The Vegetarian Table – Simmered Vegetable Tacos

Wise, Victoria. The Vegetarian Table: Mexico. San Francisco: Chronicle Books, 1995. P. 58. [TX837 .W56 1995 ]

By Sean O’Neil, an undergraduate nutrition student at UTSA

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My experience making vegetable tacos was very enjoyable. First, I absolutely love to cook and experiment with new recipes in the kitchen. Most of the main entre/dinner meals that I like to cook, however, contain some form of meat. This being the case, I was curious as to how the tacos would turn out. I was unsure as to whether I could successfully “whip up” a vegetarian meal, and if I could, would I even like it?

Gathering the ingredients was easy. You can find them all at your local grocery store or other food market. From there, all I had to do was

cut up the vegetables and throw them in a pot along with some white wine and spices. Chopping vegetables took the longest and that was only about 20-25 minutes. Then I just heated the pot for 15-20 minutes until the potatoes were soft.

Upon finishing cooking, all I saw was what appeared to be a vegetable stew that I had served in some heated up flour tortillas. I’ll admit that I was uncertain as to how the flavors would mix, but the simmered vegetable tacos were delicious. Never in my life had I eaten a vegetarian meal until I made the tacos, so this put a whole new perspective on how I viewed meat-less food. I would actually be inclined to personally prepare or going out to eat another vegetarian meal.

According to the cookbook, this recipe was invented purely by chance. The author’s friend, Susanna Hoffman, created it one evening on a whim because some friends she had invited to dinner decided to bring a few extra friends along, who didn’t eat any form of meat. She found some simple vegetables in her kitchen, threw them together in the tacos, and served them to her vegetarian friends who simply loved the dish.

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Simmered Vegetable Tacos

Ingredients

• 

  2 cups corn kernels

• 5 medium red or white potatoes, scrubbed and cut out into ¼” pieces
• 1 large onion, cut into ¼” dice
• 3 medium zucchini, trimmed and cut into ¼” dice
• 6 medium tomatoes, coarsely chopped into ½” pieces
• 1 jalapeño chili, stemmed and minced
• 1 tbsp. fresh oregano leaves or 1 tsp. dried oregano

• 

  1½ tsp. salt

• ¾ cup white wine
• ¼ cup coarsely chopped cilantro leaves
• 12 warm flour tortillas
• 1 cup sour cream

Directions

1. Combine the corn, potatoes, onion, zucchini, tomatoes, jalapeño, oregano, salt, and wine in a large nonreactive pot.

2. 

   Set the pot over medium-high heat and cook, stirring once or twice, for 15 minutes, or until potatoes are done.

3. Stir in the cilantro and remove from the heat.
4. Serve immediately, scooped into a warm tortilla and topped with the sour cream.