Cannelloni Beans and Mixed Vegetable Quesadilla

Quesadillas are corn or flour tortillas folded in half with bean and other ingredients. While authentic quesadilla call for certain combinations of filling you could use the method of preparation and go crazy with the filling of your choice. This is what I used to do as quesadillas were a favorite packed lunch in our house. I used to try different combinations and had a few favorites. I do not make them as frequently now but once in a while I like to experiment. This recipe was well received as everyone in the family loves vegetables. Introducing vegetables as a snack at an early age may have had something to do with it. In fact, I try not to add too many flavor modifiers to my recipes so we can enjoy the taste of fresh vegetables.

Some time back I got a Veggie Bullet, the quick and easy way to prep your food. The vegetables for this Cannelloni Bean and Mixed Vegetable Quesadilla were processed using this gadget. I shredded the vegetables so that they can be added to the quesadilla without leaving any lumps.

You will need
1 can Canelloni beans or 1 cup beans soaked overnight and pressure cooked
1 carrot
1/2 head broccoli
1/4 onion
4 flour tortilla (I use my everyday poli)
1/4 cup feta cheese crumpled
salt and pepper to taste (remember feta cheese has a lot of salt)
1 tbsp. olive oil

Prep the beans. If using canned beans rinse and drain, keep aside. If using dry beans soak overnight and pressure cook until just tender. Shred the vegetables using your choice of shredder.

Heat the oil in a pan. Add the vegetables and saute for a few minutes. Since I made this recipe I have switched to sauteing vegetables in a little water. They retain their flavor and freshness better.

Add the cooked beans and mash them with a potato masher. You do not want a paste, just enough to blend it all together.

Add the feta cheese, salt and pepper to taste.

Let the mixture cool. In the meantime prepare the tortilla. When you are ready to put it all together. Heat a tortilla on a pan.

Add the filling to half the tortilla and fold it over.

Heat it thoroughly on both sides without letting it burn.

The quesadilla are ready.

Enjoy!

Tortilla Roll Diploma

This is the season for graduation, high school and college children finishing one phase of their life and moving on.  This is also the season for graduation ceremonies and parties with friends and families. My daughter graduated from high school this year and this is one of the dishes I made for her the week she graduated.

Time flies and it seems only yesterday I dropped her off at her first day of Kindergarten. She was looking forward to it so much, she could not wait to run into the classroom. When the teacher asked the children to line up, wave to the parents and walk into the classroom, she waved and never looked back. And now she is all done with school and is ready for college.

I used whole wheat tortillas from Whole Foods. I also used canned black beans and store bought salsa making this a semi homemade meal. I have not specified quantities as you can adjust them to your taste.

You will need
whole wheat tortilla as needed
cooked black beans as needed
tomatoes, diced
lettuce shredded
sour cream
salsa

Heat the tortilla in a hot pan. Flip over to heat both sides. Spread some sour cream on the tortilla. Place the black beans, tomatoes, lettuce and salsa over the tortilla. Roll it up and serve warm.

To make these for a graduation party cut a length of ribbon and tie it around the roll to make it look like a diploma.

Enjoy!

Spinach Enchiladas in Red Sauce

Mexican dishes brings a big smile from my daughter at the dinner table. She loves the flavors from this cuisine. Authentic Mexican food was easily available in Arizona where she grew up. It takes a long time to prepare Mexican dishes but the taste is so worth it. Verde sauce is her favorite so I favor that sauce. Since moving to Texas my daughter has taken to Tex Mex, but I have not tried it at home yet. It is a spicier version of Mexican food and the couple of times I have tasted it I could not get past the spicy flavors to the actual taste.

I make this red sauce enchilada very infrequently. If you are not partial to verde sauce then you should try this version of enchiladas. I have stuffed the enchiladas with spinach. You could use plain cheese or any other filling of your choice.

You will need
7-8 tortilla
1/4 cup cheddar cheese
3 cups red enchilada sauce
1 cup filling

For the filling
1 bunch spinach
1/4 cup onion, shredded (optional)
1 /2 tsp. cayenne pepper powder
1 tbsp. olive oil
1/2 tsp. cumin powder
salt to taste

Wash and clean the spinach. Heat oil in pan and add the onions. Saute until translucent. Then add the spinach. If you are not using onions, add the spinach to the oil. Let it cook until wilted but not mushy. Add cayenne pepper, salt and cumin powder. Let it cook a couple more minutes. Turn off heat and allow to cool completely.

Preheat oven to 350 F. In a baking casserole dish ladle enough red sauce to cover the bottom. Prepare the enchiladas.  On a flat surface place the tortilla. Fill the center with the cooked spinach and a little cheese.

