One of those options, if you're not allergic to nuts, is Neat meat substitute. It's made with a mix of pecans, garbanzo beans, white beans, and cornmeal and is sold in powdered form. You simply mix it with water and a vegan egg sub (I used The Vegg, but any substitute would work), and then you can shape it into patties or fry it up like ground beef. It comes in Original, Italian, Mexican, and a Breakfast sausage flavor. Neat recently sent me the Mexican mix and their Neat Egg substitute to review. You can read about the Neat Egg in this post. But tonight, I'm focusing on the Mexican burger mix.
I've tried this stuff before on nachos, and it was fantastic, but I wanted to do something different this time. And I'd been craving enchiladas for awhile, so enchiladas it was! I mixed the powder with water and a The Vegg mix equal to two eggs (by the way, the Neat Egg would be perfect for this, but I actually FORGOT I had some). Then I followed the directions on the bag to make taco filling by adding 1/2 cup of salsa to the mix. I heated a teaspoon of oil and fried it up.
The "meat" tends to stick together a little when frying, so it's really ideal to form it into patties, fry and flip, and then break it up. But I didn't do that. I just kept stirring and using a spatula to break it up. The Mexican mix is seasoned with chili powder and onion powder, and it has a great flavor that doesn't need any extra dressing up. I did, however, add some fresh, chopped onion to the mix because I wanted an extra oniony flavor. Here's a close-up of the "meat" falling out of my enchiladas.
Once the meat sub had browned, I stuffed it into warm corn tortillas, rolled them, and topped with black olives, canned enchilada sauce, and Daiya vegan cheddar. Served with a dollop of Tofutti sour cream and side of seasoned corn and steamed kale. Perfection!
Here's the recipe!
Neat "Meat" Enchiladas
Yields 10 enchiladas (5 servings)
1 package Neat Mexican Mix (prepared according to package directions)
1/2 cup salsa
1 tsp. oil
1 small onion, chopped
10 corn tortillas
1 28-ounce can red enchilada sauce
10 Tbsp. sliced black olives
1 cup shredded vegan cheddar
Vegan sour cream and hot sauce, for serving
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Spray a 9x13-inch casserole dish with non-stick cooking spray.
Combine the Neat mix and salsa in a medium mixing bowl. Heat a skillet on medium heat and add the oil. Add the chopped onion, and saute for 2-3 minutes or until onion begins to soften. Add the Neat mix and saute for another 5-7 minutes, or until lightly browned, stirring often and using a spatula to break it up into small pieces.
Wrap tortillas in a damp paper towel and microwave for 15 seconds to make them pliable. Add a couple tablespoons of mix to each, rolling them as you go. Place each one closed-side-down into the casserole dish.
Top with sauce, olives, and vegan cheese. Bake for 35 minutes or until cheese has melted and edges of tortillas are lightly crisp. Serve with vegan sour cream and hot sauce.
4 comments:
I bought some regular flavour (I guess?) Neat mix when I was in the US once, but I haven't used it yet. Seems like using it like mince or burger crumbles in recipes would be a good plan.
We don't have it here in Australia, so I cannot try any of the other flavours!
This isn't easy to find.,! I'll have to just order online, i would love to just have this in the cupboard for easy dinners!
I now buy tortillas that are half corn half wheat and they're more pliable and chewy but great corn flavor- no matter what corn tortillas aways break for me so my enchiladas turn out a big mess but the half corn ones work great
Ttrockwood
Your enchiladas looks so incredibly delicious! I always get lazy and just make enchilada casserole. I remember I tried the neat mix years ago when it first came out. I think I tried just the original flavor. I don't remember what I thought, but you're right so many of the mock meats are made with gluten. I need to see if i can find this anywhere. I agree with Ttrockwood, it isn't too easy to find but I feel like Sprouts or Natural Grocers might have it.
Whoa, those enchiladas look like perfection!! I've never seen Neat "meat" but I guess I've never looked for it either! It would probably make a great bolognese sauce too! Your dinner plate looked perfect.
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