Walnut Meat Tacos Recipe

Serves

2-4

Ingredients

130g walnuts

3 sundried tomatoes

1 scant tsp ground cumin

¼ tsp ground coriander

¼ tsp smoked paprika

Pinch of cayenne pepper

½ tbsp soy sauce or tamari

2 tbsps extra virgin olive oil

2 little gem lettuces

For the pineapple salsa:

½ pineapple, peeled and diced
1 small yellow pepper, deseeded and diced
2 spring onions, sliced
1 small green chilli, deseeded and finely chopped
Juice of 1 lime
20g fresh coriander, roughly chopped

For the garlicky avocado sauce:

1 avocado, peeled and stoned
1 tbsp coconut cream or yogurt
1 garlic clove, crushed
Juice of 1 lime
2 tbsps extra virgin olive oil
2-4 tbsps water
Salt

Method

1. Put the walnuts in a food processor or blender and blitz to a coarse rubble. Add the sundried tomatoes, spices, soy sauce or tamari and oil and pulse until it forms a crumbly, ‘meaty’ texture.

2. For the pineapple salsa, put the pineapple and yellow pepper in a bowl. Add the spring onions and chilli. Squeeze over the lime juice and stir to combine before adding the coriander. Stir and set aside until needed.

3. For the avocado sauce, put the avocado flesh in a food processor or blender with the coconut cream or yogurt, garlic, lime juice and a pinch of salt and blend until smooth. While it’s blending, gradually pour in the extra virgin olive oil until amalgamated before thinning out with a few tablespoons of water, depending on how thick you prefer it. Check for seasoning, adding a little more salt if necessary. Refrigerate until needed.

4. Separate the leaves from the little gem lettuces. Spread some avocado sauce in the centre of each lettuce leaf, spoon over a generous amount of walnut meat and top with the pineapple salsa. Eat, taco style.

Recipe taken from The New Vegan by Áine Carlin, £14.99, published by Kyle Books. Photography by Nassima Rothacker

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