Category Archives: Gluten Free

Nopales Tamales

Nopales Tamales

Vegetarian Tamales

Holy Tamale it’s a recipe for Nopales Tamales! The long awaited nopale tamale recipe is recorded and being written down on The Vegetarian Blog! After the 5th Annual Nopales Festival, the doors have opened for me to a whole new business opportunity, which I will briefly narrate. But first I want to thank those that patiently have been waiting for this recipe and I’m grateful for your continuous support!

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Mexican Tacos de Nopales

Tacos de Nopales

Dear friends and family this month has been so busy with exciting family surprises, the ebook production of Breakfast With Tofu, my contest in Santa Cruz for Nopales Recipes, colorful Mexican treats from a long awaited parent’s trip, and just a whole lot of appreciation and gratitude. This past Saturday I entered a Mexican cactus recipe contest for the Festival de Nopales in Santa Cruz CA, I submitted a recipe to compete at the cactus festival and was given 10 pounds of nopales along with all their respectable prickly thorns. My mother Kirtida who had come to visit from Texas, gladly helped me peel and remove the flesh and thorns from the flesh of the green nopale cactus.  I decided to go with my traditional michoacán  *Corundas filled with sautéd Nopales and Corn, and a Salsa of Nopales, Chipotle & Avocado.
*Corundas are Michoacán style tamales steamed in fresh green corn leaves, not husks.

I arrived at noon at the recipe contest booth and I had not even finished setting up my table, and there was already a line waiting for me! I was so excited but nervous at the same time! And to add to my bottle of nervousness, my competitors were from a culinary school in San Jose! The way the competition worked was they bought .25 cent per tasting and ticket. So if they liked my dish they would vote for me and buy more tickets to vote and place them in my vote box. But after a few hours of hungry consumers eager to taste a Michoacán Mexican flavor, I was 30 minutes out of everything before the contest was closed! I was so bummed I had not enough food to continue and was sure that this disadvantage was my downfall. I was so sad. When the competition ended, the administrators came and took our vote boxes. After they did the voting ticket count, they took us up on stage to announce the winner. Jaquie Perez who was a volunteer coordinator stepped up to introduce her self and announce the winner. “And the first place for the recipe contest at the Festival de Nopales is Dhanisthaaa!” Wooww, I couldn’t believe I won, even with the lack of time to continue on, I had enough votes that had saved me! I can’t thank enough for all the people that continued to come back for more and voted for me. To Tony and Jaquie for the opportunity in this recipe contest and I’m also grateful for the Santa Cruz Community Gardens for allowing me to pick their fresh corn leaves from their gardens, because without them there would be no Corundas and my family & friends for all their loving support and kindness. Yay for the Festival de Nopales!

Nopalesandbeans

As a token of appreciation to the people of Santa Cruz, California I will post the Corunda & salsa’s recipe from the contest sometime this week, but before I do, I want to share this nopal taco recipe that reunited my parents and sister on their first day home. Nopales have magic healing powers to them and nooo I’m not just saying Mexican superstitious myths but they actually do have many nutritional benefits, click here for Nopal nutrition info. Well I hope you like these tacos and your familia does more!

Tacos de Nopales

Serves aproximately 4 🙂

Nopales
1/8 olive oil
7-10 “penkas” of nopal (whole green leaf cactus) thorns removed and sliced lengthwise ¼ – ½ inch
1/2 red onion, halved and sliced
1 cup cilantro, chopped
8 corn tortillas
salt to taste

Frijoles Negros
1 cup cooked black beans
1 tbsp butter or coconut oil
2 tbsp cilantro, chopped
salt to taste

Salsa Fresca
1 tbsp oil
3 roma tomatoes, quartered
1 green Serrano chili
1/4 red or yellow onion
1/4 cup cilantro, chopped
salt to taste

In a large saucepan, heat oil on high and add onion and half of cilantro. Let sit for 30 seconds then stir for 1 minute and add nopales. Continue to stir every other second for 2 minutes. Cover with a lid for 5 minutes. Prick them with a knife to see if they are cooked and tender and remove the lid. If liquid is absorbed you can add a few tbsp of water. Continue to stir until they get a dark roasted color. You want to cook them on high and with enough oil to remove the sliminess of the cactus. The result will end similar to the texture of a cooked bell pepper. Cook for another 3 minutes and add salt and the rest of the cilantro.

