Thug Kitchen’s Sweet Potato, Zucchini, and Black Bean Enchiladas

This vegan recipe comes from the Thug Kitchen cookbook, which came out of the Thug Kitchen blog. It’s a great recipe, but since the book is full of expletives (a lot of f***ing this and that), I’ve written up a clean version for those who prefer that.

It’s a super tasty recipe, and I enjoyed my leftovers for a few days.

For those who feel they really need some meat in their enchiladas, Mexican chorizo would be a nice addition.

I serve this with lots of Cholula hot sauce, along with some Mexican cotija cheese sprinkled on top for those who are not vegan.

What you need for the Enchilada Sauce:

• 2 & 1/4 cups vegetable broth
• 1/3 cup tomato paste
• 2 & 1/2 tablespoons chili powder
• 2 teaspoons ground cumin
• 1 & 1/2 teaspoons dried oregano
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 teaspoons soy sauce or tamari
• 1 tablespoon lime juice

What you need for the filling:

• 1 large sweet potato (about 1 pound), chopped into nickel-sized pieces
• 2 teaspoons olive oil
• 1/2 yellow onion, chopped
• 1 medium zucchini, grated
• 1 teaspoon chili powder
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 & 1/2 cups cooked black beans (or one 15-ounce can)
• 1 teaspoon maple syrup
• a pack of tortillas (mine were a corn and flour blend)
• sliced avocado (garnish)
• chopped fresh cilantro (garnish)

What you do:

1. First make the enchilada sauce, which can be done ahead of time and refrigerated. Put all the ingredients for the sauce except the lime juice into a medium saucepan. Whisk the tomato paste and let the sauce simmer for 10-15 minutes until it has thickened up a bit. Add the lime juice and take the sauce off the heat.
2. To make the filling, begin with the sweet potato. Put a few centimetres of water into a medium pot and place a steamer basket in it. Bring the water to a boil. Place the sweet potato in a steamer basket to steam for 10-15 minutes, until tender. When the sweet potato is done, put it into a bowl and mash it. It’s okay to leave some chunks.
3. While the sweet potato is steaming, heat a large frying pan and add a little oil to the pan. Sauté the onion until it begins to brown, then add the zucchini and cook for another minute. Add the chili powder, cumin, salt, garlic and black beans and cook for another few minutes. Turn off the heat and stir in the sweet potato and maple syrup.
4. Preheat the oven to 375F. Spread a bit of the sauce in the bottom of a large baking dish. Warm up the tortillas in a frying pan or microwave. Dip each tortilla in a bit of sauce so the bottom of it is coated. Fill the tortillas with a few spoons of the filling, then roll and place it seam-side down on the baking dish.
5. Spread the remaining enchilada sauce over the tortillas, then cover the baking dish tightly with foil. Bake for 20 minutes, then take off the foil and bake for 5 more minutes.
6. Top with avocado slices and cilantro. Serve with hot sauce or your favourite salsa.