Healthy Tex-Mex tofu tacos
Nutritionist and author of new book Get Lean, Stay Lean, Joanna McMillian, takes us through her recipe for Tex-Mex tofu tacos.
My family love Mexican-style food and we regularly have tacos or fajitas with various fillings and combinations. The best way to serve them is to pop everything in the middle of the table so that everyone can make their own. Here I’ve used tofu in place of meat and, if you have a vegan in the group, they can simply omit the yoghurt. Corn tortillas should be gluten free, but do check the ingredients list on the packet—they should be made entirely from corn.
Serves: Four
Ingredients:
- 1 teaspoon ground cumin
- 2 teaspoons dried oregano
- 2 teaspoons sweet paprika
- 1/4 teaspoon chilli flakes
- Freshly ground black pepper
- 1 brown onion, diced
- 1 red capsicum (pepper), diced
- 600g firm tofu (see note)
- 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
- Pinch of salt flakes
To serve
- 1 small cos (romaine) lettuce, shredded
- 1 tomato, diced
- 2 limes, cut into wedges
- Handful coriander (cilantro) leaves
- 80 g natural yoghurt
- 4 large or 8 mini corn tortillas
- 1/2 avocado, diced
Method:
- Preheat the oven to fan-forced 160°C. Drain the tofu, slice and press gently between two pieces of paper towel to remove the excess moisture.
- Combine the cumin, oregano, paprika and chilli in a bowl. Crumble the tofu slices into the spice blend and stir to coat. Wrap the tortillas in foil and pop them into the oven to warm.
- Heat two teaspoons of the extra virgin olive oil in a frying pan over medium–high heat.
- Add the onion and capsicum and sauté for two minutes. Add the remaining oil and the spiced tofu. Cook for three minutes until heated through.
- Season to taste with a pinch of salt and black pepper.
- Divide the lettuce, tofu mixture, tomato and avocado across the warm tortillas. Top each with a dollop of yoghurt, and serve with lime wedges and a scattering of coriander.
- Alternatively, pop everything in bowls in the middle of the table and each person can make up their own.
Tip: Tofu is made by coagulating soy milk and then pressing together the resulting curds. It’s a terrific source of protein and the soy bean is one of few plants that contain all of the essential amino acids. This makes it ideal for vegetarian and vegan diets. Tofu also provides good amounts of iron and zinc, B group vitamins, magnesium, phosphorus and the antioxidant mineral selenium. All up it’s a pretty impressive nutrition package, worthy of any diet. A tofu serve of 100g provides 500kJ, 12g protein, 7g fat (mostly as polyunsaturated fat), no carbohydrate and 3.5g of fibre.
Images and recipes from Get Lean Stay Lean by Joanna McMillan (Murdoch Books RRP $35). Available from Dymocks.