VeganElls: Phenomenal Vegan Burritos!

These burritos fill you up and are impossible to stop eating. You can make them simply, with just beans, or add all the garnishes.

Prep: soak the beans overnight!

Use 4-5 cups of dried beans and clear water.

I use traditional Pinto Beans for my burritos, but black beans are really good too. Soak the beans overnight in clear water to help with digestion. Don't add salt or anything. They'll about double in size so use a large bowl!

Drain and rinse the beans. Discard all the soak water. Put the beans on to boil with a good amount of fresh water and a couple of strands of Kombu seaweed, which helps a LOT with the problem many people associate with beans! Kombu can be found at health food stores and most organic groceries. Don't salt the water; this makes the bean skins tough.

Keep checking the beans. They'll need 3-4 hours on a slow simmer.

When they are done, they will be soft and easy to squish, and all of their spots will be gone.

At this point you can remove and discard the Kombu, which by now will look like a sea-monster. If you don't get it all out, that's ok. It doesn't affect the final flavour. At this point you can either freeze the beans, which also helps with digestion, or move on into refrying them and making burritos!

Thanks, Kombu!

Burritos!

You can either just have plain refried bean burritos, or you can make up a bunch of condiments to go with them, like guacamole, salsa, and cashew sour cream.

Refried Bean Burritos: What you need

3 cups cooked pinto or black beans - separate the broth
1 large onion, chopped
2-4 cloves garlic, rough chopped (not pressed)
splash of wine or beer or both (optional)
olive oil
Nutritional Yeast (optional - adds a cheesy flavour)
salt
pepper
cumin to taste (optional)
Flour tortillas

Make It!

Chop the onions and sauté over low heat in a deep frying pan in a little olive oil. When they are nicely caramelized, add the garlic and cook for just a few minutes until it starts to smell delicious. Don't overcook the garlic or it will get bitter.

Add the beans, reserving the broth separately in case you need it. Using a potato masher, mash up the beans until there are some still whole and most are mashed together. If they are too dry, add a little broth, but not too much or they will run out of your burrito!

Flavour with salt, pepper, a little wine or beer (optional) and the optional nutritional yeast and cumin. Let the beans rest to soak up any extra liquid. If they are too dry you can add water or some of the reserved bean broth. They should be the consistency of mashed potatoes.

Burrito Time!

Heat up a large cast iron pan if you have one, or a frying pan of any kind. Drop in a flour tortilla and when it starts to bubble up, flip it. Both sides will have a few brown crunchy spots when it is done.