Spicy Black Bean + Sweet Potato Enchiladas {vegetarian}

I admire the people who eat vegan or vegetarian, in part, because it’s something I could never do. I love meat and dairy too much to give up either even though I don’t actually eat a ton of meat or dairy. (Which you wouldn’t know from reading my blog.) Which is why when I find an amazing looking vegetarian or vegan recipe, I don’t hesitate to try it.

A few weeks back I was at my friend’s coffee shop and we were discussing types of dishes she could cook for her house guests. She’s vegetarian and so are they. She wanted something that made a big portion because there were several mouths she would need to be feeding. So I suggested some sort of vegetarian enchilada dish and found a recipe at Cookie and Kate that looked AMAZING. It took her a second of glancing at the pictures to decide to make the recipe for her house guests. And I knew immediately that I wanted to make the recipe too. She got to it before I could and gave it excellent reviews and sent me a bunch of pictures as she was cooking. That next weekend I rounded up all the necessary ingredients and made a huge batch of black bean and sweet potato enchilada’s based on the recipe found at Cookie and Kate.

ingredients.

2 lbs sweet potatoes (about 3 medium)
2 cans (15 oz each) black beans, rinsed and drained
8 oz (1 c.) shredded white cheese
2 small cans (4 oz each) diced green chiles
2 medium jalapeño, minced
4 cloves garlic, pressed or minced
2 medium limes, juice
1 tsp. ground cumin
1 tsp. chili powder
½ tsp. cayenne pepper
salt, to taste
freshly ground black pepper, to taste
24 oz mild salsa verde (I used two 12-oz jars of the Trader Joe’s kind)
16 to 20 flour tortillas
8 oz shredded white cheese or a mixture of white and yellow (such as Colby jack)
sour cream mixed with water to thin it out (2:1 sour cream, water ratio)
¼ c. chopped red onion
a few sprigs of cilantro

directions.

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees Fahrenheit. Wash sweet potatoes and pat dry. Poke with a fork all over and then wrap in aluminum foil. Place on a baking sheet and bake until tender and cooked through, about 45 to 60 minutes.
Meanwhile, pour enough salsa verde into a 9 by 13-inch baking dish to lightly cover the bottom (about 1/3 to 1/2 of the amount called for in the recipe). In a medium mixing bowl, combine all of the remaining filling ingredients.
Once the sweet potatoes are cooked through and cool enough to handle, scoop out the insides with a spoon; discard the potato skins. Mash the sweet potato with a fork. Stir the mashed sweet potato into the bowl with the remaining ingredients and season to taste with salt and pepper.
Working with one tortilla at a time, spread filling down the center each tortilla. Wrap one side over the filling and roll the enchilada until the loose end is tucked under; place in the baking dish.
Repeat for all of the tortillas.
Top with the remaining salsa verde and cheese.
Bake for 25 to 35 minutes, until sauce is bubbling and the cheese is lightly golden.
Let the enchiladas cool for about 5 minutes. Top with red onion and whole cilantro leaves. Whisk the sour cream and water together to make a drizzly sour cream sauce. Drizzle it back and forth over the enchiladas. Cut and serve.

As you can see, this made a ginormous amount of enchiladas. I was good for about one or one and half enchiladas in one sitting. I ate this all week and had leftovers I had to throw away. My preferred method for reheating this dish is in the oven. It seems to work better to heat it uniformly (versus the microwave). I reheated at 350 degrees, covered, for about 25 to 30 minutes.

If you are vegetarian or try to eat vegetarian or want to eat vegetarian, I would highly recommend trying this recipe. I thought it was very, very good for a vegetarian dish. But I have to confess that it seemed like there was something missing to me – like chicken!

Recipe rating: 