carbs 66%. I prefer to keep my beans low fat because I like to add cheese or avocados or olives to my burritos. If you’re not going to have any added fats, you might want to increase the amount of olive oil to 2-3 Tablespoons.
I recently tried the refried bean recipe in Cook’s Illustrated Best Light Recipe Cookbook:
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1. Process water and beans in food processor until smooth, about 15 seconds, scraping sides of bowl with rubber spatula if necessary.
2. Heat 1 tsp. olive oil in large saucepan over medium-low heat, add the onion and jalepeno, cover and cook for 10-12 minutes, until the vegetables have softened. Add the garlic and cumin; cook, stirring frequently, until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Add the beans and stir. Reduce heat to low and cook, stirring frequently, until beans are thick and creamy, about 10 minutes. Stir in final Tbs. of olive oil and cilantro is using, and serve.
My Notes:
It’s weird, I looked up the original (non-light) recipe on C.I. and it called for salt pork, chicken broth instead of water, a poblano chili, and 1 Tbs. fresh lime juice. I can understand nixing the salt pork and chicken broth, but why do away with the poblano and lime juice? Also it called for kidney beans rather than pintos?? I had some home cooked lightly salted pintos in the fridge, so used those, and substituted the bean juice for the water, but used slightly less than called for since I hadn’t drained the beans perfectly. I also withheld some of the beans from the food processor (as is suggested in the original but not the light recipe) since I didn’t want a total puree. I think I actually should have withheld about 1/3-1/2 of the beans, since I like quite a chunky puree. I didn’t add the cilantro but I did add a Tbs. of lime juice, which I think is essential. I also increased the cumin to 1.5 tsp., and upped the garlic a bit. I didn’t stir in the final Tbs. of olive oil since I actually thought they tasted quite good, and I was planning on eating them with guacamole anyhow.
Overall I thought these refries turned out pretty well (given my modifications)–better than other recipes I’ve tried. Althought they were tasty, they were still missing something. I think they would be improved by adding a bit of some tomato product for acidity and roundness, and some type of chili powder for more darkness/depth.
Okay, I just went back and compared it to my recipe above. The difference is that it calls for a bit less liquid (1 cup vs. 1-2 cups), less salt (although canned beans are salted so that might be why), less garlic (about 2 tsp. vs 2 Tbs.), less cumin (1 tsp. vs. 1 Tbs.) and less lime juice (1 Tbs. vs 2 Tbs.) Plus I use oregano, tomato paste, and chili powder. After comparing them I can see why I like this recipe. It’s basically a toned down version of my recipe. Maybe the ideal recipe is somewhere in between? Mine is probably a bit overspiced, and theirs is a bit underspiced.
Update Feb 2010: I was eyeing some very soft, lightly salted pinto beans I had cooked up the day before, and decided to turn them into refries. I used a middle ground between the above two recipes. I measured out about 5.5-6 cups of very soup beans. (I didn’t drain them, but I did use a ladle with big holes to scoop them into the measuring cup.) I sauteed 1.5 cups red onion and a very little big of green bell pepper with 1.5 Tbs. of olive oil, in my cast iron skillet. Then I added the garlic, 1.5 tsp. whole cumin which I ground in my coffee grinder, 1/2 tsp. chipotle powder, and 1/2 tsp. kosher salt. I then added about 2.5-3 cups of the soupy beans, then used my stick blender to puree what remained in the measuring cup. I added the pureed beans as well. At this point the beans tasted pretty good but were way too thin. I let them simmer for about 30 minutes until they’d thickened up. Derek liked them–had two servings. I thought they needed a little lime, but they were pretty good.
Update March 2010: I measured out just over 1 pound (maybe 2.5 -3 cups) dry pintos, and cooked them with salt and water until very soft. I used all the pintos plus about 1.5 cups of the cooking liquid (the thick stuff from the bottom), 1 Tbs. garlic, 1.5 tsp. whole cumin ground, 1/2 tsp. chipotle powder, 1/2 tsp. kosher salt, 9 ounces (about 2 cups chopped) onion, 1.5 Tbs. olive oil, 1 Tbs. butter, 4 ounces long green peppers, and 1 tsp. tomato paste. After cooking the beans I got about 5.5 cups of drained, cooked beans. The refries still don’t taste quite right too me. Derek likes them, but maybe they need more salt? I’m not sure. I sauteed the onion and peppers together, then added them, (all but 2 cups of) the cooked beans and the bean juice to a container, and pureed with my stick blender. Then I added the remaining beans in for texture. I ended up with about 7 cups of refries.
Update May 2010: I had about 3-5 cups of mixed cooked pinto/black beans, lightly salted. For refries I used
- 1 Tbs. olive oil
- 1 large onion, chopped
- 1 large jalepeno, with seeds
- 3 regular cloves garlic, minced
- 1.5 tsp. cumin
- 1 tsp. chili powder
- sprinkle of chipotle powder
- a little liquid from the bean cooking liquid
- about 1 Tbs. pace-style picante sauce
I used my stick blender to roughly puree the beans in my casserole pan. The texture turned out a little gritty and a little chunky. I liked it, and it was easier than mashing by hand. The beans were seasoned well–not to intense but not mild either. Altogether it took me about 25 minutes to make the refries, cut up raw veggies for my burritos (peppers, cucumbers, onions, tomatoes, and lettuce), and do various dishes / cleanup.
Update September 2015: My mom came to visit this week and made me refries. Her beans were much better than I remember mine being. Here’s a link to her recipe.
The captious vegetarian 