Eatin' meatless on the cheap

I've mentioned to The Girl that I would like to occasionally eat a meatless meal, something that's more environmentally friendly than partaking of the awesomness of a thick, juicy, large-carbon-footprint strip steak. She's good to me, so she tries to accommodate my meal requests in as much as she feels like it. So, Monday and Tuesday were meatless meals.

Turns out that the economic footprint of the meals was already pretty frickin' small - about $1.50 for eight of these pupusas which made for two meals for each of us. We added a salad for a pretty healthy, cheap, meatless meal.

The source of the recipe is from Vegetarian Times's April/May, 2011 issue. I would link to the recipe, but their website stinks like tofu-fish...

Pupusas
Serves 8

•  4 cups masa harina, such as Maseca
• 2 tsp. ground cumin
• 1 tsp. baking powder
• 2 tsp. salt
• 1/2 cup vegetarian refried black beans
• 1/2 cup crumbled Cotija cheese
• 8 tsp. vegetable oil

1. Combine masa harina, cumin, baking powder, and salt in bowl.
2. Stir in 2 cups warm water, adding more, if needed, to form soft dough.
3. Cover, and let stand 30 minutes.
4. Line baking sheet with wax paper. Roll dough into 16 balls. Make indentations in centers; fill 8 balls with 1 Tbs. refried beans. Fill remaining 8 balls with 1 Tbs. cheese. Fold edges over fillings and roll into balls once more. Press into 4-inch disks. Place on prepared baking sheet.
5. Heat 2 tsp. oil in skillet over medium-high heat. Add 4 pupusas at a time to skillet; cook 5-6 minutes, turning once.

The Girl does cotton to refried beans, so she just mashed up some black beans that she'd made earlier in the day. She also didn't do some with cheese and some with beans. They just got mixed into one filling and used in every pupusa.

The beans, themselves, are also dirt cheap and phenomenally tasty.

Black beans
makes a crapload

• ~8 cups water
• 2 lbs black beans
• onion, finely diced
• 2 jalapenos
• dried chili peppers
• 2 tsp. salt

1. Add all ingredients but salt to pot. Bring to boil; simmer for 1 hour. Do not stir.
2. Add in salt; stir gently. Simmer 1 hour.

The beans make for a great side dish (especially with a little sour cream and salsa stirred in) or as an ingredient in burritos or enchiladas or whatever.

 Neither of the photos today are mine. The first is from Fat-Free Vegan, and the second is from The Wahsingtonian.