Tuesday, May 08, 2007

Garbanzo Tacos

I decided yesterday that I was going to bring some type of soft tacos for lunch today, and I originally planned on just mixing up a box of that storebought TVP-based taco filling. But then I remembered a recipe that caught my eye a week or so ago over on VegWeb. Instead of using TVP, or seitan, or something like that for meat replacement, the recipe used chickpeas. It seemed like an interesting concept. It had pretty good reviews from people who had tried it, and it would be cheaper to make. So I decided to try it.

Garbanzo Tacos are really simple to make. All you do is dump two cans of chickpeas into a pot (just use the juice from one can and drain the other one), then dump in a package of storebought taco seasoning (watch out for milk because some of the brands contain it), and then simmer for 10-15 minutes. Mash it up a little bit and you're good to go. I brought some soft flour tortillas to put mine on. They're laying up there in the lid of the lunchbox and just lay flat on top of everything else when the lunchbox lid is closed. I also brought some lettuce & tomato, as well as some taco sauce, to complete the soft tacos.

For a side dish, I brought along some refried beans, which are just the fat-free storebought variety right out of a can, but thinned down a little bit with some soymilk and spiced up with a little garlic & cumin. I usually like to buy the "vegetarian" version of these at Kroger, but they were out. The fat-free version is also vegan, it's just that the vegetarian version has a little bit of fat in it from some vegetable oil which, of course, makes it tastier in my book. But do I really need that? No. I noticed another can sitting there on the shelf that said "mexican" style, so I, of course, picked it up to see if that meant what I figured it did. Yep. It did. LARD. Ew.... Anyway, I ended up getting the fat-free version.

And for my "dessert" I just threw in a few raw cashews since there wasn't very much room left there in the yellow lunchbox container.

These Garbanzo Tacos are good, and I'm glad I tried them, but they're probably not my favorite. The chickpeas made a nice substitution for something "meaty", but I wouldn't call it a replacement. It's really just more like eating a bean burrito than something where you are trying to simulate meat. So it's not bad, but it really is more like a bean burrito than anything. If I were going to eat chickpeas in some form on some type of bread, I think I would rather invest a little more time and make falafel and enjoy it on pita bread. That's just me though.

As you probably already know, there are lots of interesting recipes over there at VegWeb. There are four or five that I am REALLY interested in and would like to try soon. The ratings and reviews make it easy to spot the recipes that are most likely to be winners.

Well, I guess that's about it for Tuesday's lunch. The Garbanzo Taco recipe is good, especially if you like bean burritos and such, but it's certainly not something that I would consider to be a mock meat. It's definitely worth trying though, because it does taste good, and recipes don't get much easier than that.

So thanks for stopping by the blog today. See you tomorrow!
SMALL FLOUR TORTILLASLETTUCE & TOMATOGARBANZO TACO FILLINGTACO SAUCERAW CASHEWSREFRIED BEANSFORK & SPOON

5 comments:

NightOwl said...

Thanks for the VegWeb tip! I'd never been there. It's almost overwhelming, all the recipes. Can't wait to try some!
Thanks for the review on the tacos, good to know.

Anonymous said...

Hi Ken:

I've been away from my computer for a few days and am now just playing catch up. After reading the information on your green smoothies, I decided to order the "Green for Life" book on Amazon. I already do fruit smoothies but this would be a great way to get raw greens in every day. Do you have any good recipes for green smoothies you've come up with yourself? Thanks for all the good info.

Ms. Meander said...

that filling sounds really good. my older daughter is a mexican food lover and also a garbanzo bean lover. i bet i could make a batch of that, roll it in tortillas and freeze them and she'd love them for breakfast in the morning. that might be a good way to get her to stop eating so much useless cereal.

kennyboy said...

Oh yeah nightowl. I think VegWeb is great. There are so many things there to try. Of course, as you can tell from that ranking thing there on the first page, the General Tao Tofu recipe seems to be king of the hill over there. ;o)

I hope you find that book as inspiring as I did veganluv. I just kept thinking the whole time I was reading it, "Why has no one ever told me about this? Why don't doctors tell people about this?"

I really don't even use any recipes. I usually just put in whatever fruit I have (usually grapes, an apple, some pineapple and a banana), a Tbsp of flax seed, a Tbsp of oatmeal, 2 cups of water, and then finish filling the conatiner with greens. So far, Kale is my favorite green for smoothies. Then I blend it a little bit so it condenses down and then stop the mixer and add some MORE greens and then let the mixer run for the whole cycle. On the Blendtec, I've found that the WHOLE JUICE cycle works the best for me.

2 cups of water, some fruit, some greens and 1 Tbsp. each of flax seed & oatmeal is just the basic recipe that I go by.

WARNING! I don't know if everybody knows this except me, but I didn't. If you make a smoothie and just use collard greens as your greens, it will BURN YOU UP. I didn't know collard greens were "spicy" like that. They might be good mixed with some other greens, but alone, they are REALLY HOT and will make your mouth & throat burn like FIRE.

I am curious about some of the savory green smoothie recipes in the book. I would like to try some of those eventually.

I hadn't thought of that melanie. Now that you mention it, these would be really good for breakfast. GOOD IDEA!

:o)

Jill said...

I tried this recipe tonight and LOVED it! I love mexican and I'm addicted to garbonzo beans so this was great for me.

My favorite green smoothie is 1 frozen banana, 1 cup unsweetened soy milk, 1/2 cup dried cherries, 1 1/2 cup frozen mixed berries, and 1 cup frozen chopped spinach. When it's really smooth add 2 tablespoons raw cocoa powder. I'm addicted to these too!