Chipotle Black Bean Tacos with Lime Slaw
Smoky black beans crushed into a thick filling, piled into charred corn tortillas with a sharp cabbage slaw. Cheap, quick and genuinely filling.
Nutrition Info (per serving)
- 480
- Calories
- 18g
- Protein
- 17g
- Fat
- 64g
- Carbs
Ingredients
- 2 tins black beans (800 g)
- 1 onion
- 3 cloves garlic
- 2 chipotles in adobo, plus 1 tbsp of the sauce
- 1 tsp ground cumin
- 1 tsp smoked paprika
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 150 ml vegetable stock
- 3 limes
- 200 g red cabbage
- 1 carrot
- 1 avocado
- Small bunch coriander
- 12 corn tortillas
- 80 g feta or cotija
- Salt
Instructions
- 1Shred the cabbage as thinly as you can and cut the carrot into matchsticks. Put both in a bowl with the juice of 1 lime, 1 tbsp of the olive oil and a good pinch of salt. Toss and leave it to soften while you cook — twenty minutes turns it pliable but still crisp.
- 2Dice the onion, mince the garlic, chop the chipotles and chop the coriander.
- 3Drain the beans but do not rinse them dry. The starch clinging to them is what thickens the filling later.
- 4Heat the remaining 1 tbsp oil in a frying pan over medium-high heat and cook the onion for 5 minutes, until translucent at the edges.
- 5Add the garlic, cumin and smoked paprika and stir for 1 minute, then add the chopped chipotles and their adobo sauce.
- 6Add the beans and the stock, and bring to a simmer.
- 7Cook for 8 to 10 minutes, crushing about a third of the beans against the side of the pan with a wooden spoon as they go. This is what turns them into a filling that stays inside the tortilla instead of rolling out of it.
- 8Take the pan off the heat, stir in the juice of a second lime and half the coriander, and season. It should taste slightly too salty on its own — the tortilla and avocado flatten it out.
- 9Slice the avocado and crumble the cheese. Cut the last lime into wedges.
- 10Char the tortillas one at a time, either directly over a gas flame for about 15 seconds a side or in a dry pan for 30 seconds a side, until blistered and flexible. Stack them in a clean tea towel as you go so the steam keeps them soft.
- 11Build each taco with beans, slaw, avocado, cheese and the rest of the coriander, and serve with the lime wedges.
Bean tacos have a reputation problem: they are what you make when you have run out of meat. Cooked properly they are not a substitute for anything. The technique that matters is crushing part of the beans so they thicken their own sauce, which is the difference between a filling and a spoonful of beans that rolls straight out of the tortilla.
Do not rinse the beans dry
The liquid in a tin of black beans is dissolved starch, and it is useful. Drain the beans so they are not swimming, but leave them damp. That starch, plus the beans you crush in the pan, gives you a filling with body and saves you from adding flour or reducing the pan for ten minutes.
If you cook beans from dried, save some of the cooking liquid and use it in place of the stock. It is better than either.
Chipotles in adobo
Chipotles are jalapenos that have been ripened to red, then smoked and dried. Packed in adobo - a tangy tomato and vinegar sauce - they bring smoke, moderate heat and acidity in a single ingredient, which is a lot of work for something that costs very little.
Two peppers gives a warm background heat rather than anything aggressive. The tin will keep in the fridge for a couple of weeks, or you can freeze the rest in tablespoon portions.
Charring the tortillas
A corn tortilla straight from the packet is dense and tastes of very little. Fifteen seconds over a live flame changes both: the surface blisters, the corn aroma comes forward, and the tortilla becomes flexible enough to fold without cracking.
Stack them in a clean tea towel as you go. The trapped steam keeps them soft, and they will hold for the ten minutes it takes to get everyone to the table.
The slaw is a structural component
It is tempting to skip it. Do not. The filling is soft, smoky and rich, and it needs something raw, sharp and crunchy on top or the whole taco reads as one note. Salting and dressing the cabbage twenty minutes ahead draws out water and leaves it pliable but still crisp.
What is in it
A serving of three tacos runs around 480 calories with 18 grams of protein and a very high fibre content from the beans. Black beans are a solid source of folate, magnesium and iron, and the raw cabbage and lime bring vitamin C, which happens to improve how much of that plant iron your body absorbs.
To make it vegan, leave out the cheese and add a spoonful of pumpkin seeds for the salt and crunch it was providing.
Comments
Sign in to leave a comment
No comments yet — be the first