Sweet Potato and Black Bean Tacos with Lime Avocado
- Savory
- Mexican
- Stovetop
- Oven
Cumin-scented sweet potato and black beans simmered into a thick, savory filling, piled into warm tortillas and finished with sliced avocado and a squeeze of lime.
- Total
- 40 min
- Prep 15 · Cook 25
- Serves
- 4
- Difficulty
- Easy
You'll practice: Sautéing · Blooming spices
Instructions
-
Peel the sweet potatoes and cut them into 1.5 cm cubes. Peel and finely chop the red onion. Drain the black beans thoroughly in a colander.
~12 min
Draining the beans well stops their canning liquid from making the filling watery and dull-tasting.
-
Heat the olive oil in a large frying pan over medium heat. Add the red onion and cook, stirring, until soft and translucent, about 6 minutes.
~6 min
Cooking the onion slowly until translucent sweetens it and removes its raw bite before the sweeter vegetables go in.
Sautéing Keep the heat at medium and stir so the onion softens evenly; if it browns before turning translucent, the pan is too hot.
-
Add the sweet potato cubes and cook, stirring occasionally, until the edges begin to brown and the cubes are nearly tender, 10 to 12 minutes.
~12 min
Browning the edges builds flavor through the Maillard reaction, while the occasional stir keeps the cubes from scorching.
Let the sweet potato cubes sit undisturbed for a minute at a time before stirring so they pick up browned edges, which gives the filling depth without any spice heat.
-
Push the vegetables to one side, add the cumin to the bare pan and stir for 30 seconds until fragrant, then mix it through. Add the black beans, salt and black pepper with 60 ml water and simmer until the sweet potato is fully tender and the liquid thickens into a coating sauce, about 6 minutes.
~6 min
Blooming the cumin in hot oil releases its aromatic oils, and the small splash of water lets the beans soften into a clinging sauce.
Blooming spices Add ground cumin to the bare hot pan and stir constantly for about 30 seconds; it should smell nutty, never scorch, or it turns bitter.
-
While step 4 cooks
While the filling simmers, halve, stone and slice the avocado, and cut the lime into wedges. Warm the tortillas in a dry skillet for about 20 seconds per side until soft and pliable.
~4 min
Brief dry heat makes tortillas soft and pliable so they fold without cracking.
-
Spoon the sweet potato and black bean filling into the warm tortillas, top with the avocado slices and squeeze lime juice over each taco before serving.
~2 min
Add the lime juice only at the table: the acid dulls if it simmers, and a fresh squeeze keeps the rich beans tasting bright.
