In spite of my irrational fear and loathing of onions, I love Mexican food. I mean, love it. Especially tacos. For a while, we had them for dinner at least once a week, always with ground beef. When I decided to give up beef, I didn’t really give it up because I would still eat those damn tacos. Then, when I got serious and gave it up for real, I resigned myself to the fact that I just wouldn’t be able to enjoy Mexican food the way I used to.
It was my own fault for not thinking outside the box that I wasn’t having good vegetarian Mexican food. A couple of months ago, while my mom (who is also making her way towards vegetarianism) was visiting, I was racking my brain for something for us to have for dinner. I didn’t feel like going to the store, but the vegetarian options were slim pickings. I remembered I had some black bean chili in the freezer, and decided to go with that. It had been relegated to the back of the freezer and almost forgotten about, because as a chili on it’s own it wasn’t really spectacular. But we had some tortillas and salsa lying around, so I thought what the hell? Everything is better with salsa.
I was really surprised, because what was a pretty boring and unsatisfying dish turned into some amazing vegetarian burritos, especially when doctored up with the salsa, lots of shredded lettuce and some freshly made sour cream. A few days later, we had the rest of the chili, only this time mixed with rice in taco shells, and it was even better than any beef or chicken taco I’d ever had.
Unfortunately, that chili takes a long time to make because it’s made from dried beans, but now that I know the awesomeness of vegetarian Mexican food, I’ve started to experiment a little bit and the results have all been good. Most recently I made black bean, mushroom and corn tacos, simply sauteed with some taco seasoning and a dollop of sour cream and salsa mixed in at the end. I don’t usually think of mushrooms for Mexican food, but they were threatening to go bad if I didn’t use them, so I threw them in, and it was pretty damn good.
This is why I get so excited about vegetarianism. When I was eating a lot of meat, I pretty much stuck to the same few things, over and over again. Cutting out meat has forced helped me get creative in the kitchen and expand my culinary horizons, something I’ve always wanted to do, but wasn’t quite sure how. As it turns out, it’s not only pretty simple, but it also makes cooking (and eating!) more fun.
Clacked by Cate Cropp
on Jun 03, 2009 @ 13:30 EST5EDT
I did something similar recently. I made a layered Mexican dip with guacamole, black bean chili, plain yogurt (instead of sour cream), chopped green peppers, fresh cilantro and fresh salsa.
One of the things that I enjoyed about going vegetarian was that activities such as cooking and ordering at a restaurant became a game. It was fun.
This sounds very good Cate. I will have to try it. I have really been enjoying the recipes you have been putting up lately, although I have been figuring what meat to add to make them better for my taste, I do intend to try them as you have posted them.
Thanks Jeff! I will have to post the black bean chili recipe soon. I bet you could easily add some ground meat or leftover steak, etc. to the black bean, mushroom and corn saute and increase the amount of seasonings you add. It’s all to taste, anyway, no strict measurements.
The bean, mushroom and corn taco sounds amazing–I’ll have to give that a try. For a while, tacos were Luke’s and my go-to lazy meal. Nothing fancy, just veggie crumbles in the place of ground beef, with all of the other accessories. Even simple like that, they’re so good!