Vegetarian Taco Tuesday

One of my favorite foods in the entire world is tacos. I love all types of tacos - traditional Mexico City style tacos, Asian lettuce wrap tacos, fusion BBQ tacos, even Taco Bell Doritos Locos Tacos. They're just so much fun to eat and they bring so much joy. It occurred to me a few weeks ago that, despite my well-known love for tacos, I had never actually made a dinner spread to celebrate Taco Tuesday. That had to be remedied.

The final Taco Tuesday spread

I decided to make two different types of tacos, both vegetarian, centered around tofu and potatoes, since we had plenty of those ingredients at home. The total cost of the entire spread was $10.34 ($2.87 for the tofu tacos, $3.19 for the potato tacos, and $4.28 for the shared garnishes and tortillas). Not that expensive, but not as cheap as I thought it would be since there was no meat. I also expected the cost of each taco filling to be more than the lettuce, tomatoes, cheese and tortillas, but that wasn't the case. Luckily there were enough leftovers for me to stretch the fillings to have breakfast tacos the next day.

Ingredients for the entire taco spread

As usual, prepping took forever, but I also peeled my finger like a potato which set me back...

Taco #1 - Tofu and Black Bean Tacos

(adapted from this Whole Foods recipe)

Ingredients:

- 1 container of firm tofu ($1.19)

- 1/2 tsp ground cumin (additional to taste) ($0.05)

- 1/2 tsp dried oregano (additional to taste) ($0.05)

- 1/2 tsp ground coriander (additional to taste) ($0.05)

- 1-1/2 tsp chili powder (additional to taste) ($0.10)

- salt ($0.05)

- olive oil for cooking ($0.10)

- 1 can of black beans ($0.89)

- 3 green onions ($0.32)

- 4 garlic cloves ($0.07)

Process:

1. Mash up the tofu and mix well with the cumin, oregano, coriander, chili powder and salt. I let it sit for some time as I prepped the garlic, green onions, and all the other ingredients.

2.  Heat oil in skillet and add garlic and most of the green onions. Once fragrant, add the tofu. Once the moisture has evaporated, add the black beans and the rest of the green onions. Season with additional spices to taste.

Fairly simple to make once all the prep is done. I loved tasting the tofu during the whole process. All the spices came through and I love spices!

Review:

This tofu scramble was a really tasty taco filling. There was a heartiness and earthiness from the black beans, and the tofu texture was reminiscent of eggs but the taste was all the flavors of the spices. Simple, inexpensive and easy. This doesn't even need to go in tacos; it would be fine as a side dish all on its own in my opinion.

Taco #2 - Potato, Onion and Chile Tacos

(adapted from this Rick Bayless recipe)

Ingredients:

- 9 small red potatoes ($1.60)

- 1 yellow onion ($0.60)

- 1 can of Hatch green chiles ($0.79)

- 1 tsp ground cumin ($0.05)

- salt and pepper to taste ($0.05)

- oil for pan frying ($0.10)

Process:

1. Peel and chop the potatoes. (The instructions said to chop them in half and to chop them into smaller pieces later.) Simmer in hot water until fork tender.

2.  Cook onions and potatoes in oil in a skillet. Once they are tender, add in the green chiles and the spices. Cook until all ingredients are mixed together and soft. I also tried to mash the potatoes a little when stirring to make them softer.

Really simple recipe!

Review:

The final product here reminded me of breakfast potatoes. The potatoes were soft, the onions soaked up all the flavor, and the hatch chiles added a sour and peppery taste to the mix. I love poblano peppers and would have loved to use fresh roasted ones like in the recipe, but poblanos around here are much more expensive than they should be and it was much more affordable to substitute a can of green chiles. I also skipped the crumbled cheese from the recipe so the taco add-ons could be shared between the two types of tacos. I was a bit puzzled that the recipe had no seasonings other than salt. I felt that it was a little bland that way, even with the peppers, so I added in some pepper and cumin to add more flavor. In the end, this worked well as both a taco filling and a potato side dish, and I would definitely make something like this again. Next time, maybe I'll use more and different spices.

Hopefully Taco Tuesday will become a tradition for us! It's a lot of work, so maybe it won't be a weekly thing (or maybe I'll just do one taco filling), but I would love to do this again.