Roasted Zucchini and Potato Tacos with Mole and Avocado (vegan and gluten-free)

It’s Zucchini Chocolate Blog Party, take two!  Did you catch my first recipe, Mini Molten Chocolate Cakes?

This recipe takes the blog party guidelines in a whole other direction.  I made a roasted veggie taco with zucchini and purple potatoes, covered in a homemade mole sauce and topped with avocado.  I had these on corn tortillas, making them both vegan and gluten-free. 

I just cut the veggies into similar sized pieces, doused them in olive oil and sea salt, and roasted them in the oven at 400 degrees for ~45min.  I love the zucchini and purple potato combination, but mushrooms might also be great here too.

Vegan Mole Sauce

This recipe was inspired by a No Meat Athlete recipe.  I know it looks like a lot of ingredients, but if you measure out your spices into a little prep bowl before you get going, you’ll be able to just toss them in at the right time, stress free.

• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 onion, diced
• 1 large garlic clove, diced
• 1 tablespoon tomato paste
• 1 tablespoon Dutch process cocoa
• 2 teaspoons homemade taco seasoning
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon coriander
• 1/8 teaspoon nutmeg
• 1/3 cup of almond meal
• 1/3 cup raisins
• 1 can diced tomatoes
• 1/2 cup black beans
• 1 tablespoon maple syrup
• 1/2 cup water
• 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
• salt (to taste)
• 1/2 oz unsweetened baking chocolate

1. Sauté the onion and garlic in a medium pot, until the onion is translucent.
2. Add the tomato paste, the cocoa, taco seasoning, cinnamon, coriander, and nutmeg.  Stir and allow this to cook for 3-5 min, or until the spices are fragrant.
3. Stir in the almond meal, raisins, tomatoes, black beans, maple syrup and water.  Allow this to cook for 15-20 min.
4. Add cayenne pepper and salt to taste.  (If you like thing spicier, you may want 1 tsp or more of cayenne)
5. Allow your sauce to cook for at least another ten minutes (this is a sauce that will only improve with more cooking time)
6. Pour your sauce into a blender, or use an immersion blender to puree your sauce.
7. Pour the sauce back into your pot, and add 1/2 oz unsweetened baking chocolate, and stir until it melts into your sauce.
8. Adjust seasonings to taste.

 

(Each of these pieces is 1/2 ounce of unsweetened baking chocolate)

I made the mole on a Sunday afternoon, so I did have some time to let the sauce cook down and simmer, and allow all the flavors to meld.  This is probably best as a weekend project, but the time is so worth it.  Plus, there’s minimal hands on time once you have all your ingredients in the pot.

I layered the roasted vegetables on top of a corn tortilla and topped each taco with the mole sauce and then cubes of avocado.

So good.  I could pretty much drink the mole sauce.  Scratch that, I did just eat the mole sauce with a spoon out of the pot.  Definitely find some time to make this recipe.