Wednesday, January 11, 2012

Chilaquiles with Cashew Okara Ricotta Cheese

Here is the "cheeseless" version with a dollop of cashew okara ricotta cheese on top.

This is a totally delicious Mexican casserole. The original recipe is fairly healthy and quick to make. The leftovers taste great and freeze well. I've been making it "cheeseless" the past couple of years and it's still pretty darn good. But it just got better! I've been making home made tofu and a byproduct of soymilk is okara which is the soy pulp that is strained out. It's too good to throw out so I've been trying it out in different recipes. An interesting one that I found was for Okara Cashew Ricotta Cheese at VeganFeastKitchen. It's simple and quick to make and adds a rich dimension to the chilaquiles.

Chilaquiles with Cashew Okara Ricotta Cheese
Ingredients
1 tablespoon canola oil
1/2  to 1 whole medium onion, diced
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 medium zucchini, grated
1 19-ounce can black beans, rinsed
1 14-ounce can diced tomatoes, drained and reserved
1-1/2 cups corn, frozen (thawed) or fresh
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon salt
12 corn tortillas, quartered
1 19-ounce can mild red or green enchilada sauce
Okara Cashew Ricotta Cheese

Directions
Preheat oven to 400°F. Lightly coat a 9-by-13-inch baking pan with cooking spray.

Heat oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add onion and garlic and cook, stirring often, until starting to brown, about 5 minutes. Stir in zucchini, beans, tomatoes, corn, cumin and salt and cook, stirring occasionally, until the vegetables are heated through, about 3-5 minutes. If it looks a little dry while you're cooking the mixutre, add some or all of the reserved tomato juice.

Scatter half the tortilla pieces in the baking pan. Top with half the vegetable mixture, half the enchilada sauce and the okara cashew ricotta cheese. (Use what ever amounts of the cheese you like. I like to have some left over to use in other recipes.) Repeat with one more layer of tortillas, vegetables, and sauce. Cover with foil.

Bake the casserole for 30 minutes. Remove the foil and continue baking until the casserole is bubbling around the edges, about 10 minutes more.

1 comment:

  1. Karen, I was just talking about the amazing Mexican Food at Gracias Madre in San Fran yesterday, and this reminds me of something they would serve. Wonderful!
    ~Betsy
    TheBloomingPlatter.com

    ReplyDelete