Meal Plan: Jan 18th-Jan 22nd- Sweet Potato and Black Bean Enchiladas

Growing up, we never had Mexican in the house. I'm kind of making up for it now as Enchiladas is something that I've been wanting to make for a while. Thug Kitchen has a recipe for them and as I'm cooking with that book this month, that became this week's meal plan. I don't think they'll get me all the way until Thursday; in that case, I'll supplement with simple beans, brown rice and salsa, which I already have on hand.

My supermarket bill came out to 61 shekels- I bought some more peppers and cucumbers, canned corn (because the tomatoes are still looking sad), more potatoes, oregano, tortillas (ten shekel for a pack of twelve!), a large sweet potato, carrots and garlic. The avocados were hard as rocks! Oh, well.

I'm moving on to my second five pounds of oats so no purchase necessary there but my berry supply seems to be dwindling. :(

I decided to make the sauce ahead of time, on Friday, just in case it flopped. I didn't want to get to Sunday night and have nothing for dinner! I'm glad I did that because the sauce needed some extra work. I could tell by looking at the original recipe that it would be too thin and I knew that would not be good. I ended up adding more tomato paste to the recipe to make the initial mixture a bit thicker. When I saw that even at a boil, it wasn't thick enough, I went ahead and added a tablespoon of cornstarch and brought it to a boil once again. Success! The sauce thickened even more after it was chilled so we had a home run in that sense.

Once the sauce was out of the way, the filling was pretty easy from there. My supermarket was out of zucchini so I just used more sweet potato that I steamed in the microwave. (I thought to add a chopped red pepper but nixed that.) I water sauteed some onions and garlic with some spices, added the beans and sweet potato and some agave. I think I could have bulked this up with another can of beans, or half can, at least. 

People who have made enchiladas in their life (not me!) know how to make them so I won't describe that process. I made about twelve from the mixture and fitted them into a 9x13 pan. I covered and baked them and then uncovered them to finish the cooking.

I gotta say, I really liked these and would definitely make them again. The only thing is.... enchiladas get soggy. Apparently this is normal if using wheat tortillas. If I make them again, I would probably follow the advice from someone on FB and cook the enchiladas separately until crisp before adding the sauce that's been heated or make the effort to make homemade corn tortillas. I think that would make these a real winner.

(Adapted) Recipe after the jump.

Sweet Potato and Black Bean Enchiladas

adapted from the Thug Kitchen

Sauce:
2 cups water + some bouillon (I used homemade) or vegetable broth
1 cup tomato paste
1 tsp chili powder- mine is HOT- use more if you have mild
2 tsp cumin
1 1/2 tsp oregano
2-3 garlic cloves minced
2 tsp tamari
1 tbsp corn starch

1 large sweet potato, quartered
1/2 yellow onion, chopped
1 tsp chili powder
1/2 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp salt
2 garlic cloves minced
1 can black beans, drained
1 tsp agave syrup

pack of corn or flour tortillas
toppings of your choice

For the sauce, place all of the ingredients into a saucepan and whisk thoroughly to make sure all the tomato paste and cornstarch are dissolved. Stirring the whole while, bring to a boil and cook two minutes until the sauce is nice and thickened. Cool a bit before using or refrigerate if not using immediately.

For the filling- place the sweet potato on a plate and microwave until completely softened. Mash and set aside.

Water saute the onion until soft. Add the spices and garlic and continue to saute two minutes, adding water as necessary to keep from sticking. Add the drained black beans, mashed sweet potato and agave syrup.

Preheat your oven to 375.
Place 1 1/2 cups of the sauce on the bottom of a 9x13 inch pan or casserole dish. Form the enchiladas by placing a couple of tablespoons of filling into each tortilla, roll them up and place in the pan. Pour the remaining sauce over the top.

To avoid sogginess, I would recommend baking them uncovered the whole time for about 25-30 minutes or until it looks nice and yummy. If you're an enchilada cover-er, go ahead and cover it with foil for the first twenty minutes.

Stay tuned next week for another recipe from Thug Kitchen and my overall thoughts on the book.

To health!