The most delicious and clean tacos ever! Sweet Potato with Greens and Plantain Tortillas, Paleo, Vegan and Awesome

Today is Cinco de Mayo (yay!) it is also the middle of a strict springtime vegan-paleo goal for me. So what to do. I looooove Mexican foods, it will be one of my favorite cuisines ever and always. My eyes were first opened to mind blowing vegan Mexican food at Gracias Madre in SF. I was lucky to eat there many times, but it was a taco plate when I first fell in love. There were piles of cooked leafy greens, spiced sweet potatoes, and all the crunchy toppings. I think there were beans and loads of their wonderful freshly made tortillas. This today is my homage to them.  The tortilla making is easy as pie, but if you love corn tortillas-by all means use those!

Paleo Plantain Tortillas 
with
Chili Sweet Potato, Leafy Greens, and Avocado

Tortillas:
Makes about 14 tortillas (taco "corn-tortilla" sized)

• 4 green plantains
• 1/4 cup hot water (or more)

Leafy Greens:

• 1 bunch collards, swiss chard, or kale
• 2 cloves garlic
• 1/2 cup water
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• salt

Sweet Potatoes:

• 4 sweet potatoes
• 1-2 teaspoon chili powder
• 1  teaspoon garlic powder
• 1 teaspoon cumin
• salt

Also: 

• Avocado
• Cabbage
• Raddishes
• Cilantro
• Salsa

For these tortillas I want a savory or neutral sort of flavor so we use the unripe or green plantains. Peeling them can be a little bit of a chore, here is a link to my earlier instructions how to do this quickly. The plantains need to be peeled and sliced into chunks before boiling for 20 minutes. You will see the raw plantain is a very pale yellow color, once it has cooked in the boiling water there's a much deeper yellow color to the flesh. 

When the plantains are fork tender drain into a colander in the sink. Wait 5 minutes so they cool a bit. Place plantains in the bowl of a standing mixer, mix on low for about 5-8 minutes. If you have the plastic guard that keeps things from jumping out the sides of the bowl now is the time to use it. If not you can hold a tea towel around the top of the bowl until pieces stop trying to jump out. 

At first it may seem very dry and crumbly, but there is a nice point when everything comes dough like. Depending on your plantains and how ripe and cooked they are this may take more time than you expect just keep the mixer on. If everything is looking very dry, which happens due to moisture escaping through the steam, add a splash of hot water until you have a consistency like cookie dough. 

With our plantain massa ready we can move onto shaping and cooking the tortillas:

You will need a tortilla press or two rigid cutting boards. Parchment paper folded in half or a plastic bag cut into two pieces.Some coconut oil or other oil of your choice. A hot griddle or frypan. 

1. Heat the griddle.
2. Apply a tiny bit of coconut oil to the inside spots of the full department where you will flatten the dough. 
3. Roll a ball of the dough in your hands.
4. Place in between the two sheets of parchment or plastic
5. Position this parchment sandwich in between your two cutting board or tortilla press. 
6. Press straight down, with all your bodyweight. 
7. Remove the top cutting board and check your tortilla. 
8. Peel off the parchment carefully, this is easier than you imagine.
9. Move the tortilla in hand directly to the griddle.
10. Cook on each side for about 5 minutes. They will look dry, pale, with not much color. The edges will turn out just a bit. 

Repeat until the dough is all used up! 

Cut a bunch of collards or Swiss chard into thin ribbons. Cook on the stove with two cloves of minced garlic, salt, a teaspoon of cumin, and a 1/2 cup of water. Simmer and sauté until the water has about braided and your greens are tender and bright. 

Cube your sweet potatoes into roughly half inch pieces. Toss to coat with olive oil  and 1 to 2 teaspoons of chili powder, 1 teaspoon of cumin and 1 teaspoon of garlic powder. Spread on a sheet pan in one layer. Bake roast at 350° for about 30 minutes, until they're tender. There is no need to stir the sweet potatoes while they are roasting see you can just forget about them until the timer beeps!

Clearly, tacos should be assembled right as you are going to eat them. Place a small bed of greens as a base on the tortilla, followed by sweet potatoes, then topped off with thin slices of avocado, radish, cabbage and cilantro. salsa or hot sauce is always a good idea in my book.

 Enjoy!
***The tortillas will keep for a few days in the fridge kept sealed up in a bag. Very good just microwaved for 20 seconds to warm them up again. Or even better, throw on a hot dry pan till warm.

Paleo Chocolate Chip Cookies (egg free & nut free)

Paleo chocolate chip cookies that taste like soft Chips Ahoy? Made from plantains? You bet!

For all of you trying to stick to your healthy January plans, getting back to those good habits we gleefully forgot about over the holidays, this is what you should make when you are craving sweets and cookies. Because they taste sinful but are made of fruit!

For this recipe you want ripe yellow plantains. The ones I used are yellow but were not fully ripe. Its up to you, for a sweeter cookie, but more sugars, go for really ripe ones that are almost black. 

Peel the plantains, chop the fruit into smaller chunks and put 7 ounces into your food processor. (I started with a blender but it didn't work well with my semi-ripe plantains. So you will see I scooped it all into my food processor.) A vitamix would be awesome here. 

Measure various flours and sugars and baking things on top of the plantains. We have arrowroot, coconut flour, vanilla, cinnamon (optional), baking soda, coconut oil and coconut sugar. And chocolate chips, seriously. 

 

If you dont have arrowroot powder, tapioca powder or cornstarch will work in a similar way. 

