Vegan tacos with smoky mince

Today’s recipe – vegan tacos with smoky mince – turned out to be not the easiest one to photograph but it’s easy to prepare, delicious and full of nutrition.

We’ve been enjoying different variations of this dish a lot lately. It’s the kind of dish where the bulk of it actually benefits from being prepared in advance, which is what I tend to do. I make a big portion of the filling at the beginning of the week and store it in the fridge, I buy some tortillas and guacamole on the day and dinner is on the table in 20 minutes flat. I used flour tortillas here but if you want to keep this dish free from gluten, use corn tortillas instead.

MORE ABOUT THE INGREDIENTS

AROMATICS: Onion and garlic need no introduction and as with most savoury dishes, these two are how this dish starts. I chop them both very finely and pan-fry in little oil until fragrant, softened and translucent.

SMOKED TOFU: I used roughly crumbled smoked tofu to create the filling. Not only does it contribute delicious texture, but it also offers plenty of sustenance and nutrition.

WALNUTS: Toasted, well chopped walnuts add another texture to this mince-like filling. I like to use them for flavour, texture and extra nutrition. You could also use sunflower seeds if you want to avoid nuts. In both cases, I recommend toasting them gently on a dry pan as this intensifies the flavour a lot.

MUSHROOMS: I used finely chopped chestnut mushrooms (known as cremini in the US) as a partial replacement for minced meat – tofu and walnuts are the other two components.

CHIPOTLE PASTE: Chipotle paste is what adds heat and heaps of flavour to this simple filling. I used this brand. As this paste adds spiciness, be sure to proceed with caution and adjust the amount to your personal preference.

DRY SPICES: I used my two favourite savoury spices – cumin and smoked paprika – to amp up the flavour of this dish. Both are easily accessible so you should have no trouble finding either of them.

TOMATO PASSATA: I used an entire bottle (400 g / 14 oz) of tomato passata to bring this dish together and it worked a treat. If you don’t have passata you can use whole canned tomatoes but you may want to blitz them first to make sure there are no chunks of tomatoes in the finished sauce.

BLACK BEANS: I added a can of black beans (two cans would work too if you are keen to eat more beans) as it’s such a hands-off way of adding another texture, as well as nutrition. The more various plants we consume each day the better.

TORTILLAS: I used 15 cm / 6″ shop-bought flour tortillas to make these tacos. I fill them, grease them with a little oil on both side and gently pan-fry on a preheated skillet until golden and crispy. If making this dish without gluten, simply swap flour tortillas for corn ones.