VeganMoFo: Sopa de tortilla!

Look at this baby...
It isn't the best picture, I know, but I freaking love tortilla soup!
And I like it even more now as a vegan, because I've been adding some garbanzo beans and love.
Tasty tasty addition, I must say.

Ingredients:

2 tsp veggie oil
2/3 c tomato sauce
1 tbsp. New Mexico chili powder
1 tsp. California chili powder
2 pinches ground cumin
1 1/2 tbsp. veg bouillon powder

Pinch oregano

3 cups water
14 oz. can garbanzo beans (drained)

Heat the oil in a pot and add all the ingredients (except water and garbanzos) until the mix starts to bubble a bit.
Reduce heat and add the water.
Bring to a gentle boil, turn off the heat, add the garbanzos and cover.

Serves 3

Tortilla strips

I don't have an exact recipe for this, but here are some instructions.

Cut desired amount of tortillas into thin (but not too long) strips.
Heat a generous amount of oil in a pan or sauce pot and fry until crispy and golden.
Drain and enjoy!

I garnished my soup with a few avocado slices and a bit of mozzarella daiya on top.
(Oh, and I used just one tortilla for my soup).

I'm still sad. Back in august, when I was vacationing in NYC, a cab driver laughed and said "YOU DON'T LOOK MEXICAN!". What's that supposed to mean?! haha. I know I don't have super black straight hair, awesome chocolaty skin and I'm not short, but really? Do I look like some weird hybrid or something? I don't know, but I love mexican food and traditions; like Día de Muertos : )

In school, some classmates and I made an altar for a deceased teacher

I made a cempazuchitl flower path : D! I swear I worked my ass off taking those petals off of the bulbs

My boyfriend and I went to a cemetery

And after that, we went to the church where my grandpa's ashes are.
I drew something for him, and somehow, that made me happy.

: )

Salsa de Chile de Árbol

Since I'm too tired to go to my spinning class today, I'm taking some time to update this thing !

Anyway, chile de árbol rocks !

This prehispanic chile isn't the most spicy of all chiles, but I still had to use canned diced tomatoes to make the sauce more "mild" (I'm using quotation marks because it may be super spicy for many).
If you can't handle too much spiciness, I'd recommend using more guajillo chiles and less chiles de árbol.

Well, here's the recipe.
(OMG, I just noticed that this recipe is pretty similar to the red chile sauce in Viva Vegan [if you don't have that cookbook, you should get it as soon as possible!]; if you like that salsa, you will probably like this one too : ) it probably is a lot spicier than that one, though).

Ingredients:

20 dried de árbol chiles, stems removed
2 large dried guajillo chiles, stems removed

1 tbsp. olive oil
2 tbsp. minced garlic
1 14 oz. can diced tomatoes, drained
1 tbsp. mexican orégano

2/3 cup water
Salt and/or veggie bouillon powder to taste


Heat a skillet or comal and toast the chiles until fragant, they should look like these, but feel free to toast them more or less.

Heat the olive oil in a pan and add the garlic; let it brown a little and then add the diced tomatoes and the orégano.
Let it simmer if it's liquid-y.

Once the tomato mix is a little drier, blend the hell out of it along with the chiles and the remaining ingredients.

I poured some over broccoli and black beans with nooch, woo. It was awesome.

Black beans, broccoli, pan-fried plantains and a baked tostada

Rajas de chile poblano con tomate y cebolla

Oh Hello there !

This semester's end is near, WOOHOO !

Well, yeah... I see that many people in the U.S. celebrate Cinco de Mayo. Why ?
To be honest, I'm not sure.

-Apparently- Wikipedia has the answer, though:

According to a paper published by the UCLA Center for the Study of Latino Health and Culture about the origin of the observance of Cinco de Mayo in the United States, the modern American focus on that day first started in California in the 1860s in response to the resistance to French rule in Mexico. The 2007 paper notes that "The holiday, which has been celebrated in California continuously since 1863, is virtually ignored in Mexico."

Anyway !
I'm using this holiday as an excuse to post a recipe. A simple one.

Ingredients:

2 tsp vegan margarine
1/2 medium white onion - sliced, then halved

Few tbsp water
1 can diced tomatoes and chilies (I used the small Rotel can)
2 or 3 minced garlic cloves
1 1/4 cup (approx.) poblano chile strips [I used store bought]

2 pinches ground cumin
Salt to taste

Melt the margarine in a medium-sized pan.
Sautée the onion and add 3 or 4 tablespoons of water to cook them and to avoid adding more fat (hehe).
Once the onion strips are caramelized, add the diced tomatoes, cumin and garlic. Mix a bit.
Add the poblano chile strips, stir sand let the thing reduce.

Sprinkle all the salt you want, stir again and serrrve.

I had my rajas with fat-free "refried" bayo beans with some daiya sprinkled on top and two tortillas.
I may or may not include instructions to roast, peel and cut your poblano chiles (sorry I'm hella tired right now !).

