Recipe of the Week: Squash & Black Bean Enchiladas

It's been a couple of weeks since I shared a recipe - it's been a bit busy 'round these parts (... < massive understatement...).  But I'm back at it - and this time I'm bringing you a recipe that is a bit tough to photograph (because it's not a "pretty" dish) but it's damn good so whatcha gonna do.  

I am a real fan of Mexican - after a trip to Mexico with friends 3 years ago and eating it the way it was intended, my adoration stepped up quite noticeably.  I mean, who doesn't love a good dollop of sour cream and smashed up avocado on everything?  

These enchiladas are my favourite to date and they're full of good stuff so you can tuck into them with minimal guilt.  The only guilt you MAY feel is when you realise you haven't made enough...

But let's get into it: here's the downloadable version.

INGREDIENTS:
For the enchilada sauce:
2 1/4 C vegetable stock
1/3 C tomato paste
2 1/2 tsp chilli powder (decrease this to 1 tsp if you don't want them too spicy...)
2 tsp ground cumin
1 1/2 dried oregano (I use fresh from my herb garden - tastes better in my opinion)
2 tsp minced garlic
2 tsp soy sauce
1 Tb lime juice

For the enchilada filling:
1 large sweet potato cut up into small chunks
2 tsp olive oil
1/2 onion, chopped
1 C grated squash: feel free to use pumpkin or butternut
1 tsp chilli powder
1/2 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp minced garlic
1 can black beans
1 tsp maple or golden syrup
Tortillas

Toppings:
Coriander
Guacamole
Sour cream

HOW TO:
Heat your oven to 190 deg celsius on bake.
1 - To make the sauce: in a sauce pan, throw in all of the sauce ingredients above, leaving the lime juice til the end of the process.  Mix it all up with a whisk and get it on the boil.  Once it's bubbling, turn it down to a simmer and let it do its thing for 10 to 15 minutes, stirring occasionally until the sauce has thickened up.

2 - Now to get the filling done:  in another sauce pan, boil up the sweet potato until it's tender.  Empty out the water and mash it up until it's relatively smooth with a few chunks.  Set aside.

3 - In a skillet, heat the oil and add the onion.  Sauce it until the onion starts to brown.  Now add the squash and cook for another minute.  Now add the chilli powder, cumin, garlic, salt and black beans mixing it all up real nice.  Cook for 2 minutes.  Add the mashed up squash and syrup to this goodness - now you're ready to build the enchiladas!

4 - In a casserole dish, add a bit of the enchilada sauce to the bottom - set the rest aside.  Grab a tortilla and spoon the filling onto the middle of it: roll it up.  Do this until you've used up all the filling.  Pour the rest of the sauce over the top of the enchiladas, cover with some tin foil and throw it in the oven.  Cook for 20 minutes, remove the tin foil and continue cooking it for another 10 minutes.  

Serve straight away and top with guacamole, salsa, sour cream - whatever floats your boat!