Make Your Own (vegan) Mexican Food
Learning to cook your own food is empowering, as you no longer have to rely on expensive plastic-wrapped ready-meals and takeaways. Master your favourite cuisines at home. Then every night is restaurant night!
Make It Plant-Based! Mexican offers 50 recipes for soups, tacos, tortas and sweets (sub avocado with smashed peas, more local and ethical).
Recipes include:
- Vegetable Spicy Soup
- A Brothy Pot of Beans
- Grilled Mushroom Tacos
- Vegan Tres Leches (three milk cake)
Author Andrea Aliseda is a Mexican/American food writer and plant-based recipe developer based in Los Angeles, USA. Her work has appeared in many publications, where she also writes on food culture.
Don’t eat cooked rice after 24 hours (and don’t rub your eyes after chopping chillies!). Read more on food safety for people and pets (onions, garlic and spices are not safe near animal friends).
Bin allium scraps (onion, garlic, leeks, shallots, chives) as acids may harm compost creatures (same with tomato/citrus/rhubarb scraps).
For tinned ingredients, fully remove lids or pop ring-pulls over holes, to avoid wildlife getting trapped.
Comida Casera: 100 Plant-Based Mexican Recipes
Comida Casera is by a Mexican-born chef, who shares over 100 plant-based Mexican recipes. This is a love letter to her food and culture! Written by a professional chef, find everything from comfort food to fine dining recipes.
Enjoy recipes for:
- Almond Queso Fresco
- Green Chilaquiles
- Chilorio Burritos
- Pumpkin Seed Enchiladas
- Mushroom Carnitas Tacos
- Bean and Nopal Tostadas
- Potato & Poblano Stuffed Corn Cakes
- Mole Poblano Enchiladas
- Tres Leches Cake
- Vanilla Flan
- Tres Leches Cake
What a beautiful cookbook! Dora manages to make gorgeous looking food that is delicious and accessible. This book and its food, is as delightful as Dora herself. Pati Jinich
Dora Ramírez is a chef, recipe developer and photographer who was born and raised in Mexico, and graduated from the Culinary Institute of America in New York. She is passionate about teaching others the benefit of plant-based lifestyles from her home in Texas, USA.
Swap Avocado for Smashed Peas on Toast!
Avocado is delicious and nutritious. But it’s not local and there is controversy over farming methods. Like palm oil, it’s linked to deforestation with pine forests in South America, and even land grabs and organised crime.
Unless you are buying from an organic farmers’ market and know where and how it was grown, it’s best to avoid avocado (also keep away from pets, they are unsafe).
Smashed peas on toast is the ideal swap.
It’s local and seasonal (buy fresh or Pack’d sell organic frozen peas in paper packaging). Either makes a delicious protein-packed breakfast and snack, and also helps to support local farmers.
Chef Jack Croft says the ‘taste’ from avocado on toast comes more from the seasonings (say lime and coriander in guacamole). Try making pea guacamole!
Like almonds, modern agricultural methods like ‘migratory bee-keeping’ are sometimes used to grow avocado, resulting in mono-crops (so after harvesting, there is no food left and bees can starve).
Organic farmers leave wildlife corridors, and grow crops that let bees pollinate food, and thrive after harvesting. Even some apple farmers in the corporate world are not growing using these methods. With most of our apples imported?
A small organic farmer growing almonds, apples or avocados is likely fine. But if you are buying cheap almonds in a major supermarket, they are unlikely to come from such farmers.
Forests cleared to grow such plantations also reduces the land’s ability to absorb carbon dioxide, and this makes climate change issues worse. Avocado orchards also use colossal amounts of water, yet Mexico for instance already has a many water shortage issues (so this just makes problems worse). They don’t need Londoner’s buying avocados, to serve in swanky restaurants.
Some plant-based recipes use hearts of palm (a tinned vegetable, often used to replace fish). If you use it, choose multi-stemmed (these grow back, single-stemmed don’t). Or better yet, sub with local canned artichokes.
Agua Fresca (like natural Slush Puppies!)
Strawberry Agua Fresca (Broke Bank Vegan)
Do you ever fancy something cool and refreshing and fruity to drink, but don’t want a fizzy pop, nor a sugary fruit juice? Then discover Agua Fresca, the national drink of Mexico! This mixes fresh fruits with water and sugar, and sometimes a little fresh lime juice.
It’s sold everywhere in Mexico on street stalls, and makes a lovely homemade refreshing beverage. It’s kind of like a natural slush puppy (a raspberry drink that’s blue is concerning?)
Avoid unpasteurised juice for pregnancy/nursing or weak immune systems. Just bin citrus/rhubarb scraps, as acids could harm compost creatures.
