Vegan elote salad with black bean, corn and bell pepper empanadas

Okay, everybody, this is the second damn time I'm writing this because the first version didn't save, so forgive me if it's not the best.

The original post was punny, informative and entertaining, and now I'm a bitter lady with no humor or patience, cause I'm rewriting this. Le sigh. Anywhoo.. enjoy.

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Hello, my friends! Welcome to my first ever recipe post. Say whaaaat? That's right, I'm bringing you a recipe today because I was encouraged to write about the food I eat (shout out @paigegeisbradshaw - thanks for following and for nudging me to create more content).

I've considered posting recipes before but because I'm not a "real cook" and most of my recipes come from mashing together other people's ideas, I felt like a fraud writing my own. I don't know, man. I get self-conscious.

But here we go anyways – a different type of post for anyone out there wondering what a vegan eats.

Introducing vegan elote with black bean, bell pepper and corn empanadas. Good GOD was this tasty and really quite easy! I know the idea of creating your own dough could sound intimidating, but if there's any dough to start with - empanada dough is the one. Trust me.

The breakdown

The other day at work, I was thinking about food (what's new) when I realized I'd never had elote. Don't ask me why I thought of this randomly, I couldn't tell ya, but I blame Baby River because suddenly I had. to have. elote.

Elote, traditionally, is a Mexican street food that consists of corn on the cob that's been slathered in mayo and/or sour cream, topped with spices, cojita cheese, and cilantro. It looks magical, truly, and I just wanted some real bad.

I don't love corn on the cob because I really hate raking my teeth on the cob, so for this recipe, I used canned corn to make a corn salad. I also didn't use any form of cheese, simply cause I didn't want to. Lay off me.

I also knew I wanted something to go with my corn salad because I'm not a serial killer who only eats corn, so I decided on empanadas, and off I went!

Let's do the thing

Makes: ~8-9 empanadas and ~2 cups salad

Ingredients

Elote salad:

2 cans sweet corn, drained (save about 1/8 c. for empanada filling

1/4-1/2 c. vegan mayo

1-2 tbsp chopped cilantro

Tajin

Empanada dough:

1 2/3 c. flour (200 g)

1 tsp salt

1/2 c. cold butter

5 tbsp cold water

Filling:

1 can black beans, drained

1 bell pepper, diced

1/8 c. corn

1/4 c. salsa of choice

garlic and onion powder to taste

Steps

Empanadas:

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees and then start with the dough, measuring out the flour and salt to a mixing bowl. Stir together.

2. Cut butter into pea-sized squares and add half to flour mixture with half of the water. Start to combine with fingers until the dough starts to form, then add the rest of the butter and water. Combine until the dough just forms and place in the fridge until the filling is ready.

3. For the filling, heat some olive oil in a frying pan and add beans, corn, and bell pepper. Stir until bell pepper starts to cook down and then mash mixture slightly, so the beans create a paste. Add salsa and seasonings, tasting until you're happy with it and then remove from heat.

4. Roll out the dough onto a lightly floured surface until dough is 1/4 inch thick. Using a cup or a biscuit cutter, cut rounds into the dough and set aside. Continue this with all remaining scrap dough until you've created the number of rounds you want.

5. Take each round and roll out a bit more, to about 1/8 inch thick. You don't want these too fragile, but they need to be a bit thinner, so you can fold them over on themselves.

6. Place a spoonful of filling into the center and fold the dough in half, creating a half-circle. Use a fork to crimp the edges together. The filling amount here is going to vary and might take a little working with, you don't want them too full or too empty.

7. Place empanadas on a parchment-lined baking sheet and bake for 25-30 minutes until golden brown.

Elote salad:

1. Heat olive oil in a frying pan and add corn, stirring until heated through. Traditionally, elote is grilled and has beautiful char marks. I wanted this effect, so I cooked my corn until it browned a bit – this is optional.

2. Place corn in a mixing bowl and add mayo to the desired coating and then serve on a plate.

3. Top with tajin and cilantro.

That's all she wrote folks! I loved this meal and didn't miss the cojita cheese. If you're a huge cheese fan, vegan feta or crumbled, salted tofu could work. But I liked it just how it was.

I hope you enjoy these noms. Let me know if you liked this post in the comments below!