I have never eaten a vegan burrito before in my life.  Burritos are one of those things that may as well say CHEESE in neon above them.  However, I have been wanting to make more vegan meals because having blocks of cheese around the house is not so good for me.  If it’s there I will eat it.  I will snack on it at all hours.  If I’m up and there’s cheese it’s the best thing in the world to snack on.  Except that it isn’t.  That’s not the only reason, cheese is expensive.  I often tell myself that since I don’t buy any meat it’s okay that cheese is expensive, but that’s a lame reason to buy anything.  Lastly, I have a few vegan friends and I want to have a really good collection of recipes I can make for them that will satisfy all of us.

It is hard for me to face a cheese-less burrito.  At least, it was before I made these.  The main thing is to make some chimichurri sauce.  It adds such fantastic flavor and the tanginess completely makes me forget that there is anything else I could want in it.  If you don’t normally eat vegan I suggest you give these a try.  You can easily halve the recipe if you don’t like making large quantities.  I froze most of mine so I can grab a quick healthy lunch when I haven’t got time to cook. 

Vegan Black Bean and Winter Squash Burrito
makes 8 burritos

Ingredients:

2 cups black beans (cooked)
2 cups winter squash (mashed)
1 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp salt
2 cups Mexican style rice
1/2 cup chimichurri sauce
8 flour tortillas

Method:

Mix together the black beans, winter squash, cumin, and salt in a medium sized bowl. 

In a cast iron skillet (or regular large skillet) warm up a tortilla and spread out 1/2 cup of the beans and squash down the middle making sure to leave a couple of inches at either end for folding up.

Add 1/4 cup rice on top of the beans.  Make a little well down the middle of it and add 1 Tbsp of the chimichurri sauce to it.  Putting it in a well in the middle of the ingredients helps prevent it from running out of the burrito as you fold it up.

Folding a burrito is simple but after trying to write instructions out I think it would be easier to provide you with links to instructions.  Please don’t microwave your tortillas.  I have found two videos for different ways to fold them:

The video by David Windsor Foods  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rGJHk6BCQF0

This tortilla rolling gem:  http://www.ehow.com/video_2298342_roll-beef-burrito.html

I will take pictures of the process myself and make a separate post for it.

Recipe Notes:  Make the Mexican rice!  You can use plain but if you do, have extra chimichurri sauce on hand and use a little extra in each burrito.  But really, just make the Mexican rice, you won’t regret it.  A bowl of rice with some salsa and maybe a little cheese (or not) is so good to have on hand.  Any kind of rich dry winter squash will do such as butternut, sweetmeat, or hubbard.  And whatever you do, don’t make fun of my burrito photo.  Burritos are not pretty food!

Mexican Style Rice Recipe
Chimichurri Sauce Recipe