Thursday, August 23, 2007

mexican lasagna, coconut chai rice pudding

When I went shopping this week I intended to make enchiladas but when I got home I realized I got everything to make them except the enchilada sauce. So we were just going to make bean burritos but then the flour tortillas I bought kept tearing so what would one do??? Make Mexican style lasagna instead! The filling for the lasagna had tofu crumbles made with fresh jalapeno, onion and the usual Mexican spice like cumin and chili powder. I also heated up vegetarian refried beans with tomato sauce. I layered the torn flour tortillas, crumbles, refried beans and salsa until it was about 4 layers deep. To compliment the lasagna I made two toppers. One was guacamole made with avocado, fresh lime juice, fresh jalapeno, garlic, red onion, agave, sea salt and black pepper. The other topper was a raw salsa made with fresh white corn off the cob, diced tomatoes, fresh jalapeno, fresh lime juice, red onion, sea salt and black pepper.
Unfortunately, this picture doesn't show off the layers, but boy was it tasty!
Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket
I have made and posted about my rice pudding before but this one was especially good so I had to post about it this time. This rice pudding was made with left over jasmine rice. I heated coconut milk up with natural sugar, ground cardamom, star anise, cinnamon and tiny bit of corn starch. The heated, strained and spiced coconut milk was added to the jasmine rice until well combined. In honor of my step mom, Delia, bowls of this chilled chai rice pudding were topped with whipped soy cream.
Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket

11 comments:

Theresa said...

Yum, mexican lasagna is a staple in my house, we have it once every week or two. It's so much easier than enchiladas, because you don't have to roll anything, you just spoon it into the pan and layer it and voila!

That rice pudding looks good, too, though I can honestly say that I've never tried rice pudding! I'll have to give it a go at some point. In fact, I think we've got some leftover rice and coconut cream in the fridge....

Lori- the Pleasantly Plump Vegan said...

oh wow! you gotta try rice pudding. the trick is to use more coconut milk (which can be cut with soy/almond/hemp/oat milk) than you think because the rice will soak up all liquid. Before putting in the fridge, my rice pudding looks soupy.

Vegan_Noodle said...

Layering tortillas is definitely easier than trying to roll everything up. Your mexican lasagna looks great, especially with those two toppers!!
I too have never tried rice pudding. It certainly sounds like a tasty way to get rid of leftover rice! Hmmm, maybe after the wedding....

Kumudha said...

The rice pudding looks delicious!

Lori- the Pleasantly Plump Vegan said...

vegan noodle- for sure, after the wedding, you need to try rice pudding!

kumudha- thanks!

Anonymous said...

chai rice pudding... that sounds and looks heavenly!

Lori- the Pleasantly Plump Vegan said...

stonielove- thats the cool thing about rice pudding . . . you can flavor it how ever you'd like. chai is one of my favorite flavors, so i made it into a rice pudding.

Anonymous said...

That rice pudding sounds really good! I love the traditional rice pudding we eat for xmas in Sweden, we call it 'santa/gnome porridge' because originally you were supposed to always leave a bowl out for the gnome that worked on your farm and helped you with your animals. Once every year, on xmas eve, you thanked him with a bowl of delicious rice pudding. Nowadays people think we make the pudding because of Santa, but they're wrooong.

Anyway, I love rice pudding and this sounds delicious!

Lori- the Pleasantly Plump Vegan said...

emmie- i dig gnomes. i could get into that tradition.

Carolann said...

Mmmhh! Rice pudding! And the mexican lasagna looks fantastic!

The Saucy Coconut said...

wow, that guac looks fantastic! So GREEN!

and the rice pudding looks delicious.