layered enchilada bake
by Bella Black
Lately I’ve been trying to cook with little to no oil and minimal salt. Most of my meals are very vegetable heavy and what I would consider healthy, but I realized I was adding oil to almost every meal. Seriously, I used to make caramelized onions pretty much every day and that started with oil or plant butter. So anyway… In my quest to cook with less oil I came up with this recipe.
I love making enchiladas by wrapping up refried beans and assorted veggies in corn tortilla. Then the whole thing gets red sauce and a bake. But I hate rolling them and it gets messy. Sometimes they split up the side unless you soften the tortillas and ain’t nobody got this for that. Instead this is layered kind of like a lasagna, enchilada sauce replaces the tomato sauce, tortillas replace the pasta. Here’s how you do it. I used canned beans and tomatoes for this but by all means, cook your own. I always get the no-salt added versions and then seasonal how I want to.
INGREDIENTS
12 corn tortillas (look for an oil free brand, I use mission extra thin yellow corn)
1 can of black beans, drained & rinsed
1 (10oz) can of rotel original diced tomatoes & green chili
1 (14.5oz) can of diced tomatoes
3 cloves of garlic, minced
1 small red onion, diced
1 large bunch spinach (you can really use any green or vegetable you like)
spices: just a few shakes of each- follow your heart
cumin, smoked paprika, garlic powder, cayenne, red pepper flakes, salt & pepper
OPTIONAL- vegan cheese/sour cream OR my personal favorite “Core + Rind” cashew cheese sauce
MAKE IT
This makes about 6 servings or 4 if you’re really really hungry.
Pre-heat your oven to 375°F and get out a small sauce pan and a frying pan.
The Sauce: Add 1 Tbsp of water to your saucepan and turn to medium. Add your chopped garlic, red chili flakes, and cayenne and cook until it starts to get fragrant. Add your can of tomato & green chili and cook covered for 3 minutes. Blend your can of diced tomatoes (and the juice) for just a few seconds to break them down, then pour into the sauce pan. Stir and cook on medium-low COVERED for at least 20 minutes.
The Beans: Add 1 Tbsp of water to your frying pan and toss in your diced red onion. Shake on some cumin, garlic powder, and smoked paprika and cook for a few minutes until it’s fragrant and onions begin to soften. Add your drained and rinsed black beans and cook together for 5 minutes. Mash about 3/4 of the beans with a potato masher or the back of a spatula and mix until it’s nice and creamy. Keep warm on low setting on the stove.
Spinach (or other Veggie): Just steam up some greens, kale, zucchini… whatever you dig. If it’s a green that holds a lot of water (like spinach) give it a squeeze to get rid of the extra moisture.
Grab a 9 inch cake pan and add just enough sauce to cover the bottom. Lay down tortillas so that they form a single layer. Drop on your beans and carefully spread on top of the tortillas to form the next layer. Top with another tortilla layer, then another layer of sauce. On top of the sauce lay down your spinach (or other veggie) then another layer of tortilla. Then one last sauce layer. Finally you can add some vegan cheese if you’re into that kind of thing. I use about half a jar (3/4 cup) of a cashew cheese sauce from Core + Rind (@coreandrind) but it really doesn’t even need it. To recap, the layers from bottom to top are…. SAUCE-TORTILLA- BEANS- TORTILLA- SAUCE- VEGGIES- TORTILLA- SAUCE- (CHEESE)
Put the cakepan on top of a rimmed cookie sheet and toss it in the oven on the middle rack, uncovered. Cook for 35 minutes. Remove from the oven and make sure you let it rest for about 30 minutes before cutting into it.
Top it with vegan sour cream or some hot sauce & cilantro.