Black Bean Burritos with Homemade Flour Tortillas

Sorry it has taken me a few days to post this!  But here is the recipe for the burritos from the last post...

This was my first time trying to make flour tortillas, and they were actually suprisingly simple (and they make the store-bought kind seem like eating a placemat!).  I looked at several recipes online, but I kinda did my own thing a bit, switching out half of the flour for corn flour, and they turned out really well.  I also halved the quantities so we ended up with just the right amount for the two of us.  They require some sort of fat, and if we had had vegetable shortening this would've been a vegan meal, but we only had butter.

 

Black Bean Burritos

Bean paste:

150g dried black beans

2-3 cloves garlic

Fajita/mexican blend spices (see here for list of what this comprises)

Sunflower oil

 

Topping:

1-2 sweet red onions

1 chilli pepper

Several leaves of Swiss chard

1 can corn

 

Tortillas (makes four smallish tortillas):

1/2 cup white flour

1/2 cup corn flour

Few tablespoons shortening, lard or butter

1/4 tsp salt

1/4 tsp baking powder

1/3-1/2 cup warm water

 

The first step is to put the dried black beans in to soak either overnight or at least in the morning.  Then, two hours before you want to be cooking dinner, drain and rinse the beans, picking out any stones or beans that look bad.  Put them in a pot of boiling water with a half a stock cube and simmer gently for two hours, stirring occasionally and checking to see if they are tender.

When the beans are ready, peel and smash or roughly chop 2-3 cloves of garlic, and put the beans and garlic into a large food processor, along with a good drizzle of sunflower oil, mexican spices and salt and pepper.  Blitz it all together to make a paste, adding more oil and probably more salt to get the seasoning and consistency right.  I left this in the processor with the lid on to stay warm while doing the rest.

Get a wok or large frying pan heating with sunflower oil in it on the stove.  Peel the red onion(s), cut them in half, then chop rather finely crosswise to get 'ribbons'.  Start them cooking in the wok and then add a finely chopped chilli pepper and season.  Separate the stem from the leafy part of the Swiss chard and chop the stem like celery, adding it to the wok first.  Once this mixture has cooked through enough, add the can of corn (drained) and the tops of the chard.  Turn the heat down to leave it while you take care of the tortillas (or better yet be making the tortillas while someone helps you with the topping!).

To make the tortilla dough, combine the two flours, salt and baking soda with a fork in a large bowl while you get a griddle or a frying pan hot (dry). Soften the butter in the microwave, then add it to the dry ingredients and mix it together with the fork.  Add the warm water a bit at a time while stirring until you get a good consistency of dough, then take over with your hands to mold the dough into a ball.  Tip the ball out onto a floured surface and knead for about 10 minutes, then separate the dough into four balls and roll them out one at a time between two sheets of wax paper.  They should be as thin as you can get them really without making holes in them.  Peel it off the wax paper gently and put it straight into the hot pan or onto the griddle (no oil, at nearly the highest heat).  It only takes a couple of minutes, and you can see it start to go bread-y, then flip it over for another couple of minutes on the other side.  Wrap the done tortillas up in a clean kitchen towel to keep them warm while you do the others.

To assemble, spread the bean paste on the tortilla then top with the onion, corn and chard mixture, and enjoy!

 

Comments

[Mary]

I can't wait to try making this! I've always wanted to try my own tortillas.

[Laura]

They are sooo good! Let me know when you try!

[Mike]

This sounds like a perfect meal and I love that it is all made from scratch and includes Swiss chard in the mix.

[Laura]

Swiss chard has become one of my favorite vegetables! Even though as little as two years ago I'd never heard of it... We've nearly eaten it all up though, sadly - only a few little baby leaves left on the plants and then we'll have to wait till next year!

[Laura F]

J'essayerai ta recette de tortilla, les miennes étaient un peu trop bourratives ;)

biz

[Laura]

Super, dis-moi ce que t'en penses quand tu l'essaies! Je pense qu'ils étaient assez authentiques, mais la substitution de la Maizena pour la moitié de la farine leur apporte un peu de légerté!

[Garden Forum]

Burritos is a good menu for losing weight.
Delicious and a must try recipe.
Thanks for sharing.