Sweet Potato and Black Bean Burritos

Jeffrey and I love the African Burritos I usually make, which also include sweet potatoes and black beans.  So, when I was browsing through the copy of What the Bible Says about Healthy Living Cookbook that I got from the library, I just had to try this recipe.

Sweet Potato and Black Bean Burritos

Ingredients:

• 1 unpeeled large sweet potato (about 1 pound)
• 1 large onion
• 2 garlic cloves
• 1 T olive oil
• 2 tsp ground cumin
• 2 tsp ground coriander
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• Several generous grindings of pepper
• 1/3 bunch cilantro (mostly leaves)
• 2 15-ounce cans black beans
• Juice from 1/2 lemon or lime (about 2 T)
• 6 8-inch whole wheat tortillas

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400° and oil a 9x13-inch baking pan.
2. Cut the potato into chunks and put them into the prepared pan.  Bake fro 30-35 minutes, or until the potato pieces are tender when pierced with a fork.
3. While the potato bakes:
• Chop the onion and garlic.  Saute in the olive oil over medium-high heat in a large frying pan.
• Cook until the onion is soft, about 5 minutes.  Add the cumin, coriander, salt and pepper and cook for 2 to 3 more minutes.  Remove from the heat.
• Chop the cilantro.  Rinse and drain the black beans.  Add the cilantro, beans and lemon or lime juice to the pan.
4. When the potato chunks are cooked, remove from the  oven.  Reduce heat to 350°.
5. Add the cooked potato to the frying pan with the onion mixture. (Set aside the pan you used to bake the potato; you will use it to heat the burritos.)  Using a potato masher, mash the ingredients together to make a thick, chunky mixture.
6. To assemble the burritos:
• Lay a tortilla on a flat surface.
• Spoon 1/2 cup filling mixture over the tortilla.
• Roll up the tortilla and place in pan, seam side down.
• Repeat with remaining tortillas and filling.
7. Cover the pan with foil and bake burritos for 30 minutes, until well heated.
8. Serve with salsa, guacamole, and sour cream.

The verdict: These are really good.  Jeffrey commented that they are spicier than the other ones, so perhaps cut down on the cumin if you have people who don't like or can't eat spicy foods.  These are very filling - we both ate 1-1/2 burritos, and I wrapped the other three in foil and stuck them in the freezer.  I like the flavor of the roasted sweet potato and will use more sweet potato when I make these again.  Also, I'm not going to bother with the rolling up and baking step.  Instead I'll just mix up and heat the filling and let everybody heat and fill their own tortillas - with the filling along with salsa, sour cream, guacamole, sliced green onions, etc.  I had some leftover filling, and that's how I fixed it for lunch.  It turned out really good.