Plant-based Mexican Enchiladas with coriander & lime cream (vegan + grain, nut, gluten & sugar-free) – Optifast Intensive suitable
Hello ! Three cheers to my Optifast intensive Mexican Enchiladas ! As the weather cools down in Australia out comes the comfort food. I have been seeing all the food for the Cinco De Mayo in the U.S too & was enthused to cook something Mexican. So, here is my take on one of my favourite carb-loaded meals, Enchiladas. Nom Nom.
So, you need to make one batch of the sauce & one batch of the cream using the links below, then follow the recipe to make up the enchiladas. It isn’t hard but has a few elements.
The Enchilada sauce is a smooth red spicy Tex-Mex sauce and would be excellent for keeping in the fridge for plain steamed vegetables or stir fry. The Coriander & Lime Cream is my take on the usual guacamole, nice and acidic & a great addition to these thick heavy tomato based Enchiladas. I hope you enjoy them both !
Here the link for the Enchilada Sauce http://www.opticook.org/plant-based-enchilada-sauce/
And the Coriander and Lime Cream http://www.opticook.org/plant-based-coriander-lime-cream/
Joni x
- 4 medium zucchinis (as thick as possible)
- 2 cups of diced carrots
- 1 tbs vegetable stock powder (I use Masell vegan stock powder)
- 1 red onion, diced
- 2 garlic cloves, minced
- 1 red pepper, sliced thinly length ways then cut in half
- 1 cup of buttom mushrooms, cleaned and sliced
- 2 cups of baby spinach, roughly chopped
- 2 cups of OptiCooks Plant-based Enchilada Sauce
- 1 tbs lime or lemon juice
- Olive oil spray
- 2 spring onions, cleaned and sliced thinly
- Handful of coriander sprigs, washed
- 1 serve of the OptiCooks Coriander & Lime cream
- 1 lime or lemon, quartered
- Shake of cayenne, if you like the heat
- Cracked black pepper
- Note: You need paper towel for this recipe
- Preheat the oven to 180oC. Spray a large (approx 32cmx23cm) recangular baking dish with olive oil spray.
- Top and tail the zucchinis and slice length ways into thin slices. Place in a bowl, cover and cook in the microwave for 3 1/2 mins or until just soft. You want it soft enough to be able to fold it around the filing. Spread out on paper towel and leave to cool.
- Meanwhile, add the diced carrots to a pot and pour enough boiling water over the cover it. Add the stock powder & stir. Cook for 10-15 mins until tender. Test them with a fork, You don't want them falling apart, so keep checking. Drain well, reserving stock for another dish or freeze it for later.
- In a frypan over medium-high heat add the onion, garlic, mushrooms and red pepper. Stir fry until cooked, approx. 5 mins until everything is nicely golden. Add the spinach leaves & the cooked carrots. Stir though a 1/2 cup of the Enchilada sauce. Add the lime/lemon juice and season to taste.
- Place 3/4 cup of the enchilada sauce on the bottom of the dish. Place a tbs of the mushroom & capsicum filling mix onto the end of the zucchini strips and roll up. Place them, seam side down, in the casserole dish. Repeat for the rest of the zucchini strips. You may have mixture leftover, just spread on top (as I did) or freeze for next time. Top with the remaining enchilada sauce, spreading widely to completely cover the zucchini rolls. You can also just layer the zucchini and filling if you like.
- Cover with foil and bake for in the oven 15 mins then uncover and bake for another 10-20 mins, looking for a dark red top. Remove from the oven and cut into your serves.
- Garnish each serve with the Coriander & Lime cream, spring onion, coriander and a sprinkle of cayenne pepper if you like a bit more heat. Serve with any of the leftover coriander cream.
- If you don't have a microwave, just blanch the zucchini in a pot of boiling water, and run under cold water.
- You can also do the carrots in the microwave too, just a half cup of water so they aren't all wrinkled and dry.
- This also makes a fabulous sauce for stir fried vegetables.
- You can also add any other vegetables to the mix that you like to eat !
Ashley Madden
May 8, 2016
Hi Joni! I am loving the vegan grain free options here….I’m getting inspired by this!
Joni Condos
May 8, 2016
Excellent ! Thank you Ashley 🙂 any questions just yell put ! Joni
Jake Mehlhoff
May 8, 2016
I just made this for dinner, but I did it like a Mexican lasagna instead because NZ has really thin zucchini, so rolling wasn’t working out for me. It was AMAZING! My wife HATES Mexican but she couldn’t get enough.
One thing though, in your ingredient list you forgot to list spinach.
Joni Condos
May 8, 2016
Oh thank you Jake ! So glad you liked it ! Apologies for the lost spinach … I’ll update the recipe now, it should be in there ! Many thanks, Joni