Veganmofo: Spotlight on Burritos

Burritos are gods food. Seriously, you take some hearty soulful full bodied fully flavoured foods and stick them together in a wrap that you toast to perfection?

More please.

Recently in our little city a place open and stayed open late called Burrito Jax. Tasty tasty stuff which has become a fan favourite. They offer a pretty fab spread and have inspired a few burrito party's in my kitchen.

So here's a laydown to the simple fixings to assemble a burrito of your own

Keys:

• Wraps
• Salsa/sauce
• veggies
• beans
• rice
• flare: like sweet potato, pickled jalapenos, lime, crispy onions, cranberry anything that adds texture/flavour and makes this burrito different from the last

So here a few easy examples from the list.

Step 1: Rice

Now a rice cooker makes this part easy but any rice you enjoy can work as a filling. Plain fluffy rice is nice, adds texture, grasps flavour and helps make each wrap fullfilling. But they key to a good burrito goes beyond the fluffy nutty texture of simple brown rice, zest it up with flavour.

Roast garlic rice or zest a lime into the cooker with the rice, finish with a fresh squeeze maybe some cilantro. Or add some mexican pilaf punched up with flavour.

Step2: Bean/Protein or Both!

Seitan is a great filler, fried tofu, cooked black bean/pintos, refried beans. Any combo as long as she's got flavour. Cook your beans  with garlic and spices, toasted cumin and if you go with non-bean protein fry them in spice. Use a flavour marinade or seitan then crust in with toasted cumin. You really want the flavour to pop.

Black beans or chili beans, with onions and spice. Mashed with onion, garlic and cumin or from a can. Refried beans are a burrito classic but home cooked black beans provide some killer texture and are a nice addition.

Step 3: Veggies
Fried/roasted onions. All onions all the time. Crips lettuce, green onions, chilis, peppers anything crisp, chrunch and wet. Helps cut the heat and add texture, give your mouth a break.

  

I like raw veggies in my burrito, but slow sauteed peppers curl around your tastebuds in pleasing ways. Lettuce is great in wraps, but for true authenticity try thinly sliced cabbage with lime or lemon juice. Allow it to wilt a bit, and you get the best slaw. Crisp and refreshing surrounded in warm spicy beans and sweet potato

 Sweet potato is a burrito favourite, roasted cubes with lime and cumin. Or mashed with cilantro and a pat of butter. It provides a great warm accompaniment to any wrap.

4. Sauces.Salsa
Cranberry, tomatillo, canned, fresh, homemade. There are many schools of thought, mole works wonders. A fresh pico de gallo is nice crisp tomato and onion with herb and citrus. Or the smoke chipotle sauces or sweet sting of vinegar based hot sauce or canned burrito sauce. Smooth or Chunky, I find a mixture of sauces gives you the best.

5. Flare

Cranberry salsa, dried fruit, previously mentioned sweet potato or carmilized onions. Hot peppers. This is where you make the burrito yours. Smoked peppers or grilled pineapple, slices of mango? Go drastic, and really break up the flavours.

What are your favourite combos? Best burrito memories?

Do you all build up a stack of different home cooked fillings and set up family style where everyone chooses there own?

Vegamofo: Inspiration from all over

 

Let's just take a moment to give it up for all the amazing stuff going on across the internet right now for mofo. I know I've been starring things left-right-and-centre. Most of which I will likely only get around to after mofo is over, but I love reading about what everyone else is doing.

I love seeing everyone's unique and inspiring creations for mofo and perhaps even more-so, I love seeing everyone's ordinary food lives. The tried and true stuff people are making each and every day. New ideas are lovlie and inspiring, but something just draws my attention to the everyday moments in other people's kitchen. It's like being part of someone's family. Food is just so important, even when it's not important, you know?

So speaking about ordinary food and voyeuristic-food thrills, after lurking mofo-feeds for a few hours, I made some dinner and roasted squash I bought for risotto last week. I still had some beans leftover and an open tab to a sweet bean side dish so that got thrown in there too.

One of the things I made was a Mexican-themed rice inspired by this post on Run Crissie Run about tacos (MMM tacos). Crissie whipped up some tasty tacos and easy Mexican rice in her rice cooker. Now readers, here's the thing... rice and I have a mixed relationship. I have a rice cooker, I've tried the stove top, but rice is one of those things that never goes quite my way. Or leaves me uninspired.


To the point that I've stocked up on boxed rice/grain mixes and pilaf kits, because to make tasty rice was something I never got quite right. So I decided to take the rice recipe mentioned above and jump with it.

Mexican-Themed Rice Pilaf

• 1 cup brown rice (I rinsed it, because the internet told me to)
• 2 cups water (tap)
• 1 tbs olive oil
• 1/4 can of chopped tomatoes I had lurking in the fridge
• 2 cloves garlic minced
• 1/2 onion diced
• equal parts (1tbs?) Cumin, Chilli Powder, Oregano
• A lot of Parika 2 tbs
• Small amount of red chili flakes 1tsp or more (I plan to serve this with hot sauce)

So I dumped all this into my rice cooker and let it do it's thing. Alternatively, use stove top directions for rice and saute the onion/garlic for a bit in the oil, then toast the rice/spices before adding the liquid.

A few other dishes made their mark on my pallet and just so happened to fit what I had laying around. Like the sweet bean side dish from Alien's Day Out  with the Halifax rain's howling outside and wind making things chilly. I grabbed the remaining cooked kidney beans, browned an onion and garlic in some oil before dumping in the beans, cooking liquid, extra water, 2 Tbs brown sugar, 1 Tbs braggs, 1 Tbs soy sauce, salt pepper and a hint of cumin to tie into the rice.

I also tossed two sweet potatoes (on sale for 0.99$!) into a pot to boil, when they were almost done I tossed them in oil then into the oven with the squash. Ate them with Earth Balance, side beans and mexican rice. I debated whipping up tortillas to roll em up together with salsa and hot sauce.

Veganmofo: White Trash Food: The White-Trash-A-dia (or using unused appliances )

One of the veganmofo recurring themes is using Appliances you never use, one of mine would be my Gorge Forman Grill. So when lunch time hit, I busted that puppy out to make some white trash quesadilla.

May I present the "White-Trash-a-dia!"


Earlier this week I found some cans of amy's re-fried beans on sale at planet organic! so today I whipped one out with some vegan cheese slices and jar of salsa.
Here's what it takes:


white trash quesa
1 can re-fried beans (spicy)
1 jar medium salsa
1 pita pocket (or tortilla)
2 slices of processed vegan cheese
optional: pickled jalapeños

Pre-heat your forman grill. As it preheats tear your cheese slices and cover the bottom of your pita. Open the can of re-fried beans and using a knife spread a suitable layer of beans over the surface of the pocket. If you have jalapeños add them too, and roll up your pocket.



Place on pre-heated grill and press down (watch when you press down on the grill! I burnt my finger... again). Wait until the outsides are toaste d and crispy and the "cheese" melts and starts to come out the ends.

Enjoy with a side of salsa or to up the white trash feel free to include vegan sour cream or vegan cream cheese and bacos.