If used, cantaloupe melon should be stored differently, due to slight risk of salmonella. Thoroughly scrub exterior with a produce brush then store cut melon in a sealed container, discarding leftovers that have been at room temperature for over 2 hours.
Agua de Pina (Broke Bank Vegan) only needs fresh pineapple, water and sugar.
Although in Mexico, the drink is usually made with tropical fruits (like guava), you can make this a seasonal English drink, simply by subbing with local fruits like strawberry, raspberry, apple, peach, plum or cherry.
Simple Agua Fresca Recipe
This recipe makes about 4 to 6 servings.
Shopping list:
- 4 cups fresh fruit, chopped (try strawberry/basil)
- 4 cups cold water
- 2 to 4 tablespoons sugar or agave
- 1 to 2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
- Ice, to serve
Always wash fruit well to remove dirt and pesticides.
- Chop your 4 cups of fresh fruit into chunks. Then add to a blender containing 2 cups of the water. Blend until smooth.
- Sieve the mix, using a spoon to press out the liquid. You can use the discarded pulp for baking or smoothies.
- Transfer the strained liquid to a large pitcher, and stir in the other 2 cups of water.
- Add sugar or agave to taste, starting with 2 tablespoons. Squeeze in lime juice for colour. Don’t add too much.
- Chill for at least 30 minutes to let the flavours settle, then serve over plenty of ice. Garnish each glass with a slice of fruit or mint sprig.
How to Make Mexican Horchata
If you fancy something a bit more creamy, try this recipe for Horchata (Broke Bank Vegan). This is another traditional refreshing Mexican drink, made with soaked rice, almond milk, cinnamon and real vanilla. And optional cane sugar to make it sweeter.
Pentire No-alcohol Margaritas (from Cornwall!)
Pentire Margarita is a Cornish sustainable drink, with no-booze. This is a healthy riff on the classic Margarita, blending coastal botanicals with lime, agave (a natural sweetener related to cactus), sea salt and a dash of Mexican chilli. To create a fantastic ready-to-drink cocktail.
If you prefer a boozy Margarita, know that most tequila bottles don’t have a ‘worm in the bottle’, but their cousin mezcal may).
To serve, pour 100ml into a rock glass over ice. Garnish with a lime wedge, and a slice of chilli.
This is a really eco-friendly company that sells all their items in easy-to-recycle packaging, sends in zero waste packaging, and uses a portion of profits to give back to organisations that are helping the planet.
The drink is also sold in cans.
Club Mexicana (tasty food in Soho & Mayfair, London)
Club Mexicana is a London fast food chain, designed to smash conceptions that vegan food can’t be as tasty. These restaurants offer delicious menus of authentic Latino food, all from nutritious plant foods. You can also book gift vouchers that are valid for one year from purchase.
There are two restaurants, located at Soho and Mayfair. The chain started as a Saturday night supper club in a Hackney café, serving up 3-course taco feasts and lots of tequila! After serving up thousands of tacos at music festivals, it opened its first restaurant in Soho, and now also has one in swanky Mayfair!
Most restaurants are wheelchair-friendly, though one has a few steps, again check site for updates. Dogs are welcome (check site for details).
Founder Meriel is naturally gifted at creating Mexican plant-based food. So she did what many dream of doing – she ditched her advertising job and jumped in the kitchen, to found one of London’s freshest plant-based eateries (they are decorated in bright pink!)
She believes that people prefer eating in real communities, rather than using delivery apps to eat at home. And says that your life and work should be fun! In an interview, she says if you stick to your values, stay a decent person and are resilient enough to come back from knocks, you’ll succeed!
The Evening Standard recommends Club Mexicana, as one of the best 100 cheap eats in London!
The menus include:
- Classic or Loaded Nachos
- BBQ ‘Short Rib’ Tacos
- Baja To-Fish Tacos
- Served with Salsa and Tortillas Chips!
- Buffalo Chick’n Burritos
- Cheezeburger Burritos
- Churros (with chocolate and cinnamon)
- Frozen Margarita & Strawberry Daiquiri
- Beer Cocktails & Mocktails (no alcohol)
- Mezcal (no worm in the bottle, this time)
Mexico is Doing Good Green things!
As well as being mostly plant-based, Mexico (a large country in central American that borders the USA) is also home to a stunning coastline (including the world’s second-largest coral reef), and at the forefront of protecting its country from deforestation, air pollution and lack of clean water.
Home to over 200,000 species of wildlife and plants, there is a real urgency now. Local legislators are upping their game, with moves to ban over-tourism, which is harming marine life (snorkelling alongside whale sharks etc).
And a ban is imminent on performing dolphin shows, something that their friends over the border in the USA could learn from.