Fold in the sides and then starting from once end roll all the way to the other end. Place the prepared enchilada in the baking dish. Continue with the other tortilla, placing them in the dish next to each other, open side down.

When all the tortilla are placed int he dish, ladle the remaining sauce over the top.

Sprinkle the remaining cheese. Cover with foil and bake covered for 20 minutes. Remove the foil and bake another 5 minutes. Let it rest out of the oven for 5 minutes and serve.

Enjoy!

Green Corn Tamales

Green Corn Tamales is one of our favorite dishes. We all enjoy a good tamale in my family. This is our go to dish at Mexican restaurants and if they cannot make a good tamale we never go to that restaurant again.

In Arizona we had a local festival where representatives from a lot of countries of the world put up booths in a downtown park to showcase their cuisine. The goal was to make available low priced food in small quantities allowing people to taste food from as many cuisines as possible. As soon as we finished our volunteer shift at the Indian booth we would made our way to the tamale stall. The family making the tamales specially made vegetarian tamales using only vegetarian ingredients. After the tamales we headed to other booths.

Corn is in season right now. Tamale is supposed to be made with a starchy corn and not the sweet variety found in the US. But since we do not have any other option I use the sweet corn and we all love that too.

You will need
3 ears of corn with husk
1 cup corn Masa (this is coarse corn flour specially made for tamales and tortilla)
1/2 medium onion
2 cloves garlic
1 jalapeno
1 tsp. baking powder
salt to taste

Pull the husk off the corn in multiple layers to keep it from tearing.

Save the husks wrapped in wet paper towel until needed. Using a sharp knife cut out the corn kernels and discard the center.

Chop the onion, mince the jalapeno and garlic. Run the corn kernels through the food processor until you have a coarse mixture.

Add masa, onion, jalapeno, garlic and baking powder and salt to taste. Combine to form a thick batter. Soak the saved corn husks in water so they are pliable.

Spread the husks flat on a work surface and fill with a small handful of the corn batter. If the husk is not broad enough use two or three husks side by side overlapping a little.

Fold the sides and the top. Ensure you leave a opening on one side. Repeat the process to prepare all the tamales. Steam for 1 hour and 15 minutes in a steamer. Check to see if done. If not give it another 15 minutes.

Serve hot with verde sauce.

Enjoy!

Guatemalan Enchiladas

Like their Honduran counterparts, the Guatemalan enchiladas are also served flat on a tostada rather than rolled up and baked. But that is where the similarity with Honduras ends. Lots of vegetables, pickled and in the filling are used as toppings on the Guatemalan enchiladas.

The taste is very different from the other enchiladas. My daughter did not care much for the pickled vegetables. Interestingly her friend, who was in the house to work on a school project and had dinner with us, loved the pickled vegetables. Her Korean origin may have had something to do with it. And yes, my daughter's friends also get the experimental dishes if they stay over for dinner. Luckily, they are willing to try anything.

I had trouble finding an authentic recipe so I used a lot of sources to verify the ingredients of the components. I also had to convert the recipe to its vegetarian version. I then ensured the enchiladas I made had the same look and feel as the pictures available on the web. Adapted mainly from here.

I used a chayote for the very first time. I had seen it in Whole Foods before and wondered what it was. Now I know. It is a fleshy avacado like squash with a soft seed in the center. I could not name a substitute, if you cannot find it leave it out.

You will have to start a day ahead as the vegetables need to be pickled for about 24 hours.

You will need
Pickled Vegetables
1 medium onion
1/2 chayote
1 carrot
1/4 cabbage
1 small beet
2 cloves garlic, divided
1 bay leaf
4 tbsp. oil
1/4 cup rice vinegar
salt and pepper to taste

For the bean mixture
1 cup dry black beans or 1 can black beans
1/2 chayote
1 carrot
15 green beans
1/8 cabbage
1/2 red
1 tbsp. olive oil
salt and pepper to taste

For the sauce
1 roma tomato
1/2 red pepper
1 clove garlic
salt and pepper to taste

8 corn tortilla
1 cup Cotija cheese
handful of lettuce or spinach leaves

To get the pickled vegetables started
The day before you are planning on serving these enchiladas start the pickling process. Cut the onions in semi circular rings and soak it in a mixture of oil and vinegar. Add 1 clove of minced garlic and salt/pepper to taste. Cover and keep aside for an hour. Refrigerate overnight.

