Vibrant Vegetarian Tacos
These soft tortilla tacos are fun (albeit messy) to eat, and the beans are a delicious protein alternative to the slow-cooked meat (also delicious) that you usually find in tacos. Filled with black beans*, baked butternut squash, quick-pickled red cabbage, avocado, oregano feta and a fiery tomato and jalapeño salsa, they are packed with colour and flavour, and perfect served with a cold beer or Michael’s Margaritas.
*Usually, when eating Mexican food, we make a HUGE pot of black beans and start with dried beans, rather than the tinned ones in this recipe, soak them overnight and then cook them following my grandma’s special recipe. This is far more satisfying and there is plenty for days to come, but I’ll divulge that method in a separate post.
Makes enough for 6 tacos (2 people)
Ingredients
1 tin of 400g black beans in water (make sure there’s no added salt or sugar. We buy the Biona brand as they are softer once cooked, whereas other brands tend to stay hard because they have the salt and sugar in them)
1/2 red onion
2 cloves of garlic
Olive oil
Dry chilli flakes
Small bunch of coriander
1 small butternut squash
1/2 red cabbage
2 lemons
15 yellow cherry tomatoes (can also be red if you can’t get yellow)
3 jalapeno slices
1 lime
1 avocado
Corn tortillas from Cool Chile Co (as they are actually corn and taste the best)
Sea salt
Method
Preheat oven to 180C/160 Fan/350F/Gas 4.
Cut the butternut squash in half, carefully cut off the skin and take out the seeds, wasting as little as possible.
Cut the butternut squash into rough cubes about 1.5cm x 1.5cm.
Put the squash onto a baking tray and drizzle/mix with olive oil, sea salt and chilli flakes.
Bake in the oven for about 20 minutes.
Meanwhile, finely chop the half red onion, garlic and the coriander stalks and add to a pot with 2tbsp olive oil. Cook on a low heat like a soffrito for a risotto, so until the ingredients are softened (make sure they don’t burn!)
Once soft, add the tin of black beans (water included) and mix everything together.
Turn up the heat a little and keep stirring the beans every so often. Cook for about 30 minutes or until they have softened and come together.
Stir and rotate the butternut squash and bake for another 20 minutes. As they are small pieces, keep an eye on them and make sure that they don’t burn.
Taste the beans - add a pinch of sea salt to season. They get better the longer you cook them, so don’t worry about leaving them on a low heat while you finish all of the other elements.
For the quick pickled cabbage, finely slice the red cabbage lengthways into thin strips and put into a bowl.
Dress the cabbage with a pinch of sea salt and the juice of two lemons and massage with your hands to soften it.
For the fiery tomato and jalapeño salsa, put the cherry tomatoes, jalapeños, a pinch of sea salt and the juice of 1 lime into a food processor and blitz until smooth.
Toast the tortillas gently on a dry hot pan.
Turn off the heat on the black beans and take the butternut squash out.
Slice the avocado finely.
To serve, first put layer the black beans onto the tortilla, followed by the butternut squash and then top with the avocado slices, feta, fresh coriander leaves and a drizzle of the salsa.