Tex-Mex Chili Gravy Cheese Enchiladas

It takes me consuming comfort food to bring me back to writing. These are heavy, rich, and cheesy with steaming bites of diced onions nestled inside. Karl and I really love these Tex-Mex Chili Gravy Cheese Enchiladas. The Homesick Texan really helped me create the foods I simply could not find anywhere in Belgium. These enchiladas are killer. I find that I have a revolving door of recipes that are largely Asian and Tex-Mex variants. 

So here is what has been going on with me. I was reviewing some older posts on here from March until now, and I was purposely vague, because of how many life changes were happening. I want to correct that  - I'm not sure how frequently I will post, or how stuff will change, but I would love to share the experiences of transitioning back to full-time work, developing as an instructor/prof in my own field, and documenting the trials and tribulations of living in a new place with its own cultural views (cough, politically very right of the center, and in direct contrast to Belgium a "hostile" biking culture). 

I'm teaching 3 courses, have approx 160 students, and I have no time to do anything but grade and develop. I've developed syllabi for my courses, and the assignments, exams, and assessments. It is an endless race between developing course materials, and bringing my own perspective into the mix. I have learned that there is a lot of stuff you want to do, and then there is a lot of stuff you end up doing to save time, and energy. You aren't particularly proud of making sacrifices for the coolest assignment ever, but then you get to grading, and you realize where all the gaps are (e.g. you can post and assign whatever awesome review articles, media pieces, social media, etc and your students are just not going to have the time to read any of it). They rely almost exclusively on lectures - honestly - they don't read. Or, they read very very little. 

This weekend was a huge football weekend for southern university. I went to all the homecoming events as faculty, and it was really neat to learn about the traditions of the school that I'm now a faculty member of. The south is rich with traditions, and alumni coming home is an interesting mix of hosting and building up alumni donations. Graduates (alumni) really feel proud of their alma mater, and are eager to give back. This struck me as something that I hadn't really placed much thought into - I was always of the mindset that your degree granted you opportunities for diverse job prospects - but that your allegiance to it was more a process of jumping hoops and finishing, and less of a religious experience. I'm a child of immigrant parents, and I've managed to live in different regions of the US. I adapt quickly, glean info, and move on. I don't think of it negatively or positively, just that I move on to the next experience. Thinking about traditions, and giving back, I have to say that I actually feel prepared for this job experience, in a way that I was not prepared to feel. I am so happy that I went back for a graduate degree in public health nutrition. The program I attended and graduated from did not disappoint. Teaching is tough. You synthesize information and you (if you are good at it) try to package the class information in snippets and pieces that the students are going to understand. From my start date, until now, the months have flown, and we're just 1 month away from completing the semester. 

This recipe should be prepared exactly as written on the Homesick Texan Blog. But, if you are like me, you'll have some of this and less of that, and I assure you that any variation that sticks closely to Lisa Fain's recipe will not disappoint. You will be licking the chili gravy off the plate. I served this with some finely chopped fresh Romaine lettuce, cubed avocado chunks, and wedges of lime. There is simply no need to add anything else to fill up your stomach space than with these delicious succulent enchiladas. I'm always surprised at how quickly this recipe comes together. It needs only 10-15 minutes in the oven, and it's done. Corn or flour tortillas, either one will not disappoint, but I prefer white flour tortillas, they just hold up better. 

When I first got back to the US, one of the more important tasks I had listed was heading straight for a Mexican tienda to stock up on various kinds of dried chilies: guajillo, ancho, chipotle, pasilla, etc. I roast them in a non-oiled non-stick or cast iron until fragrant and then grind them in a coffee mill that is set aside to grind up spices. 

I like to have lots of pre-prepped ingredients on the counter. I put my chile powder in a bowl with the other spices and set aside. I dice about 1 and 1/2 cups of white onion and set it aside; I shred an 8 oz block of cheese and set it aside; I lay out 10 corn tortillas on a plate and set them aside. When the enchiladas are cooking, I make margaritas. 


Tex-Mex Chili Gravy Cheese Enchiladas Recipe adapted slightly but sticks to the mostly original Cheese Enchiladas from the Homesick Texan.  Yield: 4 servings, 2-3 enchiladas per person. 


