Black bean tacos with avocado and mango-lime salsa
Warmed fresh tortillas are just the beginning. Topped with layers of bright flavors and textures, they make an excellent meal — in this case, plant-based.
The co-founder of Earthbound Farms in the Salinas Valley, Myra Goodman, and her daughter compiled a cookbook of vegan recipes Straight From the Earth. These tacos were inspired by one of their recipes. She called for a black bean puree, but I chose to keep the beans chunky. The plantains in the grocery store were too firm so I used "Dacca" bananas. Who knew these red bananas would taste so good pan-fried in a little sunflower oil? And because I had no fresh mangoes for the salsa, I used frozen mango chunks instead. Sometimes you just have to cook with ingredients from a bag or a box.
From start to finish I hung out in the kitchen for about an hour to put this meal together. I think I could do it in much less time in the future. The number of ingredients can be approximate so it is a lot easier than baking a cake.
Servings: 8
Ingredients
- 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
- Small yellow onion, diced
- 2 bay leaves
- 4 large garlic cloves, minced
- 2 teaspoons ground cumin
- 2 teaspoons dried oregano
- 1 teaspoon salt
- Generous pinch cayenne
- 2 15-ounce cans black beans, rinsed and drained
- 3 tablespoons tomato paste
- 1 large, ripe mango, peeled and diced or one bag frozen mango chunks, thawed
- 1 red bell pepper, diced
- Grated zest of 1/2 lime
- 5 tablespoons fresh lime juice, divided
- 2 1/2 tablespoons minced jalapeño
- 2 tablespoons chopped red onion
- 1/2 cup chopped cilantro (or leave this out and offer as garnish)
- Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
- 2 ripe avocados
- Pinch red pepper flakes
- 3 large ripe plantains or red “dacca” bananas, sliced into 1/4 inch rounds
- 12 small corn tortillas
- Shredded romaine lettuce heart or shredded cabbage
Directions
- Heat the olive oil in a large skillet.
- Cook the onion and bay leaves until the onion is soft but not browned.
- Add the garlic, cumin, oregano, cayenne, and salt and cook for a couple of minutes until fragrant.
- Add the black beans, tomato paste, and half-cup water. Cook until the liquid mostly evaporates.
- Taste and adjust salt and cayenne.
- Remove the bay leaves and either just mash the bean mixture a bit or puree them in a food processor. Mashing was a lot easier with less clean-up.
- To make the salsa, mix mango, bell pepper, lime zest, 3 tablespoons lime juice, jalapeño, red onion, and cilantro (if using) in a bowl. Taste and adjust salt and lime.
- Mash the avocados in a bowl with the remaining lime juice and red pepper flakes. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
- Add a little high-heat oil (such as sunflower oil) to a large skillet over medium-high heat.
- Fry the plantain or banana slices for about a minute on each side until golden brown. Drain them on paper towels.
- Warm your tortillas by your favorite method, either directly on the oven rack at 300 degrees, one at a time in a skillet, or in a tortilla steamer wrapped in a kitchen towel (my favorite method).
Let everyone assemble their own tacos. I suggest a layer of beans on a couple of warm tortillas topped with fried plantain/banana, avocado, and mango salsa finished with shredded lettuce or cabbage. Leftovers make a great filling for an omelet.
Nutrition information (per serving)
- Serving size: One taco with mango salsa, avocado and plantains
- Calories: 290
- Total fat: 11 g
- Saturated fat: 1.5 g
- Saturated fat: 1.5 g
- Cholesterol: 0 g
- Sodium: 290 mg
- Dietary fiber: 9 g
- Total sugars: 14 g
- Protein: 7 g