To prepare the pickled vegetables
Boil water in a pot. Cut the chayote and remove the big seed in the center. Reserve one half for the bean mixture. Julienne the other half. Peel the carrots and julienne. Shred the cabbage. Add the vegetables, a crushed clove of garlic and a bay leaf to the boiling water.

Blanch for a couple minutes and pour through a strainer reserving the hot liquid. Let the vegetables cool completely.

Put the liquid back in the pot and bring to a boil. Wash, peel and grate the beet. Add it to the boiling liquid and let it cook for a few minutes. Strain and discard the water. Let it cool completely.

Throw away the bay leaf. Add the cooled vegetables to the pickled onions. Add salt and pepper as needed. Refrigerate.

For the bean mixture
Soak the beans overnight and pressure cook the next day. Skip this step if using canned beans.
Dice the remaining chayote. Wash, peel and dice the carrot. Wash the beans and cut off the ends. Dice. Shred the cabbage. Cut the red pepper in half and remove the seeds and stem. Save one half for the sauce. Dice the other half.
Heat olive oil in a pan and add the cooked beans, all the vegetables and a half cup of water.

Cook until the water has evaporated. Season with salt and pepper. Cover and keep aside.

For the sauce
Dice the tomato, red pepper and garlic. Cook them in a small pan until the tomato is mushy.

Blend together. Season as needed with salt and pepper.

To put it all together
Grate the cheese.

Fry the corn tortillas one as a time in hot oil for about 30 seconds on each side. Or brush the tortilla with oil and microwave for 2 minutes flipping them over once.

On a plate place the tortilla and add a few spinach leaves. (Or lettuce leaves if using lettuce)

Spoon in the pickled vegetables on the leaves.

Add the black bean mixture.

Sprinkle the cheese and dribble the tomato sauce over the top.

Enjoy!

Honduran Enchiladas

What they call enchiladas in Honduras we call tostadas. You would never guess the toppings that go on the tostasdas. I know I never would have. But when I found these very interesting enchiladas on the blog DaisyCooks I knew I had to try them. First, however, I had to adapt her recipe to my vegetarian kitchen.

Yesterday I posted our favorite Mexican enchiladas. I knew these Honduran enchiladas would be very different but I could not imagine how boiled potatoes, sweet plantain, raw cabbage and beans on a tostada would taste even if it had tomato sauce to bind it all together. I should have not have worried. I should have known that any recipe that has been handed down for generations has survived for a reason. All those ingredients that I would never dream of using in a single recipe do actually work very well together. We all enjoyed them very much.

This recipe has a lot of little things that need to be done simultaneously. But it is not really labor intensive. 

You will need

1 cup dry black beans or 1 can black beans

1 onion, divided

2 cloves garlic, divided

1 serrano pepper, deseeded and minced

1 roma tomato

1 tsp. cumin seeds

10 oz. can tomato sauce

1/2 tsp. paprika

1/ tsp. brown sugar

2 small potatoes

1 ripe plantain (I used Columbian plantain)

1 cup Queso Cotijo, grated

1/4 cabbage

8 corn tortillas

4 tbsp. olive oil, divided

salt and pepper to taste

Soak the black beans overnight and pressure cook them the next day until tender. Skip this step if using canned beans. 

Dice the onion and garlic. Divide into 2. Reserve one half for the sauce. Chop the roma tomato.

Heat 1 tbsp. oil in a pan and add the onion, garlic, tomato, serrano pepper and cumin seeds. Cook until tender about 5 minutes. Add the black beans and half cup water.

Continue cooking until the water evaporates. Cover and keep aside.

In a separate pan heat 1 tbsp. olive oil and add the reserved onion and garlic. Cook on medium heat until transparent. Add tomato sauce, paprika and brown sugar. Season with salt and pepper.

Simmer for 3-5 minutes and turn off heat. Cover and keep aside.

Boil the potatoes and cut into 1 inch cubes. 

Cut the ends off the plantain and peel the skin off. Cut into 1/4th inch thick slices. Heat 2 tbsp. oil in a separate pan and add the plantain to it. When brown flip it over and brown the other side.

When done drain on a paper towel.

Grate the Cotijo cheese.

Shred the cabbage. Take your time and make sure you cut it into really thin pieces.

You can either fry the tortilla in oil or you could brush them with oil and bake in a 400 F oven for 3-5 minutes. If you choose to fry them make sure you leave them in the oil for at least 30 seconds each side or until the tortilla is crisp and brownish in color.

To put it all together place a tortilla on a plate.

Add a layer of the bean mixture and place a couple of potatoes slices and plantain slices on it.

Now add the cabbage and the cheese. 

Top with the tomato sauce.

Enjoy!