Chili powder
1-2 tablespoons chili powder (should not have other added spices like chile powder)
1/2 tsp fresh cracked black pepper
1 tsp oregano or thyme
1 tsp salt
1-2 tsp cumin
1-2 tsp coriander
1/2 tsp cinnamon
2-3 cloves garlic, chopped fine

1. Dry roast the dried chili peppers, and set aside once fragrant. Once cool, cut off stem ends and empty out seeds. Grind in a spice grinder, and set aside in a bowl. 
2. To the bowl, add in black pepper through cinnamon. Top off with garlic. You will add the whole batch to the gravy.


Enchiladas
10-12 flour or corn tortillas (6" in diameter) set aside
1, 8 oz block of medium or sharp cheddar cheese, shredded
1-2 onions diced 
2-3 cups chili gravy sauce (directions to follow)


Chili gravy sauce
1/4 cup peanut oil
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
3 tbsp chile powder (from recipe above)
2 cups vegetable broth 


Garnishes
Chopped romaine lettuce
1 avocado, diced
lime wedges


Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350º F or 170º C.
2. Grease a baking pan that is big enough to hold 10-12 enchiladas (such as 9x13)
3. In a large saucepan, heat up 1/4 cup oil over medium high heat. Once hot, stir in 1/4 cup of flour, and mix with a whisk until toasted and browned, about 6 minutes. 
4. Stir in the spices and garlic. When it is fragrant, and the flour and fat are a thick paste, stir in the vegetable broth slowly. Keep stirring constantly. Turn the heat to medium-low, and keep stirring, allowing the gravy to thicken.
5. When it is done, turn off the heat, and set aside.
6. Warm the tortillas in the microwave, or in the oven. Add a few splashes of water in between each tortilla so the tortilla steams and becomes pliant. There is no need to fry the tortillas in oil because the tortillas become saturated with oil from the cheese. 
7. Add about 1/2 cup of the sauce to the bottom of the baking pan. Spread it around. 
8. Place the tortilla in your hand and spoon about 1 tbsp of onions, and 2 tbsp of cheese in the center and roll up. Place it seam side down in the pan. Repeat forming neat rows of enchiladas. 
9. Pour the gravy sauce on top, top with the remaining onions and cheese, and place in the oven for 10-15 minutes until bubbling. Serve immediately.

Black bean galette with smoked sun-dried tomatoes and chipotle

The ever so agreeable Two Hearted

I have an unhealthy obsession with galette dough. It has all but five ingredients, and it just never fails. It's got bite, it's flaky without compromise, and it is remarkably forgiving when it's rolled out. It takes a bit of patience to get the technique down. I prefer hand mashing the ice cold butter in with my hand and a fork, but a stand mixer or hand mixer would make this convenient dough, ready much faster. If you make this and live in a hot climate, ice the counter down with ice or ice packs, before you roll it out. It'll help keep the butter in solid form.

This galette has black beans, smoked sun-dried tomatoes, and queso quesadilla, but you can also just follow the fast and furious black beans empanada post for another version of this exact recipe. The smoked sun-dried tomatoes taste like bacon! I kid you not! They are so delicious! The queso quesadilla is similar to a medium white cheddar (or an oude gouda) and a mont jack or light cheddar could be used instead. Serve with a smoky hot salsa, and salad. Leftovers can last up to a week in the fridge.


Black bean galette with smoked sun-dried tomatoes and chipotle.  
Yield: 6 servings, large-ish wedges, but more likely to serve 4 hungry people.
Ingredients:
1 recipe galette dough
2-3 tbsp tomato chunks, or pizza sauce
2 cups cooked black beans, or 1 14 oz can black beans rinsed and drained
1 green onion, 2-3 green onions if small, chopped fine
handful cilantro chopped
zest of a lime
1 chipotle pepper, chopped fine plus 1 and 1/2 tbsp adobo sauce
1-2 tsp cumin
1-2 tbsp smoked sun dried tomatoes, roughly chopped
4 oz quesadilla cheese (queso quesadilla or mont jack and cheddar blend), sliced thinly or grated.


Directions:
If you have an hour or so, prep the galette dough and store it in the fridge until you've assembled the pie ingredients. It should take less than an hour to prep. This step can be assembled ahead of time.

