Veggie Enchiladas

Beany Enchiladas

Takes about 1 and 20 minutes

Serves 6

Enchiladas will win anyone over.  The sauce on these babies is delicious.  In my family, there is never agreement over whether to make food spicy or mild.  I personally only like very light spice (I can’t stand very strong spicy foods).  I have tried to solve this delimna by creating an optional chili sauce to go with the enchiladas.  You can increase or decrease the spiciness of this side sauce depending on your taste.  This recipe looks like a lot of work but it really isn’t that bad.  It goes pretty fast.  If you are a fan of vegan cheese, you can cut some up and bake it on the top of the enchiladas but they do not lack anything but not having cheese.

Ingredients:

Sauce:

1 (28 oz) can crushed tomatoes

2 tbsp olive oil

4 cloves garlic, crushed

1 ½ tsp cumin

1 tsp onion powder

1 tsp salt

1 ½ tsp liquid smoke

1 tsp oregano

2 tsp sugar

1 tbsp balsamic vinegar

½ tsp cinnamon

Chili Sauce:

1 dried chipotle pepper (more if you like it super hot!)

2/3 cup boiling water

Filling:

3 cups cooked black-eyed peas, black beans, pinto beans, kidney beans or a mix

1 (15 oz) can white hominy or yellow corn

1 ½ tbsp olive oil

1 tsp salt

1 tsp curry powder

1 tsp cumin

1 tbsp nutritional yeast

1 tsp garlic powder

8 tortillas

½ cup roasted pepitas

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2. To make the sauce, heat the olive oil in a pan.  Add the garlic and sauté over medium high heat for about 2 minutes or until garlic is aromatic and lightly browned.  Add the rest of the ingredients.  Simmer for about 10-15 minutes.

3. Allow chili pepper to soak with the boiling water in a separate bowl for about 20 minutes.  At the end of the 20 minutes, remove and cut up the chili pepper into very small pieces.  Reserve 2 tbsp of the water that the chili was soaked in and pour out the rest.  Add ½ cup of the tomato sauce to the chopped chili and 2 tbsp soaking liquid.  Stir well and set aside to serve with the enchiladas.

4. Mix all the filling ingredients together and stir well.  Yep, it’s that easy!

5. Use either two 9-inch square baking dishes or one 9x13-inch baking dish.  Assemble enchiladas by laying tortillas on a flat surface and putting a line (one large spoonful) of filling across the middle of the tortillas.  Roll the tortilla up and place in the baking dish.  Continue this until all the tortillas are used up.  Cover the enchiladas with the sauce, spread evenly over the top.

6. Bake for 15 minutes.  Sprinkle the tops with the pepitas and serve.