For the beans to serve with the tacos, heat up butter on a medium flame and add cilantro till it sizzles then add beans. Stir and cook for 5 minutes until hot. You can continue to cook them down and also refry them by mashing them and adding more butter! Hehe unless your watching your calories or vegan, you can also top with queso fresco!

To make the salsa, stir fry tomatoes and Serrano chili on a tbsp of oil on high heat till they bruise. Remove and place in food processor or blender along with onions and cilantro. Blend in short pulses till its chopped, watch out not to puree it. Sometimes when you accidently heat your salsa while blending, it will cook the cilantro and it doesn’t taste good at all!

As far as the penkas of nopal, I highly suggest you buying the green cactus leaves already peeled, this will save you time and also the risk of having nasty thorns in your hands. However if you would like a demo on how to peel a nopal I can provide that upon request. Just send me a message in the comment box below I seriously do not want to see anybody hurt!

I hope you guys enjoy these tacos and I have not bored you with so many letters! Gosh I think this is the longest post ever! Thank you sooo much for reading! xoxo

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TacosdeNopales

Tacos de Jamaica (Hibiscus Tacos)

Tacos de Jamaica (Hibiscus Tacos)

photo cred: @sielburt

photo cred: @sielburt

tacos-de-jamaica

Dear friends & family, what better way to celebrate our Mexican spirit for our team’s enthusiastic performance in this soccer FIFA World Cup (yes I am talking about the Mexican team!). Señores y Señoritas… I present to you a TACO DE JAMAICA recipe! Who in their right mind would not love Mexican tacos??!! This is a special taco recipe because it is made with edible flowers– Hibiscus or Jamaica (in Spanish). Jamaica is a very popular chilled tea that is drank through out Mexico as an Agua Fresca, a natural chilled beverage. It is very easy to find hibiscus dried flowers in any Mexican grocery store, and in this recipe you get tacos and an agua fresca of Jamaica!

hibiscus-tacos

 

There is something very exotic about eating beautiful flowers, and somehow this lovely concept of edible flowers invokes a feeling of delicacy and romance to a plate. The hibiscus flower has a natural tartness property, so I combine it with the creaminess of avocados and sweetness of caramelized onions to create this ambrosial and tropical taco!  I really hope you enjoy this taco. Yay for the TACOS!!! (P.S. keep rooting for the Mexican soccer team!) Continue reading

Mexican Cilantro Rice

Mexican Cilantro Rice

Mexican Cilantro Rice Cilantro Rice The Vegetarian Blog

Today I am feeling very happy for the soccer team from MEXICO 🙂 and in the celebration of their win today at the FIFA World Cup in Brazil, I was inspired to make a Mexican rice; but not just your regular Mexican rice. Ohh no, today I made Mexican Cilantro Rice. In Mexico or (I’m sure) in all most every latin country, everyone has a tía Lupe in their family (tía means Aunt and Lupe is short for Guadalupe). When my family moved to Mexico from the US, my tía Lupe was the first person to serve me a plate of bright green cilantro rice. It was incredible cilantroso!
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Enchiladas Morelianas de Papa & Zanahoria

Enchiladas Morelianas de Papa & Zanahoria

Enchiladas de Papa

Vegetarian enchiladas have a very special place in my heart, they remind me of coming back home from middle school, starving as usual, to my mother’s enchiladas Morelianas (filling with potato and carrots from the capitol state of Michoacán).

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Asparagus, Strawberry & Goat Cheese Salad

Asparagus, Strawberry & Goat Cheese Salad

Aspragus Salad
My two favorite spring vegetables and fruits are asparagus and strawberries because they are sweet, crunchy and refreshening. These guys are just about delicious whether they are prepared in a simple way or in a delicate dish. Today the weather in Santa Cruz, California, is at 89 degrees Fahrenheit! And let me tell you…it is soooo HOT!!! I haven’t felt this heat since I was in Puerto Rico. So I looked in my fridge to see what kind of ingredients I had to make a refreshing salad to cool myself, and I found some fresh asparagus that we picked up the day before yesterday at a farm, and some local strawberries from Watsonville. One of my favorite ways to enjoy a salad and switch it up from the regular leafy salad, is to peel the vegetables into long thin slices. So I peeled asparagus and carrots to give it a nice sweet crunchy flavor and mixed it with avocado and goat cheese. This salad has a magnificent layer of flavors from creamy to crunchy and sweet to sour. I hope you enjoy this salad on such a beautiful hot & sunny day!

Asparagus Strawberry & Goat Cheese Salad Continue reading