Preheat the oven to 375º F/190º C. For the filling, place all ingredients, except the cheese, in a large mixing bowl and stir to combine. Adjust the seasonings for taste.

When ready, roll out the galette dough on the counter up to 14" in diameter, about 1/4" thick. Once rolled out, fold into quarters and place on the back of a baking sheet. Unfold the quarters, you want the edges to hang off the baking sheet. Spoon a few tomato chunks onto the rolled out galette dough, and make a circle about 10" wide. This should be a very thin layer. Spoon the black bean mixture on top, top with the cheese, and fold the galette onto itself making pleats as you fold up. Bake in the oven for 30-40 minutes, or until golden brown. Let stand a few minutes before cutting and serving.

Thank you Sara: A Bell's Two Hearted accompanies this quite well. I could nerd out on the acidity and the complimentary mouth feel of light hop presence matching the spiciness of the chipotle, but I had this along with a Victory Prima Pils, and while they were both delicious, the Two Hearted felt like it held up to the galette. Mmm Two Hearted. Mmmm.

Tex-Mex veggie burgers

Lately, I've been addicted to the Homesick Texan blog which I found from Rabbit Food Rocks, which I found from Herbivoracious. That is what I call blog shopping. So many cooks, so little time.

I spent an entire afternoon carefully gleaning what I wanted to cook from the Homesick Texan blog. Because I'm resourceful and a planner, I brought ancho chili powder back with me from my US visit.  Planner: bring back hard-to-find ingredients; resourceful: I came up with these Tex-Mex veggie burgers.

Oats make an excellent binder in veggie burgers. I think these could easily do without the eggs. Plan to use cooked rice and cooked beans (or canned beans) in the burgers. It saves time.

Tex-Mex veggie burgers
Recipe inspired from various postings on the Homesick Texan blog
Yield: 8 patties; use 1/2 cup measurement to shape and mold. 


2 cups of cooked beans (I used a mixture of pinto and red kidney 3:1)
1/2 cup chopped onion
1/3 cup chopped bell pepper
2 cloves garlic, shredded or minced fine
1/2 cup mushrooms, sliced
1/4 cup mixed chopped parsley and cilantro
1 cup cooked long-grain rice (approx.)
3/4 cup oats, can use up to 1 cup, or a bit more
2 tbsp panko breadcrumbs, or homemade ones
2 eggs
SECRET (not-so-secret anymore!) ingredient: about 2 tbsp canned jalapeno chunks and a bit of their juices

Ancho chili powder
1 tbsp ancho chili powder
1/3 tsp cayenne chili powder
1 tsp salt
2 tsp cumin
1 tbsp dried basil or oregano
1 tsp smoked paprika (such as Spanish or Hungarian hot paprika)
pinch cinnamon

To prepare the ancho chili powder, mix everything together in a small bowl and set aside. You'll use up all of it in the burger recipe.

Directions:
Note: Things that make this dish go faster: 1. have all the beans cooked before you begin. 2. have rice cooked. If you don't have cooked rice to start, begin by cooking 1 cup of long-grain rice (in a medium sized sauce pan add 1 cup of long grain rice and 2 and 1/4 cups water. Heat up over high heat, stirring the rice about two times, until the rice looks porous. Once it looks porous and filled with wholes and is bubbling like crazy but you don't think the water will cook off. Cover the rice with a lid, turn the heat off and let it sit there until ready to use (or let it sit there for at least 15 minutes, don't touch it). 

Alright have you located your beans and rice? Good.

Take cooked beans and place them in a large mixing bowl. To this bowl add chopped canned jalapeno chunks along with some of the canned juices. Add in herbs and mix together. Remove about 1 cup of the mixture and set this aside, then smash (with a potato masher) the remaining beans in the big bowl together.

Next, heat up 1 tbsp of peanut oil in a cast-iron pan over medium heat. Saute the onions, mushrooms, and bell peppers. When the mushrooms begin to brown at the edges, toss in the garlic and stir around until just fragrant. Is there anything better than the smell of sauteing garlic? For real.

