Brussel Sprout Tacos with Chickpea Mash, Crispy Avocado and Pickled Red Onions

These tacos came about because I was cleaning out the fridge. I love when I nice dinner comes together accidentally because of stuff you have leftover! That’s part of the reason I love cooking, just taking what you have and making it into something. For these I had picked up a CSA box and it had tons of fresh brussels in it so I knew I wanted to use them, I also had a half an avocado that was going to go bad if I didn’t use it asap. Tacos are so easy to customize so I figured why not throw it all in a taco. I added some beans and some quick pickled red onions and these yummy fall tacos were born!

Recipe serves 2 with 2 large tacos each

Quick Pickled Red Onions

Ingredients

  • 1/2 a red onion sliced thin
  • 1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
  • 1/2 cup hot water
  • 2 teaspoons sugar
  • 1 teaspoon salt

Instructions

  1. Add all the ingredients except the onions to a mason jar and mix until the sugar and salt have dissolved
  2. Add the onions to the jar and cover and refrigerate until ready to assemble.

 

Crispy Avocado Pieces

Ingredients

  • 1/2 a large avocado sliced (you can do a whole one here as well and just stuff the tacos or eat the avocado on the side, they are so good!)
  • Breading:
    • 1/4 cup flour
    • 1/4 teaspoon each: salt, black pepper
  • Breading Wet: (this needs to thicken for about 5 minutes)
    • 1/4 cup water
    • 1.5 tablespoons flaxmeal
    • 1/4 teaspoon each: garlic powder, salt, smoked paprika
  • Breading Dry:
    • 1/2 cup panko bread crumbs (make sure they are vegan, some brands are not!)
    • 1/4 teaspoon each: salt, black pepper

Instructions

  1. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees Fahrenheit
  2. Set up breading stations. In three bowls place the ingredients for each part of the assembly. (one for flour, one for breading wet and one for breading dry)
  3.  Take each avocado slice and bring it through the breading assembly line. Place in the flour to coat then the wet mixture and finally the bread crumb mixture
  4. Place the coasted chiles on a sheet pan and then into the oven for about 20 minutes, flipping halfway through! Once they are crispy they are done!

 

Chickpea Mash

Ingredients

  • 1 16 oz can chickpeas (I can my own beans so I just used 1 pint jar of chickpeas
  • 1/2 medium onion chopped
  • 2-4 cloves of minced garlic
  • Oil of choice ( I used olive oil)

Instructions

  1. Heat 1 tablespoon of oil in a cast iron skillet over medium high heat (or just a saute pan would work). Add the onion and saute until translucent about About 3-4 minutes. Add the garlic and saute for another 1-2 minutes.
  2. While the onion and garlic are cooking, rinse and drain the chickpeas and add them to a bowl and begin mashing them with a fork, I wanted to keep a little texture to the beans so I did it by hand. You could always do this in a food processor if you wanted it to be smoother.
  3. Once the onions and garlic are cooked add them to the mashed chickpeas and mix. Add salt and pepper to taste and set aside.

 

Brussel Sprouts

Ingredients

  • 2 cups brussel sprouts, trimmed and cut in half or quarters depending on the size
  • 1/2 teaspoon each pepper and smoked sea salt (I really like using smoked salt for these but if you don’t have that regular salt is fine!)
  • Oil of choice ( I used olive oil)

Instructions

  1. Heat a tablespoon oil over medium high heat in the same pan as you used for the onions and garlic for the chickpea mash. Once the oil and pan are hot add the brussel sprouts and salt and pepper. Stir to coat the brussel sprouts and them spread to an even layer. Allow them to cook without disturbing for a few minutes, you want to get some caramelization on them!
  2. Once they are browning on one side you can mix and flip then let them hang out again for a few minutes.

 

Assembly!

Using any tortillas or taco shells of choice (we use these) add the chickpea mash and spread an even layer down the center, add a quarter of the brussel sprouts, two pieces of the crispy avocado, and top with pickled red onion. I also added some radishes because I had then but they are optional. Devour!

 

As always let me know what you think of these if you make them! All through November I will be sharing some awesome vegan Thanksgiving recipes! =)
img_4654

 

img_4657

img_4659