: D

Enfrijoladas

Sorry, I've been busy : (

Enfrijoladas are one of my favorite dishes ever.
The usual filling is shredded chicken, but this time I opted for vegan cheese instead of tofu or some kind of mock meat.


Ingredients:

1 1/2 cup mashed or refried beans

1 tsp. Guajillo chile powder

Pinch ground cumin

Garlic salt to taste

Water, veggie broth or unsweetened non-dairy milk (enough to get a creamy consistency)

4 corn tortillas
Vegan cheese or your choice of protein to fill the tortillas (feel free to use more beans, hehe)
Oil for frying

Extras:
Shredded lettuce
Vegan Cheese for sprinkling
Hot sauce or salsa

Diced onion or whatever you like

Blend the first five ingredients and if your blender isn't cooperating, use more liquid.
Heat the bean mixture in a pan.

Heat the oil in a pan to fry the tortillas. Note: I used cooking spray.
Fry the tortillas (one by one). Just remember that you're aiming for a warm tortilla, not a crunchy tostada.

Put a tortilla in the bean mixture pan and cover it with that beany goodness.
Serve it, fill it and fold it like a taco.
Repeat with remaining tortillas.

Sprinkle and garnish with whatever you fancy or have on hand.
I used shredded lettuce (no kidding...), habanero hot sauce and more daiya.
I discovered that daiya is perfect as a replacement for cotija cheese, but FYH is better as a filling.

Edited to add:
Damn.. I just noticed that many of my posts say stuff like "this is one of my favorite dishes ever". That must change !
I'm not saying it anymore, hah.

Chilaquiles (rojos)

This is one of my favorite things to eat.. Chilaquiles (red, to be specific, because there are variations; like green and in mole sauce) : D !
Basically, they're tortilla chips (totopos) covered with sauce.
The usual toppings are sour cream, crumbled cheese, diced/sliced onion and other things you can mix in, like meat (beef or chicken) and/or scrambled eggs.

I like them plain, and sometimes eat them along some refried pinto or bayo beans.
You can eat them just like I do : p or pour over better than sour cream and "cheese" (grated is better ;) ).
You can use tofu to substitute the scrambled eggs or seitan, chik'n strips or soy curls to substitute the meat.

PS.
I like mine all soft and saucy, but if you don't, just put desired amount of tortilla chips in your plate and pour over the sauce when ready to eat.






Ingredients:

4 tomatoes
2 1/4 cups plain tomato sauce
1 tsp. guajillo pepper powder
1 tsp. de árbol pepper powder
1 tsp. california pepper powder
veggie (vegan) bouillon powder as needed (or salt and dried cilantro or spice of choice)

12 handfuls of tortilla chips (less, if you plan to pour the sauce over them)

Put in the blender all the ingredients (except for the bouillon or salt) and blend until smooth.
Pour the sauce in a pan and let it heat a bit (stir if needed).
Add the bouillon powder/salt; stir and add the tortilla chips.
Turn the heat off and stir gently to get all the tortilla chips covered with the sauce.
Enjoy : )

Champiñones al Ajillo

This one's pretty easy and nice : D, but i had a problem with the guajillo peppers (sometimes, they don't cook enough..so i'll just show you what i did and tell you what i will do next time to make them taste as perfect as they were meant to taste).

Well...
Hello there, meet the Guajillo pepper.

Usually, you can find them dehydrated (just like those in the pictures).
And because of that, i put them to soak in some hot water while i sliced the mushrooms.

pretty mushrooms waiting to be sliced by me, muahahah...

Ingredients:

5 (more or less) Guajillo peppers
6 cups sliced mushrooms
2 1/2 tsp. Diced garlic
Aprox. 1 tsp (vegan) veggie bouillon powder



OK.. first of all, i washed and then soaked my peppers in some hot water and meanwhile, sliced the mushrooms.
When I finished slicing the mushrooms I put them on a side and started working with the peppers.

I pulled the stem of every pepper and shook them to get all the seeds out.
(follow this onlt if you prefer my wrong method [don't think you'll do that, but just in case...]).
I recommend you use a pretty sharp knife to slice the peppers (lengthwise). Once you do this, slice them widthwise.

Put a pan in medium heat and cover all its surface with olive oil spray.
Sautée the garlic and the pepper; add the mushrooms when garlic gives any sign to start popping around.
Keep sautéing until mushrooms are well cooked.

Okay..now, the other method for the peppers.

Pull the stems, shake the seeds out and boil them 'til soft (not too soft; you probably won't be able to slice them).
Slice them and if some seeds are left, you can discard them or leave them if they're just a few.

Now you can sautée the peppers and the remaining ingredients ; ) !

I'm looking forward to post some more recipes the next week : D

Remember to pull the stems.




Sautéing the guajillo peppers and the diced garlic.



The good and messy result.