Now back to the mashed beans. When the sauteed veggies are cool enough to handle add them to the bowl along with the chili powder. Using your hands or a big spoon mix everything together. Add in 1/2 cup of the oats and 1/2 cup of the rice. Start mixing everything together. You want everything to stick together without falling apart. Add the eggs and work it in little by little with the remaining rice and oats, and breadcrumbs. Using your hands is the best way to tell if everything is sticking together.

Place the bowl in the fridge and allow it to set for 30 minutes or longer. This does two things, it allows the oats to expand a bit, and it makes the mixture stick together. Using a 1/2 cup measuring cup as a mold, spoon the mixture and tamp it down with a spoon (or your hand). Carefully, remove it; give it a few smacks against a cutting board and shape it into a patty.

Fry them 4 at a time in a cast-iron pan about 4-5 minutes each side before flipping. Serve with lettuce, tomatoes, cucumber slices, pickled jalapenos, and anything else.

5-bean chili with Leffe brown beer and chipotle peppers

I try to cook beans from scratch because I like that they aren't too processed, but I use canned beans too. To make it easier to use dried beans, I'll share how I normally prep them. I either soak the beans, in a huge bowl filled with lots of water, first thing in the morning, or I soak them overnight. If you soak them in the morning, you can cook the beans when you prep dinner; if you soak overnight, you can cook them first thing in the morning. They can cook, mostly ignored, in a large soup stockpot, or pressure cooker, or crock-pot (see this post on cooking beans and lentils). Once done cooking, you can store the cooled beans and broth in the fridge until ready to use. If you start doing this 2 days per week, you'll have lots of healthy beans to throw into random dishes. For example, stirring in a cup of mixed beans into a pasta dish, topping a salad, filling a burrito with them, or beans on toast. Or perhaps some spicy chili for a cool fall day?

I've used the Belgian Leffe brown beer for this because it has a balanced subtle sweetness, and I like the malty notes it left in the chili. Use any brown or amber beers (or really any beer you feel like dumping into a soup pot) with a nice body and aroma. Plus it's always cool to cook with beer. 

5-bean chili with Leffe brown beer and chipotle peppers

Ingredients: listed in order of use

Yield: 4 servings, about 1 and 1/2 cups

1 and 1/4 cup dried beans, (any mixture of dried black beans, chickpeas, kidney beans, pinto beans, white beans) soaked and cooked; Canned beans are totally fine too. Use 2 or 3, 14 oz cans of different canned beans.

1 tsp olive oil

1 red onion

1 bay leaf

2 cloves garlic, chopped

1 cup Leffe dark beer, slightly more if foamy at first (let it reduce by half), 

1 cup chopped green bell pepper

2 Tbsp chili powder (recipe below)

1 small canned chipotle pepper, about 1 tbsp chopped pepper, add more for extra heat

remainder of beer

1 cup canned diced tomatoes

1 cup corn, frozen or canned

1 tbsp fresh lime juice

cilantro to garnish

1/2 tsp salt (to taste if not enough)

yogurt and shredded cheese (optional for garnish)

Chili powder:

1 T of smoked paprika

1 T cumin

1 T oregano (or other mixed herbs such as thyme, mint,)

1/8 tsp cayenne powder

1/4 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp salt

This is a variation that can be adjusted to your taste and preference. The smoked paprika is very delicious in this dish. I'd recommend adding a tsp to the chili just before serving. Mix all the spices together in a small bowl and set aside until ready to use.

Directions:

1. Saute onions and garlic in the olive oil. Once the onions turn a bit golden, add in 1 cup or more of the beer. It will foam and settle down, releasing a delicious smell. Let it reduce by half, then add in the green bell peppers.
2. Add in 2 T of the spice mixture and the chipotle peppers (a chopped chipotle pepper should be about 2 tbsp).
3. Add the cooked beans to the pot along with the about 1 cup of the bean broth. If using canned beans, rinse and drain them (it removes the salty brine taste), and use 1 cup water instead. Pour the rest of the beer into the chili, along with 1 cup of chopped tomatoes. Stir to combine, turn up heat and simmer for 30 minutes. Before serving add in 1 cup of canned corn (if using frozen corn add it in 10 minutes before the chili is done). Stir in rest of beer and 1tbsp of lime juice.

Top with a dollop of plain yogurt, shredded cheese and garlic bread.

