Bean and Eggplant Burritos

I discovered a new recipe last week. I made some refried beans, but then got side tracked with kiddies for a while. When I got back, they were dry and crumbling. I had had a roasted eggplant in my fridge, which I was going to use to make Baba Ganouj, but never got around to... so I blended it into the dried refried beans! Viola! I got my family to eat eggplant, which they think they hate. I feel like a good mom today.

Bean and Eggplant Burritos (makes about 14)

2 cups beans of choice (I used a combo of pinto and red beans)

1 medium eggplant 

2-3 cup cheese finely grated, divided

1/4 cup lard/butter/olive oil (I used lard)

salt

pepper

chili seasoning (optional)

cumin (optional)

14-18 smallish tortillas (Delicious tortilla recipe)

Method:

Beans

Soak beans for at least 8 hours in warm filtered water, to which you have added apple cider vinegar. (You can actually lengthen the soaking time, to aid in digestion. I usually soak my beans for two full days, making sure to change the water daily.) Strain and rinse before cooking. Cook in a pot of salted water until very tender. When the beans first come to a boil, turn down the heat, and skim the foam that rises to the top.

Strain well. Add fat of choice to the pan you cooked the beans in, and return the heat to medium. Add the beans, and using a potato masher, pulverize the little buggers. Let cool.

Eggplant

While the beans are simmering, preheat your over to 350. Wash, and then prick your eggplant with a fork. Once the oven is heated, pop that baby in there straight on the rack. Let it cook until the skin is browned. Pull it out and cool it.

All together now

When the beans and the eggplant are both cool, blend them in batches. Begin with the eggplant by cutting the top off, and then down one side. You should be able to easily peel open the skin. Put all the flesh into your blender, and start adding the beans. You want to have a relatively thick consistency -- think cookie dough, only this won't be as sticky. You should be using most of the beans for this. Empty the contents of the blender into a large mixing bowl as you go. Once you have the right consistency, little by little, add one cup of the finely grated cheese to the bowl of beany-eggplant. Mix as you add so that you don't end up with clumps of cheese.

Spoon a much of the filling as you can safely fit onto a tortilla, while still being able to roll it up. Place seam side down into a baking dish. Top with grated cheese, bake at 350 for 45 minutes.

Notes:

I made two pans of these: one plain, and one with homemade red enchilada sauce. The sauce was amazing, but was a little too spicy for the babes. 

Red Sauce:

2 cups homemade broth

2 tblsp fat of choice (I used lard)

1/2 tsp Chipotle pepper (I got crushed and ground it in my coffee grinder/herb grinder)

1 small can/bottle tomato paste

1 tsp cumin

dash onion powder

dash garlic powder

salt and pepper to taste

Heat Lard on medium, add chipotle pepper and let it get aromatic. Add broth, tomato paste, and everything else. Let boil for about five minutes. Thicken with a slurry of milk, or water, mixed with a little flour. (Try 1/4 cup milk/water, with 2-3 tbls flour.) Add this to the boiling sauce, and stir. Pour over the burritos, before you add the cheese. Bake as per instructions above.