Holiday Challenge: Make a Healthy Vegan Mexican Meal
I’ve been exploring the vegan and vegetarian dining options in Loreto, BCS as part of a travel advice series. It’s interesting because it’s difficult to find healthy options other than salads. The only vegetarian protein source I’ve reliably seen is cheese. Don’t get me wrong, I love cheese but it isn’t actually a healthy protein source in large quantities. Cheese is high in saturated fat and there are many healthier vegetarian fats available. If you take meat out of traditional Mexican food and replace it with dairy cheese you haven’t gained much health wise. Consider making your own vegetarian or vegan meal at home as part of this week’s challenge.
Healthier Fat Choices
Nuts, olives and avocados are high in healthy monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats. Nuts are a good source of omega 3 fatty acids. This is a good article about healthy fats.
Healthy Protein Sources
Healthy protein sources include nuts, legumes like soy beans, chickpeas, pintos and black beans and seeds like quinoa, pumpkin, chia and flax seeds.
Healthy Vegan Mexican Meal
Here’s the recipe for baked vegan Mexican falafel that uses healthy chickpeas, spicy jalapeños, cilantro and olive oil. Serve with more vegetables and grains, like quinoa, brown rice or corn, for a protein complete vegan meal.
Try this recipe for Quinoa Tabboleah With a Poblano and Lime Twist from What’s For Dinner Doc?
I served my falafel with cumin and smoked paprika seasoned roasted cauliflower with jalapeños and homemade yogurt tzatziki. You can bake the falafel and the cauliflower at the same time. Toss cauliflower and slice jalapeños in olive oil and season with ground cumin, smoked paprika and sea salt. Roast for 20 minutes at 375F .
These baked vegan Mexican falafel will pair well with tahini and lemon sauce, hummus or tzatziki.
Buen provecho.
Baked Vegan Mexican Falafel
Everything you love about baked vegan falafel with Mexican cilantro and jalapeño peppers. Spicy and easy to make at home.
- 1 1/2 Cups Soaked chickpeas (Do not substitute cooked or canned.)
- 1 Cup Diced onion
- 1 Cup Fresh cilantro
- 2 Tablespoons Minced, seeded jalapeño
- 2 Teaspoons Baking powder
- 2 Teaspoons Ground cumin
- 2 Cloves Garlic, minced
- 1 Teaspoon Salt
- 1/2 Teaspoon Ground black pepper
- Tablespoon Lemon juice (May substitute lime juice )
- 1/4 Cup Olive oil
- 1. Soak chickpeas 8-12 hours in filtered water. They should be soft enough to pull apart with your fingers.
2. Preheat oven to 375F. Chop onions, garlic, jalapeño and cilantro and set aside. Combine chickpeas, baking powder, seasonings and lemon juice in a food processor or a mocajeta. Whorl or grind until finely chopped but not to paste. Add chopped onion, garlic, pepper and cilantro and whirl briefly to combine.
3. Generously oil a baking sheet with olive oil. Shape 1/4 cup of falafel mixture into patties and place on baking sheet. Sprinkle more oil over each patty. Bake 20 minutes until lightly browned on the top and edges.
Serve with tahini and lemon sauce, hummus or tzatziki.
Pin it for later. You might like my Vegetarian/Vegan Mexican recipe Pinterest Board.
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What's for dinner, Doc? 
Very nice!!
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Thank you. I thought you might like this vegan recipe. I re-visited your recipe and perhaps I should add some chickpea flour, mine were a little too soft to shape.
Thanks Elaine.
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