By Joel MacKenzie, Contributor
Rice and ketchup for lunch again? Post-secondary dining doesn’t have to be about eating trash, spending a lot of money, or sacrificing health. With a bit of work, you can create healthy, unique, satisfying food for cheap. College Cooking provides recipes, ideas, and healthy eating information to help you do just that.
Mayan Burrito
This Mayan Burrito recipe is taken from Vegetarian Cooking For Dummies (2001). It puts a twist on typical burritos by substituting meat with the sweet and savoury flavours of black beans, sweet potatoes and yogurt. The latter can be replaced with soft tofu to make the dish vegan (as it is in the version below); try mixing soft tofu with a little bit of lemon juice and/or vinegar to resemble the sourness found in regular yogurt.
Sweet potatoes are awesomely healthy vegetables. They’re high in fibre, vitamins A and C, have no fat, and have a lower glycemic index rating than regular potatoes, meaning their sugar is absorbed into the blood stream slower, providing sustained energy. To cook raw ones, wash them, cut them into small chunks, and steam them for anywhere upwards of five minutes. Of course, in this recipe, you could also use canned sweet potatoes (if you’re not cool).
[quote style=”boxed”]To save money on this recipe, try cooking your own dried black beans.[/quote]
To save money on this recipe, try cooking your own dried black beans. Wash them to pick out any rocks or twigs, soak them over night in plenty of water (they will expand), and boil them in fresh water, using about two times as much water as beans, for half an hour to two (old beans will take longer), or until tender on the inside (not dry).
Also try making your own salsa. One particularly easy kind is pico di gallo. Make it by dicing and mixing a few tomatoes, a jalapeno pepper, and medium red/white onion, with one finely chopped clove of garlic, some cilantro and a bit of lime juice. It’s easy, way cheaper than regular salsa, and as natural and fresh as you make it.
The following prices were taken from Safeway. The black beans were Safeway brand (540 ml), the salsa was Safeway brand (1.95 L), the can of medium olives was Safeway brand (398 ml), the tofu was Sunrise (300 g), and the whole grain tortilla shells were Eating Right (10 nine-inch tortillas).
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Ingredients:
A little less than ½ cup canned black beans, drained and rinsed $0.44
½ cup (about half of one) cubed sweet potatoes $0.37
1 nine-inch flour tortilla $0.37
1 small Hass avocado $0.50
1 cup chopped romaine lettuce $0.08
1 diced tomato $0.18
½ green onion $0.04
2 tbsp. (about 40 grams) soft tofu $0.27
1 black olive $0.02
1 cup salsa $0.54
Total price: $2.81
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Directions
1. Heat the black beans in a small saucepan over low heat until steaming hot.
2. Steam the sweet potatoes until tender. Mash with a potato masher or fork, and stir until smooth.
3. Lay each tortilla flat on a dinner plate. Spoon the beans and potatoes onto the centre of the tortilla.
4. Fold one end of the tortilla towards the middle, then fold the sides towards the middle. Leave the burrito on the plate with the end of the fold tucked underneath so the burrito doesn’t unroll on your plate.
5. Top the burrito with other ingredients.
6. Eat.
7. Compare flavour/price to other burritos you’ve had and openly laugh in self-satisfaction.
