The only enchiladas I’ve ever made before were the spicy bean enchiladas from Anita Bean’s Food for Fitness, which are made with beans. Going through another back issue of Vegetarian Living, I stumbled across this recipe which used veggie mince, so thought I’d give it a go. I’m glad I did, as I think I prefer it to the other one.

Vegetarian spicy enchiladas

Spicy enchiladas (serves 2)
Taken from the November 2010 issue of Vegetarian Living

400g canned chopped tomatoes
150ml tomato juice [I didn’t have any tomato juice, so swirled some water about in the empty chopped tomato can and used that]
50g tomato puree
1 large red onion, finely chopped [I used a white onion]
1/2 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp dried or frozen oregano
2 mild green chillies, deseeded and finely chopped
2 tbsp lemon juice
pinch of unrefined sugar [I left this out]
2 tbsp chopped fresh coriander
1-2 tbsp vegetable oil
150g Linda McCartney Vegemince^TM [I used Sainsburys own brand meat-free mince]
150g vegetarian mature Cheddar, grated
4 soft corn tortillas

1. Place the chopped tomatoes, tomato juice and puree in a medium-sized saucepan. Add half the red onion, cumin, oregano, chillies, lemon juice, sugar and coriander. Bring to the boil, reduce the heat and simmer for about 15 minutes, stirring occasionally.
2. Heat the oil in a small frying pan and sauté the mince for a few minutes until lightly browned. Keep to one side.
3. Spread 4-6 tbsp of the tomato sauce in the base of an oblong ovenproof dish. Spread one of the tortillas with 2 tbsp of sauce, sprinkle with cheese, top with a quarter of the mince and sprinkle with chopped red onion, reserving some cheese and onion for garnishing. Roll carefully into a tube.
4. Place in the dish on top of the sauce, seam-side down. Repeat with the other tortillas and spoon over the remaining sauce. Sprinkle with the reserved cheese and the chopped onion.
5. Bake the enchiladas at 180C/fan 160C/gas 4 for 15-20 minutes, when the cheese should be bubbling and starting to brown.

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The Blue Anchor in Ruckinge does fantastic food and last week we went there for lunch to celebrate The Meat Eater’s 40th birthday with his parents. I’d been there before and know how big the portions are: more than enough for two people and some of the meals come on three plates (one for the main, one for the potatoes, and one for the vegetables). Because I had this knowledge, I opted for the jacket potato with cheese and coleslaw (which came with about a lb of cheese on it, along with a massive salad), while The Meat Eater chose their chilli cheese pie (which the owner assured him was superb). The Meat Eater said it certainly was superb, so I decided to recreate a vegetarian version using the Chilli Con Quorn recipe from the Quorn Kitchen Cookbook.

And here it is.

Quorn chilli cheese pie

Ingredients
1 ready made pastry case
Cheese

300g Quorn Mince
1 tbsp vegetable oil
1 large onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1/2 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp chilli powder
2 bay leaves
400g tin chopped tomatoes
300ml vegetable stock
1 green pepper, de-seeded and chopped
400g tin red kidney beans, drained
2 tsp cornflour
1 tbsp water

1. Heat the oil in a large saucepan. Fry the onion and garlic until soft and light golden brown. Add the Quorn Mince, spices and bay leaves, fry for 3 minutes.
2. Add the tomatoes, vegetable stock and green pepper and bring to the boil. Reduce the heat and simmer for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.
3. Stir in the kidney beans and cook for 5 minutes.
4. Mix the cornflour with the water to a smooth paste. Stir into the Quorn chilli to thicken. Cook gently for a further 5 minutes. Remove the bay leaves and discard.

Pour some of the chilli into the pastry case (there will be loads left over, so freeze it to use in the future on rice, jacket potatoes or make more pies out of it), top with grated cheese and put in the oven at 200C for about 15-20 minutes or until the cheese has browned.

I served it with purple sprouting broccoli that I never knew went green when cooked.

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After last week’s Italian themed meals of lasagne, pizza and pasta, this week I decide to be healthy and make meals that weren’t covered in cheese.

That was the plan, anyway.

What actually happened was that I made healthy bean-based meals and then covered them in cheese.

Food for Fitness

Last night’s bean-based-cheese-covered meal was white bean chili from The Seasoned Vegetarian by Simon Rimmer which was very nice indeed, but unfortunately went unphotographed.  Tonight, however, I got my camera out to take photographs of tonight’s spicy bean enchiladas, taken from Anita Bean’s Food for Fitness: Nutrition Plan, Eating Plan, Recipes.

Spicy bean enchiladas

Ingredients (makes 4)
1 tbsp (15 ml) olive oil
1 onion, chopped
2 cloves of garlic, crushed
1 tin (420g) pinto or red kidney beans (or 175g/6oz dried beans, soaked, cooked and drained)
1/2 tin (200g) chopped tomatoes
1 tbsp (15g) taco seasoning mix or 150g (5oz) enchilada sauce
4 corn or wheat tortillas
225g (8 oz) passata with herbs or garlic
50g (2 oz) grated mature Cheddar cheese
Low fat plain yoghurt, sliced onions, shredded lettuce

1. Heat the oil in a large frying pan.  Saute the onion and garlic for 5 minutes.
2. Add the beans to the pan and mash roughly.
3. Add the tomatoes, taco seasoning (or enchilada sauce) and continue to cook for a few minutes.
4. Spread one quarter of the mixture over each tortilla.  Roll up and place seam-side down in a baking dish sprayed with oil spray.
5. Spoon the passata over the tortillas and sprinkle the cheese over the top.
6. Cover with foil and bake at 180C/350F/gas mark 4 for 30 minutes.  Alternatively, cover and microwave for 7 minutes.
7. Serve with a spoonful of yoghurt, and sprinkle with onions and lettuce.

Here they are before they went into the oven.

Enchiladas pre-oven

And after.

Enchiladas post-oven

Nice.

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