Vegan Tacos with Nut-Meat and Pineapple Salsa Recipe
A while ago I took on the challenge of being completely vegan (no meat, eggs, dairy, etc) for a week to support World Vegetarian Awareness Month. I thought I might feel a little restricted or deprived with what I could eat, but the opposite happened – it forced me to be more creative. Hand on heart, I can say that I’d choose some of the meals I made during that time over any meat dish – and the same goes for my meat-loving husband. I’m not saying we need to cut out meat completely, but I do think that including at least a couple of meat-free meals in your diet every week is good for our health and the environment. To make this recipe gluten-free ensure that you use Tamari soy sauce and gluten-free corn tacos.
Ingredients
Nut mince
- ¾ cup walnuts
- ¾ cup roasted almonds
- ½ cup sundried tomatoes chopped
- 1 clove garlic (small) or ½ medium clove, minced
- 1 teaspoon smoked paprika
- ½ teaspoon ground cumin
- ½ teaspoon ground coriander
- ¼ teaspoon ground chilli or cayenne pepper
- 1½ tablespoons soy sauce or tamari
- 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
Salsa
- 1½ cups pineapple or mango, ripe diced
- ½ red onion finely diced
- 3-5 vine-ripened tomatoes diced
- ¾ cup coriander chopped
- 1-2 tablespoons lime of lemon juice
Guacamole
- avocados flesh of 2 just-ripe
- 3-4 tablespoons lime or lemon juice
To serve
- 12 soft corn tortillas or crispy corn taco shells
- ⅓ cup pickled jalapeños
Instructions
- To make the nut-mince, place all ingredients in a food processor and pulse a few times until ingredients are crumbly and just combined – be careful that you don’t over-process the mixture or else it will lose its crumbly texture and be too smooth. The texture should reassemble that of crumbly cooked mince.
- Combine all salsa ingredients and season to taste with salt, pepper, lime or lemon juice and a drizzle of extra-virgin olive or avocado oil.
- Mash avocado and lime or lemon juice together, and season to taste with salt and pepper.
- Cook tortillas or taco shells according to packet instructions – generally taco shells you bake in the oven at 180degC for about 5 minutes, and soft tortillas you heat in a hot fry pan with a little drizzle of oil.
- To serve, place all components of the meal in the middle of the table for people to help themselves and build their own tacos. To build a taco, spoon some nut-mince, salsa and guacamole into a tortilla/taco, top with a few jalapeños and eat!