I love ethnic foods. I loved making Enchiladas Verde in my pre-vegan days. I can’t give this up so I am going to experiment with a vegan version (and gluten-free, always and of course).
I am going to make the filling out of seasoned black beans, cooked brown rice, and chopped white onion and cilantro. I also stumbled across a recipe for filling it with mashed sweet potatoes and black beans here, and I may borrow that idea in a later version of my experiments.
I am going to make a traditional salsa verde for my enchiladas, using tomatillos and serranos. The only change will be to use vegetable stock flavored with a bit of vegan chicken bouillon powder instead of plain old chicken stock.
Salsa Verde:
- 1 cup vegetable stock
- 1 tsp. vegan ‘chicken’ bouillon powder
- 1 lb fresh tomatillos, husks removed
- 5 serrano peppers
- 1/4 of white onion
- 1 clove garlic
- pinch salt
Place tomatillos and serranos in a pot and cover with water. Bring to a boil, and continue boiling until the tomatillos turn a darker dull shade of green. Strain tomatillos and serranos and place in a blender with the onion, garlic and salt. Mix the bouillon powder into the vegetable stock to dissolve. Top up the blender with some of the stock. Cover and blend until completely pureed. Add more liquid as needed.
Transfer the sauce from the blender to a saucepan and bring to a boil over low heat. Let simmer away while you begin to assemble the enchiladas.
Black Bean Filling:
- 1 14-oz can black beans, drained and rinsed
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 lime, juiced
- 1/4 of white onion, minced finely
Mix all ingredients in a bowl and set aside to stuff enchiladas.
Brown Rice Filling:
- 2 cups cooked brown rice
- 1 small jalapeno or serrano chile, minced finely
- 1/2 tsp ground cumin
- 1/2 tsp chili powder
- salt and pepper, to taste
Combine all ingredients in a bowl and set aside to stuff enchiladas.
Garnishes and Other Stuff:
- corn tortillas
- vegetable oil for frying
- 1 bunch cilantro, chopped
- 1/4 of white onion, finely chopped
- vegan Monterrey Jack cheese (optional)
So, here’s how it all comes together…
In a skillet over med-hi heat, add some vegetable oil to coat the bottom of the pan. Fry corn tortillas one at a time in the hot oil to crisp them up a bit. Don’t overbrown them. Set on paper towel to drain.
In a baking dish, spread some of the warm salsa verde on the bottom. Dip each corn tortilla into the warm salsa verde. Lay in the baking dish and place a portion of the bean mixture, and a portion of the rice mixture in the tortilla. Top with cilantro and white onion. Roll up the enchilada as snugly as possible. Repeat for all the tortillas. At the end, take any remaining salsa verde and drizzle it over the top of all the rolled up enchiladas. If using vegan cheese, sprinkle cheese on top.
Another easy, time-saving method, is to layer the corn tortillas and fillings like a lasagna. In a 9×13 pan, lay out 6 of the tortillas, overlapping slightly. Spread out 1/2 of the rice mixture, top with 1/3 of the onion and cilantro mixture. Then, lay out 6 more tortillas, 1/2 of the bean mixture, top with 1/3 of the onion mixture and top with 6 more tortillas. Mix the remaining rice and beans together and spread out. Top with remaining onion and cilantro. Top with 6 more tortillas. Pour the remaining salsa verde on top and bake until heated through.
Place baking dish in the oven under a broiler for a few minutes to heat everything through again and melt the cheese if necessary.
I am going to be making this recipe later in the week. I will post pics then. Mmmmmm mexican night. I am going to serve these with guacamole and fresh salsa and corn chips.
Update 07/22/2009: I made this tonight. It was amazing. And, surprise surprise, I forgot to take pics. It got rave reviews from everyone.
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