Black bean salsa with avocado and cukes

This is a simple healthy fresh black bean salsa. It's perfect with chips or as a side. If using cucumbers, it stores up to 2 days. The cukes add a nice crunch, but can be omitted (I'm sneaking in more garden produce). The avocado hits the spot. This recipe changes with whatever I have on hand. Tomatoes, a combination of bell peppers, or corn can be used as well.

Ingredients:

Yield: approx. 2 cups

1/2 cup or more of dried black beans, soaked and cooked, or 1 can black beans rinsed and drained

1/2 red bell pepper, chopped fine, about 1/2 cup

1/2 of a small red onion, chopped, about 2 T

1 clove garlic, chopped fine

1 small lemon cucumber, seeds removed, chopped fine, or 1/2 red yellow bell pepper chopped

1/2 tsp apple cider vinegar

2 canned whole jalapenos, chopped, or 1 jalapeno seeded and diced.

chopped cilantro to taste

1 tbsp or more of fresh lime juice

1/4 tsp salt, or to taste

1/2 of a ripe avocado, small dice. I like to cut all the way around the avocado, peel apart the two sides and gently make dices in the avocado flesh. Then I use a spoon to scoop them all out. This works well with ripe avocados.

Directions:

1. In a medium sized mixing bowl, add in cooked black beans, the chopped red peppers, onions, garlic and cukes (or yellow bell peppers if using). Stir to combine.
2. Add in apple cider vinegar, jalapenos, lime juice, salt, and cilantro. Stir together and adjust for lime juice, heat, and salt.
3. Gently stir in avocado cubes, and fold gently to combine all ingredients.  

Chipotle Salsa

Salsa ingredients + lazy Friday afternoon + bad photography = chipotle salsa!

orange bell peppers getting diced

green bell peppers getting prepped

After hand-chopping almost a dozen of these guys, I realized I needed a picture. Tomato love.

Jars of chipotle salsa

and since it's a lazy Friday:

Duds' shows off his stretching

Not sure if salsa is kitty appropriate

This is a delicious, hearty, spicy, tasty, slightly smoky fresh salsa and I can't wait to share it on here. I've been eating it this entire past month. The recipe comes from my family in NC, I can't remember when I copied it down, but I've held onto it for a few years. It's easy to prepare and freezes well. You can chop all ingredients by hand – it'll take about an hour; a food processor will certainly speed things up, and can be used as well.

S and K's Chipotle Salsa

2 and ½ lbs ripe tomatoes, chopped fine

1 onion, chopped fine

1-2 bell peppers (green, red, or yellow), chopped fine

1-2 cloves garlic, minced

1 small can, 7.5 oz chipotle peppers in adobo sauce, chopped fine

2 tsp of adobo sauce

1-2 tbsp lime juice

1-2 tbsp vinegar (e.g. white-wine vinegar is fine)

1-2 tsp salt

1-2 tsp cumin

1-2 tsp oregano (dried is fine)

½ cup cilantro, chopped fine

For a super hot salsa, count 1-2 chipotle peppers per tomato; for a medium salsa use 4-5 chipotle peppers for the batch, and for a mild salsa use 2-3 chipotle peppers for the batch. Use gloves to handle peppers. Start off adding half the chipotle amount, taste and adjust, and add extra as needed. The salsa can get spicy quickly.

If using a food processor you'll whip this up in no time. Attach the chopping blades and mince whole garlic first. Add in onions (prepped as quarters) and chop to combine. Chop until desired consistency is reached. Remove to a bowl, or a large soup stockpot. Add in bell peppers (prepped as quarters), chop then remove. Finally, add in tomatoes (prepped as quarters) with chipotle peppers (kept whole) and chop until desired consistency is reached. Add all chopped ingredients to a large mixing bowl, or a large soup stockpot. Stir in adobo sauce, lime juice through cilantro and combine. If adding additional chipotle peppers, just chop them in the food processor and add to the pot.

Directions:

1. Combine all ingredients together in a large soup stockpot. Stir to combine and adjust for taste.
2. Heat up salsa over medium heat and simmer 10-15 minutes. Once cool, ladle into jars and set in fridge. You can freeze extras, thaw overnight in the fridge and it's ready to eat.

Chili sin Carne (con frijoles!)

