#tacoserrday

When Chris came home from the store with more taco supplies, I tried to explain that by "100 tacos" I didn't mean tacos for every meal until the project was over. He sang a song called "tacos every day" and it wasn't encouraging.

The tempeh and black bean tacos tonight fell on the side of vegan friendly with nary a cheese nor cream in sight. Therefore, I hope Larkin considers this a challenge (when she's done with school and life-pressures and whatever) to beat us at our own game.

~~~~~~~~

Chris's Highly Precise Recipe:

Makes six tacos

What You’ll Need:

4 tablespoons vegetable oil

Medium sauté pan with tight-fitting top

1 white onion, roughly chopped

4 cloves garlic, crushed and finely chopped

15-ounces canned black beans (prepared dried beans with 1/4 cup water or stock if you prefer)

Large non-stick sauté pan

8-ounce tempeh ‘slab’ (Don’t use the sliced or crumbled stuff if possible)

1/4 teaspoon dried turmeric

1/4 teaspoon dried cumin

1/8 teaspoon dried coriander

6 flour or corn tortillas, warmed

1 avocado, thinly sliced

2 yellow or Roma tomatoes, chopped

1 bunch chopped cilantro, for garnish, to taste

2 limes, for squeezing and serving

Hot sauce, for serving, optional

  How To Cook The Thing

Step 1: Heat 2 tablespoons of vegetable oil in a medium sauté over medium-low heat until hot. Add the onion and cook until translucent and softened, about 2 to 3 minutes. Add the garlic and sauté for an additional minute.

Step 2: Drain half the liquid out of the black beans and add the rest to the saucepan with the onions and garlic. Cover the mixture with a tight-fitting top and continue cooking over medium-low heat, checking and stirring the beans regularly.

(They should be a thick, almost paste-like mixture. You want them to have just enough moisture to spread on a tortilla without caking and drying out.)

Step 3: Heat 2 tablespoons of vegetable oil in a large non-stick sauté pan and heat on high until just smoking. Add the tempeh and cook for about 3 minutes on each side or until the outside is just blackened.

Step 4: Remove the tempeh from heat and place it on a cutting board. Roughly chop the tempeh into a crumble or into small cubes. Dealer’s choice.

Step 5: Add the turmeric, cumin and coriander to the beans. Remove them from heat and stir the mixture to thoroughly combine the dried spices with the hot beans.

Step 6: Plate your tortillas and divide the beans among them, using a spoon to place them in the center of each tortilla. Top the beans with an even amount of the tempeh mixture.

Step 7: Place the avocado slices to one side of the tempeh on each tortilla, making sure to divide the avocado evenly. The person who doesn’t get as much avocado as everyone else WILL notice.

Step 8: Top each taco with chopped yellow or Roma tomatoes and cilantro to taste. Squeeze a lime wedge over each taco and serve with plenty of extra lime wedges and your favorite hot sauce.

  Tempeh Tip! You don’t want the tempeh to be a uniform black color on the outside – you just want about half of the surface blackened. The other parts should be a deep brown color. Watch your tempeh and pay attention to how it changes color the first time you cook it. And don’t worry, it’s not like meat, so flipping it over too much isn’t a problem as long as you’re careful not to break your tempeh ‘slab’ into pieces.

~~~~~~~~

Verdict:

Chris thought that more lime could have been used throughout. I went a little too insane with the hot sauce and jalapeño slices. I have no one but myself to blame for my face being on fire for half the meal.

It was agreed that I am incapable of writing decent reviews because every time a taco is placed in front of me, I'm really happy there are tacos in front of me. That task will have to fall to one of my comrades.