Echota's Baked Pakora Three Ways (Recipe)

 
(This recipe is has a fat-free option, is oil-free, gluten-free, corn-free, soy-free, dairy-free, vegan, nut-free)

I get pretty bored of reading people's life stories with every recipe I'm trying to look up so I will leave you with only this: every member of my family loved this recipe, including my cat, who you see here trying to get some. (It has onions so he cannot have any though.) The sauce is delicious as written or fat-free. Everyone has different taste buds so you decide if ours match, but my family loved this, it is an absolute hit.

Echota's Baked Pakora Three Ways 
(Printable Recipe Here)

Ingredients

• 2 cups garbanzo flour OR 1 steamed sweet potato + 5 steamed cooked potatoes + 1/2 cup arrowroot flour or cassava flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp salt
• 2 tsp garam masala or curry powder
• 1.5 tsp cumin
• ½ tsp turmeric
• ½ tsp crushed red pepper
• ½ tsp garlic powder or 2 cloves fresh, crushed garlic (I used fresh because I always use fresh whenever possible)
• 1 head small cauliflower, chopped into small bite-size pieces
• 1/2 steamed sweet potato
• 1 onion, finely chopped
• 1 cup peas (fresh/frozen)
• 1 large carrot, grated
• 1 potato, grated

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 500F. Line a large baking with parchment paper (recipe makes about 3 large sheets of 12 per sheet)
2. In a large bowl, mix together dry ingredients. Option 1: If using garbanzo flour, stir in enough water to create a batter, almost pancake-batter consistency, but a little thicker. It took me about 1 3/4 cups of water. Don't add extra water! Add the steamed mashed sweet potato and combine. Option 2: If using the steamed sweet potato/potato/arrowroot mixture, mash to combine and add seasonings and crushed garlic.
3. Prepare veggies and then dump them all into the batter, mixing well to coat. I did the grated veggies first, then the finely diced onion, and the cauliflower and peas last.
4. Using a tablespoon, take scoops of battered veggies and drop onto the well oiled baking sheet. I also more tightly formed them with my fingers and patted them down a bit to slightly flatten make make easier to flip when it's time.
5. Bake for 8-9 minutes, then flip and bake another 10 minutes, until golden brown.
6. Serve hot with Echota's Pakora Sauce (recipe below).

A third option if not eating baked veggies is to steam everything. Sweet potatoes/potatoes/onion first, mashed together with seasonings including crushed garlic. Then lightly steam the cauliflower and carrot and add, along with frozen peas. Top with the sauce and some chopped cilantro and mint and serve.

Echota's Pakora Sauce

• 2 Tbs tomato paste
• 2 Tbs water
• ½ teaspoon of salt
• 1 clove garlic
• 1 pinky tip of fresh ginger
• 1 tsp of maple syrup
• 2 medjool dates
• 1 teaspoon lemon juice
• ½ teaspoon of mint sauce or 2-3 fresh mint leaves (optional)
• ½ teaspoon red chilli powder, or omit if you want your sauce to be cool
• 3 Tbs coconut milk or coconut yogurt (optional, omit for FF)
• handful fresh cilantro, chopped

Blend all ingredients together. If you want to make this ahead to allow the flavors to combine longer, leave in the refrigerator for several hours, or overnight, to cool. I tend to make everything at once and it's still delicious to me and my family. Enjoy! Let me know if you make it, tag me on Instagram or leave a comment here, whichever works!

Corn-Free Tacos with Instant Pot Refried Beans and Pico de Gallo (Recipe) (Fat-free, Dairy-Free, Soy-Free, Corn-Free, Vegan)

Taco weekend! For dinner this weekend I made my family a new favorite meal.

Because of corn allergies from way back, my son had never had tacos before - not in a crispy shell anyway.

But then Siete Foods made these taco shells. With zero corn. And the ingredients, while some of them aren't the best, they are okay as a sometimes food.

So I whip up some of my Instant Pot Refried Black Beans (recipe below), we pile on lettuce or spinach, homemade Pico do Gallo, and Miyokos Creamery plant-based cheese and voíla! Tacos! And my son loves them!

I based my recipe on Foods in my Kitchen Refried Black Beans recipe, but I wouldn't be me if I didn't adapt it to my family's tastes (and the limitations of cooking in the RV). Although I must say that most of her recipes are already perfectly suited to my family's tastes, we LOVE her recipes in this house! So if you haven't gotten her ebook,  I highly recommend it! 

Instant Pot Refried Black Beans 
(Printable Recipe Here)

Ingredients (to start)

• 1 lb dry black beans, soaked in filtered water overnight

• sm handful Atlantic dulse

• 2 lg onions, chopped

• 8-12 garlic cloves, pressed

Instructions

1. Soak beans overnight, or at least 8 hrs.

2. Rinse soaked beans and add to Instant Pot, along with 1/2 the onions, 1/2 the garlic and enough filtered water  to about 2" above the beans. 

3. Add Atlantic dulse, select 'Steam' on Instant pot and turn the time up to 15 minutes. 

4. When that time is up, you can do fast escape on the steam. Then drain most of the cook water , but not all. Leave some in for the next round of cooking, maybe to the top of the beans. 

5. Add in the rest of the garlic and onions, and about 1/4 cup taco seasoning. If you don't have taco seasoning, add: 

• 2 Tbs chili powder
• 2 Tbs cumin
• 2 tsp garlic powder
• 2 tsp onion powder
• 1 tsp oregano
• 1 tsp paprika
• 1 tsp powdered coriander

Himalayan salt or sea salt to taste

6. Select 'Steam' on Instant pot and turn the time up to 15 minutes. This time, let steam escape naturally for 20 minutes once it beeps (let it switch to lo). 

7. Use immersion blender to partially blend beans into refried consistency. Leave some whole for texture. Stir all together and they're ready for tacos, burritos, or beans and cheese! 
   Pico de Gallo
   (Printable Recipe Here)
   

Ingredients

1 pint grape or cherry tomatoes

1/2 sm red onion, small diced

sm handful cilantro, finely diced

juice of 1/2 lime

3/4 tsp cumin

3/4 tsp powdered coriander

1 Tbs honey

(optional) 1 clove garlic, pressed

(optional) finely diced red jalapeno to taste (1 tsp for me)

Combine all in bowl. If you can, let sit 20 minutes or so for the flavors to combine. 

For the tacos, start with the Refried Black beans, add chopped lettuce or spinach , Pico de Gallo, and Miyokos cheese. This would also be amazing with Medical Medium's recipe for Queso Dip and/or Medical Medium Raw Sriracha or Ash Foster Surfrider Sauce. And maybe some sprouts on top!