Tacos with chili con frijoles


Chili con frijoles

In my never-ending quest to satiate my Mexican food hunger cravings, I scoured the Leuven library to check out some Mexican cookbooks. I adapted a recipe from Tacos and Tortillas by Thea Spierings to be vegetarian and include more taco-esque ingredients. Cookbooks with simple pictures do loads to help with language learning.

If you've never had bean-based tacos I would highly recommend trying this. When I taught cooking classes, I often taught how to prepare simple healthy foods, encouraged trying new foods, and helped plan meals to make the most out of food budgets. In prepping tacos, I would recommend cutting half the beef with beans to improve nutritional content and extend food dollars. A lot of meals I taught revolved around beans – beans are high in protein, fiber, and nutrition. Beans cooked from scratch are dirt cheap (although they do take some planning), and they have a long shelf life. Canned beans can be very cheap, and require no cooking (besides heat and eat). The bean filling can be used in tacos, quesadillas, burritos, or served alongside some rice.

Chili sin Carne (con frijoles!)

Serves 4-6

1 tbsp olive oil

½ block of frozen tofu, defrosted and chopped fine (optional)

1 onion, chopped

1 bell pepper, chopped or mixture of red, yellow, or green bell peppers

1 jalapeno, seeded, deveined and chopped

2 cloves garlic, chopped

2, 14 oz cans pinto beans (or mixture kidney and pinto), rinsed and drained, or 1 and ½ cups soaked pinto beans prepared with the soak and cook method

1, 6 or 8 oz can pineapple chunks in their own syrup, rinsed and drained

2-3 tbsp hot chili sauce

1 pack of taco shells

Fix-ins for tacos:

2 cups shredded lettuce

salsa (like this really yummy chipotle salsa)

black olives

chopped tomatoes or bell peppers

sour cream

avocado chunks or guacomole

Directions:

1. Heat up olive oil in a wide skillet over medium-high heat. If using tofu, add it in and stir fry until golden brown. Once golden, remove from pan and then add in onions and bell pepper. Continue to cook 5-7 minutes.
2. Preheat oven to 350° F.
3. Stir in jalapeno and garlic. Season with a bit of salt.
4. Add in pinto beans, tofu (if using), pineapple chunks, and hot chili sauce. Stir to combine until heated through. Meanwhile, place taco shells on a pan and heat up until hot.
5. Set out taco fix-ins on a counter and serve immediately.   

Refried Beans

With some pre-planning you can enjoy home-cooked delicious refried beans. This recipe contains no lard, so if you are a purist, you can sub in lard, but I made these veg. Home-cooked beans are better in this dish, although you could use canned beans. You can combine pinto beans with red kidney or white cannellini beans; black beans can be substituted for pinto beans. Soak 1 and ½ cups of dried beans overnight, or for at least 6 hours, and prepare with the soak and cook method (or pressure cooker, or crock pot, or whatever). Save the bean broth – you'll use it for the refried beans. Refried beans will last up to 4 days in the fridge, and can be frozen.

Refried Beans

Serves: 4-6

~2 cups pinto beans, cooked (canned is fine, you'll need 2, 14 oz cans rinsed and drained)

broth from beans

2 tbsp peanut oil

1 onion, chopped

2 tsp garlic

1 jalapeno, seeded and deveined, minced (optional)

salt

½ tsp paprika (optional)

1. Heat up peanut oil in a wide skillet – cast iron is best so you can mash the beans in the pot, but I mashed them carefully in a non-stick skillet. Once hot add in onion and cook until golden brown. Stir often.
2. Add in garlic and jalapeno and stir to combine. Sprinkle with a bit of salt, stir together, and cook another 3 minutes.
3. Add in beans 1 cup at a time. Add in ¼ – 1/3 cup water and let simmer briefly.
4. Once beans are hot start mashing the beans. As the water evaporates, add in more water.
5. Repeat with second batch of beans. Add in small bits of water to keep the beans from sticking excessively. The beans will thicken up.
6. Continue mashing until desired consistency is obtained. Adjust with salt and paprika.
7. Serve as desired (e.g. on nachos, in tacos, with enchiladas, on heuvos rancheros, etc, etc)

Black Bean Empanadas

Black bean empanadas with chipotle salsa

Empanadas on a baking stone

Serve these baked black bean empanadas with a fiery hot salsa and sour cream. A green and red cabbage salad with radish and lime would be a nice side. The black bean filling can be prepared several days in advance. Frozen defrosted tofu adds a meatier texture. You won't miss fried empanadas after trying this.