Coconut sugar is one of those things, so delicious and good for you as sugars go. I love to bake with it and these days you can find it at most grocery stores. Maple syrup, honey, or cane sugar can all be substituted in the event you have eaten all the coconut sugar in your kitchen. It happens!

I love to use the mini chocolate chips I feel you get more chocolate in each bite that way. These vegan Enjoy Life ones are tasty. When I don't have those I use a bar of really dark chocolate, one that is so minimally processed, like 80% cocoa solids. The bar can be chopped up easily with a knife to get the 3 tablespoons of chips.  (Wait to add the chocolate until after all the blending, ok!

So there is the big mess of baking stuff.

(it got too messy to show in the middle here, so it was moved to the food processor.)

Now we are happily blending the life out of everything. We want it smooth. 

*Note: if it looks really dry during blending add some almond milk or something like that. start at 1 Tablespoon and add no more than a 1/4 cup. 

We are looking good! It is thick but without chunks. 

Sprinkle and fold in the glorious chocolate. (Seriously, what did humans live for before we got our hands on chocolate?) I wont tell if you put in even more chocolate. 

Prepare your baking sheets with parchment paper or a silpat. 

A small ice cream scooper for cookies is perfect here! This one scoops 1 and a half tablespoons. Use one of these or two spoons to make dollops of cookie dough on the paper. Keep them a consistent size so they cook at the same rate, I think 1 to 1.5 tablespoons if perfect. 

Press down the scoops to flatten the cookies. They don't melt much in the oven.

Dampen two fingers with water, to avoid cookie dough sticking, and press on the top of each cookie to flatten it, somewhere between 1/4 and 1/2 of an inch. So it is short. 

Bake at 375° for 10 - 12 minutes. 

The cookies with soften, puff and then sink. They have pretty cracks and the centers will set. 

Let cool on the hot pans for some minutes. When the cookies are warm you can sort of taste the plantain flavor. Once they cool, the same plantain flavor is all gone.

Soft Paleo Plantain Chocolate Chip Cookies

makes 14 cookies

7 oz peeled ripe plantain

2 Tablespoons arrowroot powder

2 Tablespoons coconut flour

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon (optional)

3 Tablespoons coconut sugar

3 Tablespoons coconut oil

3 Tablespoons chocolate chips (or more!)

(up to 1/4 cup milk if necessary for mixing)

Note: I always regret it if I don't make a double batch of these! 

Tostones & Mojo Sauce. Best Snack Ever. Paleo peeps and fried food lovers unite.

Tostones, like most fried food are best eaten hot right away. If you don't know them already, meet tostones, twice fried green plantains, with mojo (pronounced mo-ho) a salty citrus and garlic dipping sauce.

I learned to make tostones about 10 years ago from an amazing woman. This is the way her mother from Puerto Rico made them. No need to go purchase a special press or any contraptions. All you need is hard green plantains, oil, and salt. A few other things for the mojo sauce.  You will see from the pictures, we use the peels of the plantain to press the tostones flat. I know there is no better way than this. The natural cracks and inconsistencies in the peel when it is flattened create ridges in the finished chips that add to the crispy possibilities of the snack. It is the best.

Green plantains are more like a potato than a fruit. Starchy, and terribly hard, they need to be cooked to become edible. The first fry softens the plantain. Then it can be pressed. The second fry completes the cooking, and creates the delectable crispiness we are after. The thicker areas of the chips puff and the meaty plantain is one with the golden brown crackled edges.  I find peanut oil gives the best fry, but any neutral flavored vegetable oil will work.

If you are new to plantains, the only trick is in the third photo. Slice through the peel but not the fruit on opposing sides. Use your knife as leverage in the cut to lift up the peel as much as you can. Put down the knife and finish the job with your thumb, running it under the peel, until it pops off. Simple. (If you are doing a lot of plantains, wear gloves or coat your hands with oil, as something in the peel can stain skin temporarily. When I do one or two plantains I don't bother with gloves, soap and water work fine.)

Put on some good tunes and you will soon find an assembly line rhythm. If you are making tostones for a crowd, change to new peels after the first ones become worn down.

Tostones, Fried Green Plantains with Mojo Sauce

• 1 cup of oil (more or less)
• Green plantains, about 1 per person
• salt

• 2 cloves garlic (garlic powder is not as good, only useful in mojo emergencies!)
• salt
• Juice of 1 orange (or lemon in a pinch)
• Juice of 1 lime (or lemon in a pinch)
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• cilantro if you have it (I didn't today)

Peel plantains. Save the peels to the side. Cut into 1/2" slices on the diagonal. Heat 1/2 inch of oil until shimmering hot in a heavy bottomed pan. Test a piece to check it sizzles immediately upon contact. Fry plantain slices until lightly golden, the color will change, but don't look for brown yet. Remove to paper towels. 

Lay a plantain peel, inside up on the counter. Place a fried slice on it. Use the other peel (inside down) to cover the slice. Press down with the palm of your hand smashing the fried plantain inside. Gently lift off the top peel. It should not stick. Use a spoon to lift it from the lower peel. Repeat, working in batches. Return flattened plantains to the frying oil. Fry until golden brown on the edges. Remove to drain. Sprinkle with salt. 

Make the mojo sauce in a bowl. Mash garlic cloves in whichever way suits you. Add the salt, juices, olive oil, and cilantro if you have it. Whisk, taste, add more salt or juice to your taste.

Serve them together, dipping the tostones into the sauce as you eat them. The acidic citrus and garlic wake up all the flavors like your mouth is dancing. 

Enjoy!