When I used to think of Mexican food (actually I suppose we should call it Tex Mex food – I’m sure any Mexican would tell us that what we think of as their cuisine is about as Mexican as French fries are French) I would envision fried tortillas, greasy cheese, stodgy meat and an abundance of salt. I used to love a burrito, but I always felt so lethargic afterwards, and I always needed to drink about a litre of water just to quench the thirst that all that salty food had induced.

So when I changed my eating habits, ‘Mexican’ food was something I thought I had to leave behind. I mean I still knocked up the odd guacamole (I make a mean one) but gone were the carb-heavy fajita nights of old.

Luckily (for me, Mr H and our marriage) our honeymoon changed all that. At Coachella I discovered vegan, plant based burritos and raw tacos and in West Hollywood I visited what is now possibly my favourite restaurant in the world, Gracias Madre. I learnt that it is totally possible to enjoy the Mexican-inspired flavours I love, but in a healthy way.

The ‘Mexican’ food I make now is packed full of flavour but secretly really rather healthy. These vegan tacos are such a great example of that – they taste amazing but are full of protein, good fats and a rainbow of vegetables. There’s quite a few different bits to this recipe but don’t let that put you off – its all extremely easy to make, and a lot of it can be made in advance. It’s a great one for entertaining as people can fill their own tacos which kind of adds to the fun! I tend to use walnut ‘meat’ to keep it vegan, but if you fancy a bit of animal protein it works really well with chicken or beef.

Ingredients

• 1 baby gem lettuce
• 2 red or yellow peppers, chopped
• 2 red onions, chopped
• 1 can black beans
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1/2 tsp smoked chipotle

For the walnut meat

• 1 cup walnuts
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1 tbsp tamari
• 1 tsp oregano
• 1 tsp cumin
• 1/2 tsp smoked chipotle

For the guacamole

• 2 avocados
• Juice of one 1 lime
• 1 clove garlic
• 1 medium tomato
• A handful of coriander
• 1/2 red onion

For the cashew cheese

• 1 cup cashews (soaked for at least 3 hours)
• 3 tbsp nutritional yeast
• 1/2 cup water
• Juice of 1/2 a lemon
• 1 tbsp tamari

For the salsa

• 2 medium tomatoes
• 1/2 red onion
• Small handful of coriander
• Juice of 1/2 a lime

It seems like there’s a lot to make here, but I promise it won’t taco you very long to make! Sorry. Start by breaking the leaves off your little gem lettuce, there’s your taco shells done (it’s easy see!).

Make the walnut meat by simply adding all the ingredients to a food processor and blending until it reaches the consistency of mince meat. Or if you’re using meat meat, fry it in the same spices as above.

Lightly fry the onions in olive oil and chipotle until they have softened, then add in the peppers and black beans, then leave on a low heat to simmer while you make the dips.

For the guacamole, add all the ingredients except the onion and tomato into a food processor. While they are blending, chop the onion and tomato into small pieces (you can also chop the onion and tomato for the salsa together with these), then pop them and the guac mixture into a bowl and stir through.

Then whip up the salsa by combining the remaining chopped tomatoes and onion with the coriander and lime juice in a bowl.

Almost there! For the cashew cheese just plonk all the ingredients in your trusty food processor and blend until it’s all lovely and creamy.

There you go – pretty easy hey! I’m pretty confident you’ll like this one, if you don’t I’ll eat my sombrero!

Love, Mrs H xx