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Old 05-03-2016, 02:50 PM
Nameless Nameless is offline
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Join Date: Apr 2012
Location: Over the Rainbow
Posts: 2,729
 
I live in Southern California, and we like a lot of Southern California Mexican food. It is not authentic Mexican food, and it is not the same Mexican food they have in Texas - TexMex. This is authentic home grown California Mexican food - served in the Mexican Food chain restaurants - like Ricardo's (Don Jose's), etc.

It is easy to make these recipes vegan, so here are a few we eat. (When buying tortillas or spice packages, you have to read the ingredients. For tortillas, Some are vegan, some are made with lard - of course, some spice packets don't make the cut. if you are vegan you have already read so many labels you know what to look for, but just saying.)

Burritos - oh my - these are way better than Del Taco! (serves 4)
Basic Bean Burrito:
1 large can of Sun Vista Pinto Beans
1 package Flour Tortillas - 8 tortillas

The flavor trick here I learned from a lady I worked with who's grandmother was mexican - the canned refried beans are what I was used to, so this bumped up the flavor so now I never buy the canned anymore - I make my own refried beans! And if you like cooking beans, you can start from scratch and cook your own pinto beans, just remember to drain off the soaking liquid and when you are done cooking them, keep some of the cooking liquid to add back in for the mashing part.

Dump the Sun Vista Pinto beans in a large frying pan or a stock pot, liquid and all. The secret is keeping the liquid, not throwing it out. Turn on medium high heat. Using a potato masher, mash some of the beans, and bring them to a boil, then simmer for 20 minutes, mashing more as you go You want to end up with about 1/4 of the beans not mashed, and keep cooking them until they are thickened up. 20 minutes is usually long enough. If you are doubling the bean part of this receipt, for the 2nd can, drain the 2nd can's liquid into another container - you shouldn't need to add it back in, there is enough liquid in the first can for this recipe to work, or you can add both cans liquid and cook them for an hour - not!

For the flour torillas, heat them however you like. Everyone in my family likes them heated a bit differently. You can wrap 1 -2 in a damp paper towel and micro them for 15 - 20 seconds; if you have a gas stove, you can put them on the burners and crisp them up, you can heat them in a pan, you can add some oil to a pan and heat them that way. If you are cooking them in a pan, turn them over when they expand into pillowy clouds, and cook both sides. This doesn't take long, so don't walk away.

So, to the basic Bean Burrito recipe, you can do a lot of different things.

Fajita them up:
2 green bell peppers
1- 2 large onions

Slice the bell peppers thin, and start cooking them on medium heat in a few tablespoons of olive oil first - they take longer than the onions (I like my bell peppers soft for this receipe). Cut the onions in half and slice them thin like the peppers and separate the layers out (like in fajitas) and add them when the bell peppers have cooked for a few minutes.

These are sweep and yummy, but recently we started spicing them up a bit, and the flavor combination works well.

Pico De Gallo
3 tomatoes (small to medium) - dice the outer tomato only and throw the "meat" away - the gushy insides
1 medium onion - small dice
1 bunch of fresh cilantro - this is time consuming, but very nice flavor - rinse them in water and using a knife, hold the bundle up and slice off the leaves - you will still need to pull some of the stems off, but this takes a lot of the work out of it, then I pull all the leaves off the stems.
1 - (or 2 for Hot Hot) small fresh jalepenos OR Serrano peppers - slice very thin and dice (I don't use the seeds, but if you like HOT, you can add some). You can also use canned jalepeno's, but just know, they are not very Hot, but they do add the flavor.
2 limes
Sea Salt - any salt with work though

Add the diced tomatoes, onion and peppers to a non-reactive bowl - add the juice of 1 lime (if the lime is very juicy) or 2 if the limes are not juicy - this is really to taste. Add about 1/4 teas of the salt - doesn't need a lot.
Cover and chill for at least 1 hour, so if you are using this for your burritos, make this up ahead of time. Will stay in the frig for about a day. This is not salsa, there is no sauce to it. Sprinkle a bit on your burritos to taste before you wrap them up.

Toppings for burritos: I love avocadoes, and sour cream. For sour cream alternative, my son uses a bit of Veganaise (he uses it in a lot of his receipes) - to me, it looks like he is adding mayonaise, but to each his own. You could add vegan grated cheese like Daiya.

Enchilada burritos - yum!

Lawry's Enchilada Spice Package
1 small can tomato paste
Heat oven to 350 degrees Fairenheight
Cook the enchilada sauce as described on the package
Cook your refried beans as described above
Use Burrito Sized tortillas - heat them gently - micro works best for this.
Add beans to tortillas and wrap them up. Add them to a baking dish - wrap up as many as you like - pour some of the sauce over them (to taste - some like a little sauce, I like to drown mine in sauce) add vegan cheese to taste - you could also put some cheese inside the burritos before cooking.
Heat them in the oven for about 10 - 15 minutes

Enchiladas - using corn tortillas instead of flour, make your Enchilada sauce as described above, when done, dip the tortillas one by one in the sauce and lay them on a baking dish (spray the baking dish with a Nonstick spray first if necessary) a few at a time, and put whatever you are using as your ingredients inside, wrap them up, cover in sauce that is left, sprinkle with whatever cheese you like to use, and heat them at 350 degrees F for 15 minutes. Yum.

If you like cheese enchiladas, just use the Daiya cheese. If you like vegee enchiladas, use precooked vegees. Precooked cauliflower mixed with brocolli works good.

You can cook the refried beans and put them on the side, or in the enchiladas as you want.

I'm getting hungry typing this. Enjoy!

Oh, don't forget the Mexican Rice. You could make some up and add them inside or on the side of the burritos or enchiladas.

A simple Mexican rice receipe is to add 1 can of mexican flavored diced tomatoes to the rice cooker with the rice and use less water to compensate for the liquid - you could measure this out and turn in on and cook as usual.

To cooked white rice, you can add some in a frying pan and add 1 small can of tomato sauce, or a can of diced tomatoes with the liquid, or use a packaged Spanish rice mix - they are tasty as well.
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