One of the blogs I really enjoy following is Gluten-Free Goddess, and she posted one great looking recipe.
I decided to give it a try, and it was super worth staying up late to make…no, the recipe didn't really take very long, I was way, way, off-schedule, and was hungry so I made a late supper.
And, in the same situation as Karina, I didn't have the exact ingredients on hand, and veggies from the pepper and chile family aren't always my tummy's best friends, so I made some modifications. They turned out fantastic.
Here's
Karina's recipe with a very nice picture, and my modifications are below after the break. Sadly, no picture, I was a little spaced running on fumes and 4 hours sleep. Recipe after the jump.
From Gluten-Free Goddess
Sweet Potato Black Bean Enchiladas
I vary the recipe sometimes by adding a schmear of cream cheese down the middle of the corn tortilla before spooning in the sweet potato filling. And the chile sauce can be mild or hot. However you like it. Both are tasty.
Quickie Green Chile Sauce::
- 1 cup light vegetable broth
- 1 tablespoon arrowroot starch dissolved in a little cold water
- 1 generous cup chopped roasted green chiles- hot or mild
- 2-3 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 teaspoon cumin or chili powder, hot or mild, to taste
For the filling::
- 1 15-oz can organic black beans, rinsed, drained
- 3-4 cloves garlic, minced
- Fresh lime juice from 1 big juicy lime
- 2 heaping cups cooked sweet potatoes, smashed a bit, but still chunky [I cube mine, then soften just a little]
- 1/2 cup chopped roasted green chiles
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
- 1/2 teaspoon chili powder, or curry, mild or spicy, as you prefer
- Sea salt and black pepper, to taste
- 2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro
To Assemble::
2-4 tablespoons light olive oil or vegetable oil, as needed
8 white corn tortillas (I used Mission gluten-free tortillas)
Shredded Monterey Jack cheese, or vegan cheese, if desired
Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F. Choose a baking dish that would hold 8 enchiladas. I use a glass 9x13" rectangular pan.
Make your Quickie Green Chile Sauce by combining the broth, dissolved arrowroot, green chiles, garlic and spices in a sauce pan and heating over medium-high heat. Bring to a high simmer. Simmer until thickened. Taste test. Set aside.
In the meantime, using a mixing bowl, combine the drained black beans with minced garlic and lime juice. Toss to coat the beans and set aside.
In a separate bowl combine the lightly smashed sweet potatoes with the chopped green chiles; add the spices. Season with sea salt and pepper.
Pour about 1/4 cup of the Quickie Green Chile Sauce into the bottom of the baking dish.
Grab a skillet and heat a dash of oil. Lightly cook the corn tortillas to soften them - one at a time - as you stuff each one. Lay the first hot tortilla in the sauced baking dish; wet it with the sauce. Spoon 1/8 of the sweet potato mixture down the center. Top with 1/8 of the black beans. Wrap and roll the tortilla to the end of the baking dish. Repeat for the remaining tortillas. Top with the rest of the sauce. If you like, top with a sprinkle of shredded Monterey Jack cheese. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, until the enchiladas are piping hot and the sauce is bubbling around the edges.
Serve with a crisp salad of baby greens and herbs spiked with oranges, strawberries, watermelon or halved grapes. Serves 4.
Source: glutenfreegoddess.blogspot.com
Recipe ©2005-2011 Karina Allrich
16 June 2011 - Monica's Modifications:
Used Tomatoes instead of green chiles, and tapioca starch instead of arrowroot.
I used the
large brown rice tortillas from Food for Life, available in the organics freezer section at Loblaws, Planet Organic, Earth's General Store and many other megamart places. Made 5-6 Enchiladas with a little filling leftover. Perfect for a snack. What? Yes, I don't need the wrapper to eat delicious filling.
Chipotle powder & chile powder instead of cumin (to taste, not to the measures in recipe)
The "sauce" took a very long time to cook down/reduce by 30%, 30-40 minutes, but did not thicken - I suspect the acid in the tomatoes might have inhibited the tapioca starch. Was still mighty tasty, and just enough to coat the tortillas.
Doubled the cilantro, (I'm a fan… you do not have to!) and chopped extra for topping after heating.
Added salt to sauce - tomato acid needed balancing. Taste your sauce FIRST! Sometimes it needs a little, sometimes a lot.
I used a Yam instead of Sweet potato. Ran through Børner slicer for uniform chunks, but that's me. You can use any knife to cut it - just…be careful. I have a Kevlar glove (or three) now. One small-medium-ish yam was enough. Microwaved about 6 minutes with a bit of water
Mixed all the filling components together in one bowl - Made an error and put it all into one bowl. Doesn't seem to need to be in two separate bowls as per the original instructions - if mixed up evenly seems great.
One small lime (grocery didn't have any large ones) gave about 1/4 cup of juice…amazing, but needed to be balanced with salt in the filling - it was a little tart. It was super late… I'm sure I used salt. Wasn't it? Hmmm.
Feel free to skip the oven. I shredded one baby-bel cheese on top of one enchilada, and popped it in the nuker in a glass dish for 3 mins at 60% power, might have been a tiny bit long, the cheese was a tiny bit well-done, but the filling was nice and toasty.
I let the tortillas thaw from frozen, but didn't do the heated pan thing. You can heat them, but if they're soft enough, don't have to with this brand. They did not crack for me, but your mileage may vary!
The filling tasted great at room temperature as well as heated.
Was planning on adding some corn (frozen or canned) but forgot… next time.
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March 2013 addendum!
BEANS!
So I have learned that dried beans
do not have to soak overnight or require cooking forever! Excellent. I can save some cash and divorce canned beans!
All you need is either a pressure cooker, or instant pot, and an hour, or a pot of boiling water and a couple of hours. Put on a kettle full of water, while that's boiling, rinse your beans in a colander and look for rocks or offending material and bad beans. YES - definitely look for rocks! Some odd ones make it through the sorter and that's hard on the teeth. When that's done, put the beans in a nice big saucepan. (I only feed 1 or 2 people usually, so I don't need to use a cauldron) Cover the beans with a generous amount of boiling water and bring it to a boil on the stovetop. Let it boil for 2-3 minutes, then remove from the heat and let it sit for 60 minutes. I found I needed to rinse and repeat-they absorbed a huge amount of water and were only partially cooked.
Pressure cookers are a great tool, (I love mine almost more than my microwave), but they can be dangerous if you do not follow the instructions for your pot. Do NOT overfill (especially the old ones). If you aren't sure what you are doing, read those manufacturers instructions, ask for help from someone who knows. Or buy one of the new-fangled electric types or an instant pot on Amazon. There's even one model geared JUST for bean cooking, but it will cook everything else just fine too. Unitaskers, I'm appalled by. Single-taskers that just take up space. and thanks to Alton Brown, I don't have to settle.
Heck, the folks at the Atco Blue Flame Kitchen would also be happy to help you out with any questions about beans and pulses! http://www.atcoblueflamekitchen.com/
I have a scanned copy of my 44 year old Aluminum Presto Pressure Cooker manual if you'd like it. I'll see if I can post it here soon.
Links for pulses:
http://www.pulse.ab.ca/consumers/cooking-with-pulses/
@Dinnerwithjulie has an awesome cookbook: Spilling the Beans
http://www.amazon.ca/gp/aw/d/1770500413