Black Bean Empanadas

Yield: 8 Empanadas

1 recipe samosa dough (below)

2 tsp peanut oil or olive oil, divided

½ block of frozen tofu, defrosted, and chopped fine (optional)

2 cloves garlic, minced fine

½ onion, diced

½ cup bell pepper, diced

1 tsp oregano

1 tsp cumin

1 tsp paprika

1 15 oz can black beans, rinsed and drained (or 1 cup dried black beans, soaked and cooked)

salt to taste

½ cup cilantro, chopped

½ cup - 1 cup of decent mild melting cheese (use queso Oaxaca or queso quesadilla if you can find it)

¼ cup flour for rolling the dough

1 egg, plus 1 tbsp milk, beaten together (optional)

Salsa and sour cream for serving

Directions

1. Prepare the samosa dough (or you could purchase ready-prepared empanada dough).
2. Heat up 1 tsp oil in a wide skillet. Once hot add in tofu and stir-fry over medium-high heat. Once tofu is golden-brown (should take 7-9 minutes) stir in garlic until fragrant (about 1 minute). Remove tofu-garlic mixture from pan.
3. Heat up the remaining 1 tsp of oil in the same wide skillet over medium-high heat. If the pan is hot you won't have to wait long for the oil to heat up. Add in onions and after 2 minutes add in diced bell peppers (if you are omitting the tofu, add the garlic at this step). Stir fry for 5 minutes until the mixture is sweating. Stir in oregano, cumin, and paprika. Add ½ tsp of salt.
4. Stir in black beans and tofu mixture and adjust for salt. I found ½ tsp adequate for salt. Stir in cilantro and set aside.
5. Set out cheese in another bowl.
6. Preheat oven to 425° F.
7. Lightly roll the balls in a small bit of flour, and roll out the dough balls on a lightly floured surface. Roll the balls into a 7-8” circle about the thickness of a corn tortilla. The dough will shrink back slightly.
8. Place 1 tbsp of cheese (or less) and about 2 tbsp of black bean stuffing on one side of the circle. Keep about a 1/2” border from the sides.
9. Fold the samosa over on the borders. If you lose some beans tuck them back in, or remove. Flatten the edges together with the tines of a fork. Make sure the empanada is sealed. Brush with egg mixture and place on a baking sheet. Repeat for the remaining empanadas.
10. When ready, bake at 425° F for 10 minutes, and then turn heat down to 375° F and bake another 15 minutes (or until golden brown).

Samosa Empanada Dough

(Recipe adapted from Aarti Paarti's samosa dough recipe)

I must say that I have used and reused Aarti Paarti's dough in many baked savory pastries. It's really simple to make, and can be prepared in the time it takes you to buy ready made dough from the grocery store. You could also make a galette dough, but this is a no-fuss pastry dough.

Yield: enough dough for 8 empanadas

1 cup all-purpose flour

1 cup pastry-flour

½ cup buttermilk (if you don't have buttermilk, add ¼ tsp of apple cider vinegar to ½ cup milk or soymilk, and let rest for 5-10 minutes – and if you don't have those, use ¼ cup yogurt thinned with ¼ cup water)

¼ cup vegetable oil

pinch salt

Directions:

1. Stir together flours and salt.
2. Add in buttermilk and vegetable oil to the flour mixture and stir together. Begin to knead the dough with your hands and once it starts to come together, turn it out on a floured surface and continue to knead for about 5 minutes until it comes together. The dough will be slightly oily but shouldn't stick to the counter.
3. Roll or form it into a ball and let it rest for 15 minutes.
4. Once ready to use, roll out the dough into a 12” log. Cut the dough in half, and cut each half into 4 equal pieces.
5. Roll the 8 pieces into balls and let rest on the counter until ready to use.

