Wednesday 20 March 2013

Guest Host Trustworthy: Chilli Tacos and Sour Cream (Vegan & GF)

Trustworthy's Kitchen Play List:

The Ting Tings - That's Not My Name
PJ Harvey - Big Exit
A Perfect Circle - Freedom Of Choice
Gossip - Yr Mangled Heart
ELP - The Great Gates of Kiev/The End
Led Zep - I Can't Quit You Baby
The Dodge Brothers - 42 Days
Chelsea Wolfe - Fang
John Barry Orchestra - 007
Mogwai - Death Rays
Depeche Mode - Dirt
Shapeshifter - Warning
Soundgarden - Rusty Cage
Tina Dico - Sunrise

Well hey peeps :)

Big thanks to Red for inviting me back again...love being here :)


T's Chilli Tacos and Sour Cream (V&GF)

Us vegans have (as we damn well should!) a great knack for lobbing together veggies out of the fridge and producing something beautiful and nutritious in a matter of minutes. Something that expedites this process is chopping freshly washed and chopped produce and bagging and freezing it. If you're single and work until you are falling asleep as soon as you cross your threshold, often cooking does seem like a task...amirite?

For this dish, most of the prep was done. So, short of chopping a fresh onion (these don't freeze well lol...mango and onion ice cream isn't a pleasant flavour!) and perhaps a half-block of tofu, tempeh, or seitan (chopped into small cubes, which can be marinaded if desired) this is a very quick dish indeed.

Put your oven on, for the tacos, but don't put them in yet. Next, in a hot-oiled wok, add the chopped onion. When they are good and sizzling add your (I don't like to call it 'main' protein...perhaps we'll just call it PVP - ugh, but then that sounds industrial! Blimey, by the time I've debated this between us I could've just written tofu/tempeh/etc hehe) and then add a few shakes of a packet of Taco mix...you know from those boxes you get in the supermarkets, pre-prepared. I never use the whole sachet and they keep for a while. Beware, toasting spices like this can be quite caustic on the throat and eyes. Stir fry for about a minute, the raid your freezer for your pre-chopped veggies....go hard! Capsicums, chile pepper, zucchini/courgette, kale, mushrooms.. hell I even freeze almond meal in small chunks. Drain a tin of kidney beans too, if you like, and add half. Stir it all round, get everything coated and shiny, the colours just starting to glow. Then add juice of half a lemon and deglaze the bottom of the pan....the spices are now at their most concentrated. Now add a can of diced tomatoes, and stir to cover the bottom of the pan.

Hot, hot, hot!

Now you can arrange your dry tacos in your oven, either using the silly little baffle they give you and arranging them in a fan on a tray, or hanging them gently over the rods of your oven shelf. By the time you've done that, the wok will be good and bubbling, and you can reduce the heat a tad. You only have a few minutes before the tacos get too well done and get very brittle, or of course burn altogether.

This next bit...this is the Trustworthy Secret Recipe...well secret between you, me, and those that read this hehe. This really tops it off...quite literally. Get a tablespoon of tofutti cream cheese, about a teaspoon of apple cider vinegar, and a few slops of canola oil. Mix these in a small sauce bowl, until its all creamy. Now you have vegan sour cream! Add salt if you like, but it really is the yums.

(The not so secret ingredients, eh? lol ~R~)
So hopefully you made that a few days ago (hehe) otherwise this kind of ruins the spontaneity which is kinda the angle I'm going for here lol. I keep forgetting, of course, that you've still got to clear up after...

Anyway, now the chile, tacos, and sour 'better than' cream will be ready, and you can stuff your hot tacos with the chile, top with the white stuff, maybe grate your favourite vegan cheese over the top, and certainly chop some coriander and throw this on too. Squeeze some lime, crack a beer and you have a great Top Gear dinner lol.

 

Till soon,

Love etc..

T x