Plantain Breakfast Burrito with Pico de Gallo
A tasty vegan breakfast recipe for plantain burritos with a fresh pico de gallo sauce. This is a simple-to-make dish that is great to serve as a vegan option when hosting a breakfast or brunch with friends.
From the book
Peace and Parsnips
A fun and creative guide to vegan cooking
Feel-good food made with fresh ingredients
Satisfying recipes for each meal of the day
Introduction
Most of us need a quick breakfast that is easy to prepare, and burritos are ideal. In Mexico, home of the burrito, breakfast differs from lunch in only minor detail – restaurants serve dishes almost identical to any other time of day. Pico de gallo is a classic, and easy enough to assemble for breakfast – although having a bowl of pico de gallo in your fridge is never a bad idea at any time of day. It can be found all over Mexico and Central America and bizarrely translates as ‘beak of rooster’. If you’re not serving your burrito with pico de gallo, I recommend mixing some fresh coriander leaves and tomatoes into the filling. Qué rico!
Ingredients
| For the burritos: | |
| 2 | large green plantains |
| 2 tbsp | cooking oil |
| 1 | onion, finely diced |
| 1 | red pepper, deseeded and finely diced |
| 240g | firm tofu or tempeh, well drained and mashed with a fork |
| 3 cloves | garlic, peeled and crushed |
| ½ tsp | ground coriander |
| ½ tsp | ground turmeric |
| ½ tsp | sweet paprika |
| ½ tsp | oregano |
| 1-2 | green chillies, deseeded and finely sliced (jalapeños would be perfect) |
| A large pinch | sea salt |
| 4 large | wholewheat tortillas (must be fresh – stale tortillas will crack when rolled – and they dry out very easily, so keep them covered; gluten-free tortillas are available) |
| For the pico de gallo: | |
| 3 | ripe room-temperature tomatoes, finely chopped |
| ½ | red onion, finely diced |
| 1 big handful | coriander leaves, finely chopped |
| Juice of 1 lime | |
| 1 | chilli, deseeded and finely chopped |
| ½ tsp | salt |
| ½ tsp | unrefined light brown sugar (if the tomatoes are not sweet enough) |
Method
Make the pico de gallo:
Combine all the pico de gallo ingredients in a bowl and allow to settle for half an hour.
Make the burritos:
In the meantime, peel the plantains with a potato peeler, then halve them lengthways and chop them into 1cm chunks. In a large frying pan, heat half the oil on a high heat, then add your plantains and toss well. They will become nicely caramelized. Stir them regularly to prevent them sticking and remove when they have some nice crisp brown bits – roughly 5–7 minutes. Set aside, uncovered.
Add the rest of the oil to the pan. On a high heat, sauté your onions and peppers (that’s posh frying) and stir well. After 5 minutes, when they are beginning to caramelize, add the tofu, garlic, cumin, coriander, turmeric, paprika, oregano, chillies and salt. Cook and stir for a further 5–7 minutes, adding 1 tablespoon of water to ensure the spices are not sticking to the base. Now stir in the cooked plantains and check the seasoning. Cover and set aside.
Wipe out the frying pan with kitchen roll and warm your tortillas for a minute on each side (or you can warm them beforehand on a medium grill). They should be just warmed through, fragrant and still soft and pliable. If they are too toasted, they break when wrapping.
Spoon 3 tablespoons of plantain filling into the centre of each tortilla and top with 2 tablespoons of pico de gallo. Fold in the two opposing edges, pressing gently down, then roll the whole thing over. A burrito is like a tucked-in wrap, a fat tortilla parcel if you like.
Salsa verde is also amazing lathered over burritos or served on the side. Serve these burritos warm, with more fresh chillies or chilli sauce. POW!
