Recipe: Black Bean, Chickpea & Sweet Potato Enchiladas

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I got a request for more recipes by a few of you pals, so here you go!

This one is a variation of a recipe I found in my Thug Kitchen cookbook but I didn’t have all of the ingredients so I improvised. I tend to do this a lot in my cooking and sometimes I end up enjoying the end result even better. The secret to cooking is loving to eat. No, seriously. I know what I like and once I’ve made a recipe, I’ll tailor it to how I like it. Isn’t that the beauty of cooking your own meals?

Anyway, enjoy friends. This Mexican dish is not just for Taco Tuesday.

Ingredients:

Enchilada Sauce:

2 1/4 cups vegetable broth (You can use chicken or beef broth if you want)

1/3 cup tomato paste

2 1/2 tablespoons chili powder

2 teaspoons ground cumin

1 1/2 teaspoons dried oregano

2 to 3 cloves garlic, minced

2 teaspoons soy sauce

1 tablespoon lime juice

Filling:

1 large sweet potato chopped into nickel-size pieces

2 teaspoons olive oil

1/2 yellow onion, chopped

1 can black beans

1 can chickpeas

1 teaspoon chili powder

1/2 teaspoon ground cumin

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 tablespoon maple syrup or agave syrup

1 pack of corn or flour tortillas

Sliced avocado (optional)

Chopped fresh cilantro (optional)

Shredded cheese for topping (I used a mix of cheddar and mozzarella & provolone)

Directions:

  1. Make the enchilada sauce. Dump everything but the lime juice into a medium saucepan and bring to a simmer. Use a whisk or fork to make sure the tomato paste doesn’t sit in a clump. Let that simmer together for 10 to 15 minutes so that the sauce has time to thicken up a little. Add the lime juice and turn off the heat. Let it cool while you make the filling.

  2. To cook the sweet potato, grab a medium saucepan, fill it with water and your chunks of sweet potato and bring to a boil. Cover and cook until tender. I always check them with a fork. Dump into a bowl and mash. Some chunks are fine.

  3. While the sweet potato cooks, grab a large skillet or wok and heat the oil over medium heat. Add the onion and sauté until it begins to brown, 3 to 5 minutes. Toss in the chickpeas and black beans. Add the chili powder, cumin, salt and garlic. Cook together until beans are hot and tender, 5 minutes. Then fold in the mashed sweet potato and maple syrup and turn off the heat. Mix until combined.

  4. Now we make the enchiladas. Heat your oven to 375°F. Grab a 9 x 13-inch baking dish.

  5. Cover the bottom of the baking dish with about 1 1/2 cups of enchilada sauce. Using a griddle, your oven or microwave, warm up the tortilla. Dip a tortilla around in a little of the sauce (front and back) in the baking dish. Fill tortilla with a couple spoonfuls of filling, then roll it up and set it seam-side down in the dish. Keep going until you run out of space or out of filling.

  6. Cover the enchiladas with the remaining sauce, top with your cheese (go crazy!) and throw it in the oven for 20 minutes. Let it cool for a minute or two before serving . Feel free to add avocado or chopped cilantro if you’re fancy.

This recipe does dirty more pans than I would like but hey, it’s damn worth it. P.S. Don’t buy extra spicy chili powder guys, you’ll burn your tongue off like I did. Whew!