Sweet Potato & Black Bean Enchiladas

I guess I'm back on the sweet potato bandwagon. Did I ever really leave it? Over the holidays, there were many large family gatherings which meant divvying up of the meal prep duties and learning to cook to scale, going from cooking for one for a week to cooking for ten for a night. One of the dishes, which I'd never made before, were chicken enchiladas.

Getting back to my cookbook roots, this recipe comes from Oh She Glows so is veggie friendly but you could easily make this with chicken and reduce the sweet potato quantity. It's super easy to make, just a little hands on, and then popped in the oven!

For this recipe, the vegetables are cooked until soft before wrapping in tortillas and dousing in enchilada sauce. The store I went to was out of enchilada sauce so I went the DIY route. The tortillas are wedged into a casserole dish. My dish was too small so I made some egg scrambles and wraps with the remaining filling. A 9x13 would probably work better than a square pan.

If you're making this with chicken, you would also cook the chicken first before wrapping up and baking in the oven. Pro tip: shred the chicken in a food processor instead of by hand with forks.

The enchiladas are baked in the oven until steaming. If you're adding cheese on top, bake until the cheese to brown on top before serving. Served with the avocado-cilantro sauce was the perfect garnish.

Recipe
Adapted from Oh She Glows

Enchiladas

• 2 cups sweet potato, peeled and chopped
• 1 Tablespoon olive oil
• 1 red onion, chopped
• 2 clove garlic, minced
• 1 bell pepper, chopped
• 1 can black beans (15oz), drained and rinsed
• 2 1/2 cups enchilada sauce
• 1 Tablespoon lime juice
• 1 teaspoon chili powder
• 1/2 teaspoon cumin
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 6 whole-grain tortillas

Avocado-Cilantro Sauce

• 1/2 cup fresh cilantro
• 1 medium avocado, pitted
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder

1. Preheat the oven to 350. Grease a rectangular baking dish.
2. To make the enchiladas, cook the sweet potatoes in a medium sauce pan, covering the sweet potato with water. Cook until tender.
3. In a skillet, heat the olive oil and cook the onion and garlic until translucent.
4. Add the bell pepper, cooked sweet potato (drained of water), and black beans. Cook on high for a few minutes until peppers have softened.
5. Remove the skillet from heat and stir half the enchilada sauce, lime juice, chili powder, cumin and salt into the vegetables.
6. On a flat surface, fill the tortillas with the vegetable filling. Roll like you are rolling a burrito or taco and place, seam down, in the greased casserole dish. 
7. Repeat until the casserole dish is full.
8. Pour the remaining enchilada sauce over the wrapped tortillas.
9. Bake for 30 minutes. If you add cheese, remove once the cheese has browned.
10. 
    
11. While the enchiladas bake, combine all ingredients for the avocado-cilantro sauce in a food processor. Blend until smooth.
12. Serve the enchiladas hot with the avocado sauce on top.

DIY Enchilada Sauce

• 2 Tablespoons unsalted butter
• 2 Tablespoons flour
• 4 teaspoons chili powder
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1 teaspoon cumin
• 1/2 teaspoon onion powder
• 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 1 scant cup tomato paste
• 1 3/4 cup broth
• Pinch of salt

1. In a medium sauce pan, melt the butter over medium heat.
2. Stir in the flour until a thick paste forms. Stir in the spices until combined.
3. Cook for a couple minutes until fragrant.
4. Stir in tomato paste (I definitely used ketchup) and the broth. Whisk until smooth and combined.
5. Bring to a low boil over high heat, then reduce and simmer to allow the sauce to thicken.
6. If it still looks too thin, you can thicken the sauce with some cornstarch.