This easy vegan meal idea: corn and poblano pepper tamale with heirloom beans, Spanish rice and green salad is one of my favorite go-tos because it is easy to make using pre-made tamales and Spanish rice that you just heat and eat.
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The tamales are corn and poblano pepper. I found them at Whole Foods Market so all I had to do was heat the tamale in the microwave. Use any pre-made tamale that you can find. Another favorite place I like to buy vegan tamales are at local restaurants, food trucks, and farmers markets. It's good to help support local small businesses.
The rice is Trader Joe's Spanish Style Rice. When heating the rice in a pan, to customize the rice a bit because I like to be extra like that, I added some chopped bits of tomato, chopped onion, cilantro, and some lime juice.
The highlight of this meal are the heirloom beans. Normally, I would just use a can of organic black beans, and heat and eat. But for this meal, I made a pot of my favorite bean combinations: Domingo Rojo and Pinto heirloom beans.
The Domingo Rojo and Pinto heirloom beans are by Rancho Gordo and they are hands down my favorite bean brand. It is totally worth the time and effort to make these beans from scratch. I normally cook them with a tablespoon of avocado oil, some chopped onion, a few cloves of garlic, and a bay leaf. I salt at the end when the beans are done.
What I really like about cooking these beans together is that it creates a meaty-like tasting thick broth. I highly recommend this bean combo! I eat these beans often.
To dress the tamale, I added some corn mango salsa which was just Newman's Own chunky mango salsa with some added chopped cilantro, and cut corn on the cob I had leftover from dinner the night before. For sure, use some fresh tomato salsa if you can!
Because I like pops of color in my food, I had some Jimmy Nardello peppers in the fridge that I had purchased at a local farmers market. So I chopped one up and sauteed it in a little oil. I love the red color of these delicious mild peppers. These are one of my favorite peppers and I highly recommend them! Jimmy Nardello peppers are great on pizza too.
The green salad is some chopped arugula and spinach with chopped radicchio, slaw mix, carrots, and pepitas. Adding fresh greens to the meal adds some valuable fiber and green nutrients.
ENJOY!
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