Torta & Refried Beans

Torta
For the love of all things Tex-Mex. A torta is like a refried bean sandwich. I'm not a Mexican food authority, but I did live in Houston for 8 years, and this is divine. The refried beans are toasted with or without cheese, and then topped with lettuce, salsa, avocados, onions, cilantro, and tomatoes.

Ingredients:
a few nice round french bread-ish rolls/bolillos (I used whole-wheat hamburger rolls)
a few pats butter
refried beans (1/2 cup should be good for 2-3 tortas)
lettuce, a few leaves, washed and dried
1 tomato, sliced
1/2 of a 1/2 of an avocado, into slices or dices. (I usually cut along the length of the avocado, and then make neat dices in the flesh, then push the skin inside itself to pop out the avocado.

Directions
1. Cut the roll in half. Butter the top side, and put about a 1/2" layer of refried beans on the bottom.
2. Cover the beany half with about 1 T of shredded mozzarella (I got out the box grater and gave it about 2 shreds)
3. Put in the toaster oven, to warm and brown.
4. Top with avocado slices, tomato slices and lettuce.

Some of the filling may spill out so get yourself some tortilla chips to get the rest. Canned refried beans are just fine, and perfect for a super-fast meal, but some homemade refried beans are worth the effort, so if you have time, make a vat, freeze the rest, and keep some on hand in the fridge for other meals (nachos, quesadillas, bean-queso dip, burritos, fajitas, etc.)

Refried Beans
1 cup dry pinto beans (I used 1/2 cup pinto, 1/2 cup kidney)
2-3 bay leaves (or epazote)
pinch asafoetida powder (skip if using epazote)
1 quart of water

First part:
Give the beans a good rinse, and soak in about 3-4 cups water for at least 6-8 hours. Either do this at night or in the morning. Once they have soaked, dump out the soaking water (like putting it in your garden, or that kind of thing) and rinse the beans. Soaked beans give off raffinose a complex carbohydrate that is harder for our guts to break down. Excess raffinose is gas causing, so this may make beans more digestible. Hence always rinse soaked beans with fresh water.

Next, the most common way for most people to cook beans is to cook them on the stove. This is a time-suck, but you can usually just put the beans on the stove with enough water, set over medium heat, and go about your business. Coming to check on them every so often. To cook the beans this way, add the beans to the pot, cover with 1 qt or so of water (you may want more or less) add in bay leaves, and asafoetida, and set over medium heat. Stir every so often. Test for doneness after 30-45 minutes. In this case, you want the beans to look as if they are falling apart. That takes about an hour on the stove.

Some lazier and smarter methods include:
1. cook them in a pressure cooker. Cover with enough water (fill to just below 2-3" of the top, set whistle for 3-4 whistles, over medium heat. This should take 20 minutes.
2. cook them in a crock pot and forget about them. Cover with enough water, and set on high heat and leave them be overnight or all day.

Either way. Reserve the excellent most precious broth. This is good, no superb broth for a soup base, can be re-used in cooking, whatever. Just save it. Put it in zip lock bags, throw in the freezer, and never be caught dead again, buying store bought broth. Ok I get (severely) carried away when it comes to cooking beans, but by golly, I'm a dietitian by training, so I must make you maximize the potential out of everything you eat.

Second part: once you cook the beans, and you've saved the broth, you are ready for re-fried beans.

finely dice 1 small onion
finely dice 1 clove garlic
optional: 1 jalapeno, deveined and deseeded, and finely chopped
2 T vegetable oil (now true refried bean aficionados will use lard, so if this is your thing, do it)
all of your beans and broth, with bay leaves discarded.

1. In a cast iron skillet, or other wide skillet heat the oil over medium-high heat, until shimmering. I like cast iron, because you can use a potato masher in the pot without worrying about scratching the bottom of the pan.
2. Add in onions and brown nicely. Next add garlic and jalapeno. Stir around until aromatic.
3. Add in 1/2 of the beans with 1/2 of the broth. Stir around, and begin mashing with a potato masher. It may appear as if the broth will never disappear, and you now have skillet soup, but it will thicken up, so keep on mashing.
4. Add the rest of the beans and broth and continue to mash. Add some salt and adjust for taste. Continue cooking until it thickens nicely without becoming too thick.

You now have some excellent, healthy, delicious refried beans. Next time, it will pain you to open a can of them, but now you know.