This week there is two Wednesday Eats! Both recipes are vegan versions of traditional comfort food.
We collaborated on this post for Wednesday Eats. I made the vegan tacos and Sara made the homemade salsa. Everything was amazingly good. We were particular impressed with how the vegan taco meat came out. It tastes exactly like taco meat, yet it’s made with lentils, walnuts and black beans. I did not use any oil, salt, sugar or any pre-packaged taco seasoning and it was extremely easy to make. It took me less than 30 minutes! Below is my spin on the vegan tacos, adapted from Oh She Glows.
Vegan Taco Meat
1/2 cup Lentils – washed and drained
2 to 3 oz walnut halves – finely chopped [using a food processor or automatic food chopper]
1 can low sodium black beans – mashed [using a fork]
diced tomatoes – I used one can of diced tomatoes with herbs, but you can dice as much as you’d like. make sure to drain out as much water as you can.
1 to 3 spoonfuls of a salsa of your choice – I used Trader Joe’s Serrano Salsa Fresca
For the seasonings use a lot of cumin, turmeric, chili powder, cayenne powder, pepper. Optional seasonings – onion powder, garlic powder or add chopped garlic, Italian seasoning.
For this recipe you don’t really want the lentils to get too mushy. For 1/2 cup lentils in a small pot add 3/4 cups water [think 1 and half parts water to every 1 part lentils]. Bring to boil and then let simmer until just when the water is gone. You can taste test it to see if they are cooked enough and fit the density you desire. Remove from heat immediately and dump the lentils into a skillet. Add the rest of the ingredients and seasonings. Cook out most of the moisture so it’s not too watery. Serve right away.
For the final touches we used soft corn-wheat tortillas instead of hard shells and I found it really tasty. We also added avocado, sliced red onions, black olives and a little more salsa. You can certainly get more creative and add more variety to the taco filling, as well as the toppings.
The main thing about salsa is all about chopping and mincing and creating the customized blend of flavors to fit your individual taste. Sara’s salsa was awesome so if you’d like to try out her recipe here it is:
Homemade Salsa
a heap of tomatoes (5 or so)
1 bell pepper
1 hot pepper
1/2 onion
3 cloves of garlic
half a bunch of cilantro
cumin & chili powder to taste (I used a few teaspoons of each)
salt to taste
Chop of all your vegetables. Sara used a food processor. It’s not necessary to chop the vegetables too finely. Put all the chopped veggies and spices into the processor at once. All it took was a few pulses to get the optimum salsa consistency. Don’t over mix or you’ll end up with spicy soup that is basically undipable. Remember to let it sit for at least a few hours in the fridge to allow the favors to meld together.
We have been interested in trying out vegetarian and vegan spins on classic comfort foods. These vegan tacos were basically amazing and could even please a meat lover. They taste awesome and are very satisfying. We could barely eat more than one!
Happy eating!
– MaryAnne
Feather + Pine 