What are enchiladas?
Enchiladas is a Spanish word for corn tortillas, wrapped around a filling and covered with a savory sauce. But I like to fill my enchiladas a little bit too much, that is why I only fold them and I don’t wrap them full circle. I don’t mind that when I don’t eat tortillas with my hands, and it is a good way to eat fewer tortillas and more of that filling goodness.
What kind of a tortilla did I use for my plant-based enchiladas?
Originally, enchiladas come with a corn tortilla. 100% corn tortillas are also gluten-free, for those of you with gluten sensitivities. But I find it that this recipe works great with any type of tortilla. Of course, try to get whole-grain tortillas, that are as close to being whole-food as possible. As always, the best thing you can do is to make them at home. I will write about that soon, so subscribe if you don’t want to miss out.
What kind of filling did I use for my plant-based enchiladas?
Enchiladas are a great way to hide almost any kind of vegetable. I always use beans (as a great source of protein and nutrition on a plant-based diet), sweet corn, bell peppers, tomatoes, and onions. This time I decided to bring things up a notch by adding zucchini and artichokes. I loved it, but you can use almost any vegetable you like. Anyway, the thing I love most about this enchiladas is the sauce.
What kind of sauce did I make for my plant-based enchiladas?
The title of this recipe probably gave you a pretty good idea of what the sauce is all about. It is about peanuts and pepitas. I used roasted peanuts and pepitas, added a splash of apple cider vinegar, some garlic powder, salt, water, blended it all together and voila! An amazing sauce was born. It is kind of sweet, a bit sour from the vinegar, salty, nutty and very creamy. It is a very rich sauce and it takes our tortilla and filling to a whole new level.
What to serve with your plant-based enchiladas?
You can just eat the enchiladas by themselves, but I like to spice things up a bit by adding some brown rice and some fresh lettuce to my plate. It gives the plate more color and more texture. Especially I like my “yellow” brown rice. I make yellow rice by adding just a pinch of turmeric to my rice while it is cooking. And then I can just pour my peanut and pepita sauce over everything, haha!
Tip: Add turmeric to your rice to make it look more attractive. Works great with kids too!
Enchiladas with peanut and pepita cream sauce
Ingredients
For the filling
- 1 cup cooked pinto beans or any beans you like
- 1/3 cup sweet corn drained and rinsed
- 4 artichoke hearts drained and rinsed
- 1 medium tomato or a handful of cherry tomatoes
- 1 bell pepper yellow, red or green
- 1 small zucchini
- 1 small onion
- 2 tbsp tomato paste
- 1/4 tsp dried savory
- 1 chili (*optional)
- salt to taste
For the sauce
- 1/2 cup water boiling
- 2 tbsp roasted peanuts
- 2 tbsp roasted pepitas
- 2 tbsp apple cider vinegar
- 1/2 tsp garlic powder
- salt to taste
For serving
- 2 tortillas large
- 2 cup cooked rice of choice
- 2 cup lettuce
Instructions
For the filling
- Clean and cube the onions, zucchini, bell pepper, and tomatoes.
- Saute the onions.
- Add the zucchini and dried savory. Saute for a couple of minutes.
- Add the bell pepper and saute for a minute more.
- Add artichokes, tomatoes, beans, sweet corn and tomato paste. Mix well and cook for another minute or so, until everything heats through. Add salt to taste.
- Prepare the tortillas according to instructions on the package and fill them with the prepared filling.
For the sauce
- Put peanuts, pepitas, apple cider vinegar, garlic powder, and salt along with boiling water into a blender. Blend until smooth. (*)
For serving
- Pour the sauce over filled tortillas. Serve them with cooked rice and lettuce.
Notes
- Hot water makes it easier to reach a smoot consistency, even if your blender is not that powerful.
