Chile – Black Bean Enchiladas
This recipe is amazing for dinner parties!
When hosting; I think of dishes that will keep warm and plate beautifully. The rojo enchilada sauce has a deep flavor, given by the dried chiles. Cooking with dried chiles adds incredible layers to a dish since they house such fruity, earthy and smoky flavors.
The verde cream is made with a base of sunflower seeds, which are on the budget friendly side of seeds. The sauce is light, spicy and tart – with a touch of yogurt. Don’t forget the yogurt!
In this recipe, I utilized my homemade corn tortilla recipe. I’ve updated the recipe to reflect my most current method (i’ll be uploading that very soon).
Since this dish is cooked; it’s nice to add colorful raw elements to the top – to bring life to the plate.
Feel free to get creative with your toppings – adding fresh jalapeño, shredded purple cabbage, pickled carrots/cauliflower/jalapeño and homemade hot sauce.
I hope you enjoy these delicious enchiladas!
Chili Black Bean Enchiladas
Ingredients
Enchilada sauce
- 2 ancho chile, dried
- 2 guajillo chiles, dried
- 1 -2 roma tomatoes
- 1 tbsp tomato paste
- 2 garlic cloves
- ½ onion
- 1 vegetable bouillon cube, or 1 tbsp vegetable bouillon
- 1 tsp salt
- ½ tsp cumin powder
- ½ tsp cinnamon powder
- 1 tsp apple cider vinegar
- ½ lime, juiced
- 1 tbsp olive oil
Enchilada cream
- ½ cup sunflower seeds, raw and soaked overnight
- ½ -¾ cups water (go lighter then add more if you want a thinner sauce, later)
- 1 tsp salt
- ½ lime juiced
- About 3-4 sprigs of cilantro
- ½ jalapeno
- ¼ – ½ avocado
- 1 heaping tbsp plant yogurt
Enchilada
- 8-11 corn tortillas
- 7 oz plant cheese, ideally mozzarella and cashew based
- 2 cups black beans, cooked
- 1 poblano pepper, chopped
- 4 oz mushrooms, chopped
- ½ tbsp olive oil
- Splash of liquid aminos
Garnish
- Radish, sliced
- Green cabbage, chopped
- Cilantro, chopped
- Avocado, sliced
Instructions
Enchilada Sauce
- Remove the seeds and stems from your dried chiles
- On a skillet, dry toast the chiles on low-medium heat
- Careful not to burn them – just about 45 seconds on each side
- Add about 3 cups of water to a pot and heat to a simmer
- When simmering, remove from heat and drop in those chiles
- Allow them to sit submerged in water, with a lid on, for about 20 minutes – you’re hydrating the chiles and making chile water
- Open flame roast roma tomatoes and onion, just a small char *
- Into a blender add tomatoes, onion, hydrated chiles, tomato paste, garlic cloves, salt, cumin, cinnamon, apple cider vinegar, lime juice, vegetable bouillon and 2-3 cups of the chile water – depending on how thin you’d like it to be
- Blend until creamy smooth
- Into a skillet, add olive oil and heat on medium flame
- Add enchilada sauce and stir vigorously to cook the sauce – about 2 minutes
- Then lower heat to simmer and allow to cook for 10 minutes
- Set aside until ready to use
Enchilada cream
- Add all ingredients into a food processor and blend until creamy smooth, breaking down the sunflower seeds
Enchilada
- Preheat oven to 380 degrees
- In a skillet, heat olive oil
- Add poblano peppers, mushrooms and liquid aminos – saute for 5-6 minutes, or until tender
- Set aside, to fill the enchiladas
- I made my corn tortillas from scratch, so they’re warm and malleable – if you’re using store bought you’ll need them to warm up a bit, so they can bend and roll *
- Into a large baking dish, pour enough enchilada sauce to cover the bottom of the dish (about ½-¾ cups)
- Spoon some enchilada sauce onto a plate and saturate the corn tortillas, one at a time
- To one side of the tortilla – spoon in the pepper + mushroom filling and small sprinkle of cheese
- Begin to roll the tortilla from one side to the next
- Keeping the fold of the tortilla at the bottom, place it gently on top of the enchilada sauce, in the baking dish
- Repeat for as many tortillas will fit into the baking dish, layering them side by side
- For the last few enchiladas, i layer them in vertical
- Cover the rolled enchiladas with remaining enchilada sauce
- Sprinkle with remaining cheese
- Bake in the oven covered for 20 minutes
- Remove cover and bake for an additional 10 minutes, or until golden
- Serve with enchilada cream on top or bottom of the plated enchilada
- Garnish with radish, cabbage, cilantro and avocado