Crispy potato and black bean tacos
Ingredients:
Cilantro lime crema- 1⁄4 cup cilantro leaves, chopped
- 6 tablespoons Mexican crema or sour cream (about 1/3 cup)
- 1 teaspoon lime zest, grated
- 1 1⁄2 teaspoons lime juice
- 1 garlic clove, minced or pressed
- 1⁄4 teaspoon salt
Black bean spread
- 1 can black beans drained (15 oz can)
- 1 tablespoon bacon fat or vegetable oil
- half of 1 yellow onion, diced
- 2 garlic cloves, minced or pressed
- salt and pepper to taste
Crispy potatoes and taco assembly
- 1 russet potato, diced into 1/2 inch cubes
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 2 chipotles (from a can), cut into small pieces
- 6 to 8 corn tortillas
- black bean spread (from above)
- cotija cheese or a crumbly chihuahua cheese
- white onion, finely diced
- cilantro lime crema (from above)
- cilantro, chopped (optional garnish)
Directions:
Cilantro lime crema: add all cilantro lime crema ingredients to a small bowl and stir until everything is combined and fully incorporated.
Store in a sealed container in the refrigerator for up to a week.
Black bean spread: drain your black beans and discard all the juice.
Add bacon fat or vegetable oil to a medium skillet over medium heat. When fat is melted and shimmering, add diced onion.
Saute onions until they become slightly soft. Season your onion with salt and pepper at this point.
Add minced garlic and drained black beans. Cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally, for 4 to 5 minutes.
Remove from heat and allow bean mixture to cool. Taste and add extra salt and black pepper if desired.
Add cooled bean mixture to a blender or immersion blender and blend until you get a spreadable consistency. If you do not have a blender, you can use a potato masher directly in the pan.
Store in the refrigerator for up to a week.
Crispy potatoes and chipotle: dice a russet potato into 1/2 inch cubes. Add all of the potato cubes to a bowl and cover them with water. Let them rest in the water for 10 minutes to wash off some of the starch, and then transfer them carefully to paper towels to dry.
After the potato pieces are dried, add a tablespoon of olive oil to a medium pan over medium heat. Once the oil is shimmering, add the fully dry potatoes and cook for around 15 minutes, stirring the potatoes around every few minutes to make sure all sides of the small cubes are getting browned.
After around 15 minutes, the potato pieces should be nice and browned and crispy. Chop up two chipotles from a can and then add them to the pan with the potatoes and stir everything around. Cook for an additional 2 minutes, stirring often, and then transfer the potatoes and chipotles to a bowl and remove the pan from the heat. During the last few minutes of cooking the potatoes and chipotles, you can start warming your tortillas.
Taco assembly: warm your corn tortillas in a hot pan and keep them under a clean towel until time to use.
When it's time to assemble the tacos, spread 1 or 2 spoonfuls of black bean spread on a tortilla and then top that with some crispy potatoes.
Add a sprinkling of cotija cheese and diced onion. Then top everything with some of the cilantro lime crema and a bit of chopped fresh cilantro as a garnish. Serve and enjoy.
Notes:
Hate cilantro? Just leave it out of the crema or replace it with parsley. Problem solved.
Don't enjoy spicy food? The only thing spicy in this taco is the chopped-up chipotle that is added to the crispy potatoes. If you want to leave that out but still give this taco a slight lean toward Tex-Mex food, just sprinkle some taco seasoning on top of the potatoes (my recipe).