I made these Mexican soft tacos with avocado almond crema for dinner yesterday and just couldn’t wait to share with you. A colorful spread with all good for you stuff .
Home made soft corn tortillas filled with spicy sweet potato , cauliflower and black beans , topped with some salad and a utterly creamy avocado dip. Every thing cooked at home from scratch. This heart healthy feast is Vegan and Gluten free.
Did you know that the deep fried hard tacos that we enjoy aren’t even Mexican . Meaning they are not authentic. Hard tacos is an American thing and falls into Tex Mex cuisine category.
Unlike hard tacos Authentic Mexican tacos are softer made with freshly rolled corn tortillas . Healthy and wholesome meal for your entire family.
Though I love hard tacos , today I am sharing the healthier version with you. Feel free to make hard tacos if you desire.
The filling is highly customizable meaning you may sub kidney beans/ rajma or chickpeas/ cholay for black beans . Or you can go for black eyed peas or kala chana too. You may even add cooked lentils as protein or simply omit.
I love cauliflower and sweet potato combination but if you are little weary about it feel free to use veggies of your choice. Some good combinations would be Broccoli , sweet corn and baby potatoes , butternut squash and mushrooms .
Oh!! and I can’t stress enough how good the dip is. It’s absolutely creamy without any cream or oil added. You know why ??? because it has avocados . My love for avocados just keeps on growing each day. It is so creamy and delicious on it’s own plus it is so healthy and good for you!
If you love avocados then I would suggest one more dressing that goes well with these tacos – The Green Goddess dressing here.It’s so amazing as well.
As much as I like store bought tortillas for convenience I do love rolling up fresh ones . Home made corn tortillas sans processed flour. It has to be whole wheat or yellow corn flour aka masa harina. In fact I make fresh whole wheat tortillas for lunch every day – a very much any Indian household tradition 🙂
So when we are a bit bored of having roti subzi the normal way I love to stir things up.
Instead of having subzi and dal or beans on the side , I serve it on the top. It’s full of Mexican flavors giving a fresh new change to our palate . This is why I love Mexican cuisine a lot. It is so similar to our Indian style and flavors.
If you want to know about fresh homemade corn tortillas from scratch I promise to post the details in the next post.
I love to cook beans at home from scratch too . I pressure cook a batch beans or lentils in my Instant pot twice a week and refrigerate . It’s been so easy to add protein in our diet this way.
I soak 1 cup beans overnight.
Next day discard the water of soaked beans , add fresh water and put it in my instant pot / pressure cooker to cook . Let it cool and then store in the fridge . Use as needed for salads , soups or curry.
Recipe for black beans in instant pot- (with and without soaking )
1 cup black beans soaked in 2 cups water 8-10 hours or overnight.
2 cups water for cooking
piece of ginger ( optional)
Method.
Switch on your ip.
Place everything above and close the lid, sealing position.
Manual high pressure for 12 minutes .
Natural pressure (NPR) release.
Discard the ginger .
Forgot to soak beans?
Black beans cook quickly even if you have forgotten to soak them.
Just rinse with water .
For every 1 cup black beans add 3 cups of water to the IP.
Close lid , sealing position.
Cook on high pressure for 30 minutes.
Natural pressure release.
Notes-
Ginger is mainly added to absorb any gas from the beans. This is how we cook beans in India.
It significantly helps if you are prone to be gastric due to beans.
Do not add salt while cooking beans as it might take longer for it to cook.
Season later .
Given below is the recipe followed by important notes and substitution .
Mexican soft tacos with avocado almond crema
Ingredients
- For the filling
- 3 tablespoon cooking oil
- 2 -3 cloves freshly grated garlic or 1 teaspoon garlic paste
- 1 medium sized sweet potato peeled and cubed
- 2 cups cauliflower florets rinsed
- 1 cup cooked black beans or of your choice
- 4 tablespoon tomato paste
- 1 count chipotle chili in adobo plus 2 teaspoon sauce*
- ¼ - ½ cup water
- Spices needed
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano
- ½ teaspoon cumin powder
- Salt to taste
- Couple of twists of black pepper
- For the avocado almond crema
- 1 medium sized avocado scooped and roughly cubed
- Fistful of cilantro
- 1 garlic grated
- ¼ cup almond milk
- ½ jalapeno deseeded
- 2 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
- Salt & Pepper to taste
Instructions
- For the filling
- Heat up a heavy bottom pan and add oil.
- Once warm add in the garlic and roast until golden brown.
- Add in the sweet potatoes and sprinkle some salt.
- Quick mix it to coat with the oil and cover the pan with a lid.
- Let the potatoes cook on a low flame/ heat for 3-4 minutes .
- Keep stirring occasionally to prevent them sticking to the pan.
- Meanwhile blend ¼ cup water , tomato paste , chili in adobo plus sauce .
- Add this mixture to the pan along with cauliflower ,cumin , some salt and pepper.
- Cover and let the mixture cook for 3-4 minutes until cauliflower is tender on medium heat.
- Add in more water if required.
- The consistency of the filling should be dry and not like gravy.
- Now fold in the beans and oregano.
- Give a taste test and adjust the seasoning if required .
- For the avocado almond crema
- Blend everything in a mixer/ blender.
- Add more liquid if you like the dressing thinner.
- Taste test and adjust seasoning or lemon.
- Assembling
- Just warm up the tortillas if desired.
- Fill it with the warm filling and top it with the avocado almond crema.
- Additionally you can add sliced avocados , tomatoes, grated carrots, chopped onions and cilantro as extra toppings.
Notes
Sub tomato paste with ½ cup tomato puree fresh or store bought and reduce water.
The spice level of this filling is 3 on 5 , 5 being Hot.
Sub Chipotle peppers in Adobo with 1-2 teaspoon of cayenne or red pepper powder as per your taste.
Sub black beans with chickpeas or black eye peas.
Sub almond milk with 2 tablespoon olive oil and 3 tablespoon water mix.
You can even top the tacos with simple guacamole , sour cream or salsa.
The filling will stay good for up to 3 days in the refrigerator
The avocado creama will stay well upto 2 days . It might just turn a little bit dull in color because of avocado .
Pin this for later. Eat healthy and stay healthy!
Never miss a recipe . If you like being here do subscribe to my blog.
Make sure you have us in your contact list so that the recipe does not land in spam folder.
Carveyourcraving(at)outlook(dot)com .
Are we friends yet . Let’s connect on-
Facebook| Instagram | Pintrest | Twitter
Happy cooking!
Do share it with the world!
IF SHARING ,PLEASE LINK BACK TO THE POST AS REPRODUCING, DISTRIBUTING OR COPYING PICTURES OR TEXT/ RECIPES THAT BELONG TO CARVE YOUR CRAVING IS A COPYRIGHT VIOLATION. YOU CAN ALWAYS LINK BACK TO THE WEBSITE.
Thanks for stopping by.
Thanks for sharing the recipe, I made it today, my family loved it. Very delicious!!
Awesome Poonam , glad you liked it.
When you cook with cilantro, do you use the stems? Would love to know how you wash/dry it, too.
thank you!
Yes Barbara . Tender stems of cilantro is where the most flavor is. When I buy cilantro I chop off the ends and pluck tender stems and leaves. Discard any grit or pale leaves. Store it wrapping loosely in a paper napkin then wrapping again in foil . Then I place it in a ziplock bag taking out as much air and store it in the refrigerator . It keeps well this way for 3-4 weeks or even more. The time I need it . Just take some out and rinse it well under cold tap water by placing it in a colander.