Vegan Sweet Potato Burritos

Vegan Sweet Potato Burrito | Photo by HealthyandLazy

Spring break!

I’ve changed cities, temporarily, and have left the comfy confines of my Gainesville kitchen for the spacious kitchens of parents and in-laws.  These folks even have dishwashers!

With all the extra space, we decided to make a big, vegan feast.  For dinner, a burrito unlike any I’ve ever had – sweet potatoes and black beans seem like an unusual pairing to me, but we went for it.  It’s not a Healthy/Lazy original, but it might get added to the regular recipe rotation.  We found the idea over here.

I changed up the amounts of a lot of things, I didn’t have corriander handy and I substituted jalapenos for green chiles (they’re both green, right?).  So, if you’re a stickler for the details, you might want to pay a visit to the original recipe.

If you are carefree and adventurous, go with mine below.

Here’s what you need:

• 4 medium sweet potatoes, peeled and cubed
• 1 1/2 medium onions, diced
• 1 tbsp fresh green chile, minced (or jalapenos)
• 5 large garlic cloves, minced
• 4 tsp ground cumin
• 4 tsp ground coriander (optional)
• 3 15 oz cans of black beans, drained
• 2/3 cup fresh cilantro
• 1 lemon’s-worth of lemon juice
• 2 tsp salt
• 8 eight-inch flour tortillas
• salsa
• olive oil
• 1 big pot
• 1 big pan
• 1 mixing bowl
• 1 big baking dish

Here’s what to do:

Working the stove | Photo by HealthyandLazy

Step 1) Peel the potatoes and cube into pieces the size of Legos (the small ones).  Toss in pot and cover with water, add in three generous pinches of salt, and boil until “mush-able,” about 10-15 mins.

Step 2) Meanwhile, chop up your onions and garlic and start simmering in your big pan with some olive oil.  After about 5 minutes, when the onions are beginning to soften, add in the green chile (or jalapeno), cumin and corriander and continue to simmer for another 5 minutes and then remove from heat.

Stuffing the burrito | Photo by HealthyandLazy

Step 3) When the potatoes are done (you should be able to easily mash them with a fork), drain them and dump into a big mixing bowl.  Add in the 3 cans of drained black beans, cilantro, lemon juice and 1 tsp of salt and mash with a potato masher/big fork/slotted spoon.  Texture is all up to you – the original recipe called from placing everything into a food processor, but I thought that sounded gross.

Step 4) When it’s sufficiently mashed, add in the onions and garlic and stir.

Step 5) Scoop a hefty cup of mixture into a large tortilla and roll up, placing the seam side down in the large baking dish.  Do this 7 more times.

Step 6) Cover the dish with foil and bake at 350 degrees for about 30 minutes.

Step 7) Eat.

For dessert, we made up a batch of Vegan Ninja Bean Brownies.  It’s been a good break so far, lots of sunshine here in central Florida.  Lots more cookin’ in the forecast.