These vegan tacos are seriously the best tacos you'll ever try! The lentil-mushroom-walnut filling provides a satisfying meaty texture and roasted sweet potato add lovely sweetness to it. And of course it wouldn't be a taco without a freshly made, creamy guacamole. These tacos are also accompanied by a tangy purple cabbage slaw, pickled in lime juice marinade.
This is Taco-Heaven.
You can use store bought or your very own, homemade tortillas. If you're up for the whole experience, below you will find a recipe for homemade corn tortillas made with 3 ingredients which yields the most delicious, soft, foldable, and naturally gluten-free corn tortillas.
INGREDIENTS ------------------
[makes 8 tacos]
Tacos Filling
4 tbsp cooking oil, i.e. grapeseed
1 small onion, diced
6 mushrooms, chopped
1 cup lentils, cooked
handful chopped walnuts
1 tsp salt
1 tsp smoked paprika
1 tbsp chili flakes
1 tbsp lime juice
1 tbsp maple syrup
2 tbsp chopped cilantro
2 handfuls spinach [optional]
splash of water
Roasted Sweet Potatoes
4 garlic cloves, minced
1 tsp rosemary [fresh or dry]
4 tsp oregano [fresh or dry]
1 tsp thyme [fresh or dry]
2 tsp savory
2 tsp cayenne or chilli flakes
1 tsp onion powder
2 tsp smoked paprika
2 tsp freshly ground black pepper
Lime Marinated Purple Cabbage
1/4 purple cabbage head, thinly sliced
Marinade:
1/4 cup lime juice
1 tbsp apple cider vinegar
1 tbsp maple syrup
1 tbsp dijon mustard
1 tsp Himalayan salt
Simple Guacamole
2 ripe avocados
handful fresh coriander, finely chopped
1/2 lime, juiced
1 1/2 unrefined salt
1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
Optional: you can add chopped tomatoes & diced onion if you like
3-ingredient Homemade Tortillas [see recipe at the bottom]:
2 cups /240 g masa harina
1 1/2 hot water
1 tsp unrefined salt
METHOD ---------------------
To make the cabbage slaw
Whisk together all the marinade ingredients. Pour over the sliced cabbage, mix well and let it sit for 20-30 minutes until the cabbage softens and starts to turn bright pink.
To make the sweet potatoes
Preheat oven to 200C.
Toss diced sweet potato in olive oil along with the spices and roast for 20-25 minutes, or until tender & crispy on the outside.
To make the filling
Cook lentils according to package directions.
In a pan over medium heat, heat oil and add onion with a pinch of salt. Sauté ca. 5 minutes stirring and making sure it doesn't burn. Add mushrooms and continue to cook until softened.
Add the remaining ingredients and sauté until cooked. Towards the very end add spinach and cook another 1 - 2 min until spinach has wilted. Set aside.
To make the guacamole
Simply mash the avocados a fork and mix with all the remaining guacamole ingredients.
Taco Assembly
Use your favorite corn tortillas and top with lentil walnut mixture, sweet potatoes, cabbage and guacamole. Sprinkle with some fresh cilantro and slices of jalapeño chili pepper.
Recipe inspired by Crowded Kitchen.
To make your own Tortillas
Whisk 2 caps of masa harina and salt together, then gradually stir in 1.5 cup of hot water until you achieve an evenly-mixed dough. Knead the dough with your hands for 2-3 minutes until it’s smooth. Pay close attention to the texture — it should feel springy and firm. If the dough feels too wet and is sticking to your hands, add in a few extra tablespoons of flour. If it feels too dry and crackly, add in an extra tablespoon or two of hot water.
Rest the dough. Cover the bowl with the dough with a damp kitchen towel and let it rest for about 10 minutes.
Portion the dough evenly. Use a scoop or a spoon to form a ball of dough (ca. 60 grams each, for a larger size tortillas) then use your hands to roll the ball until it's nice and round.
Press the dough balls. Place the dough ball between two pieces of plastic in the center of a tortilla press [if, like me, you don't have a tortilla press, you can use a heavy pan to press the dough balls and use a rolling pin to further roll out dough between the two layers of plastic wrap or wax paper]. Gently press / roll the dough ball until it forms a 10 - 12 cm flat tortilla. At this point, do a quick texture-check of the tortilla. If it peels away easily from the plastic, it’s good to go. If it’s sticky and does not peel away, your dough is too wet, and you'll need to knead a bit more flour into the batch of dough before scooping out more dough balls.
Cook the tortilla. When your tortilla is ready to go, heat a non-stick pan over medium-high heat. No need to use any oil. Once the pan is nice and hot, gently peel the tortilla away from the plastic wrap and lay the tortilla flat in the skillet. Cook the tortilla for about 40-60 seconds per side, flipping it once speckled brown spots begin to appear on the bottom of the tortilla. The tortillas will likely bubble up while cooking, especially on the second side, which is a good sign. Once it is cooked, transfer the tortilla to a bowl wrapped in a clean kitchen towel, so that the tortillas do not dry out.
Recipe by Gimme some Oven.
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