Vegan Mexican 'Stuffed' Bread.

First of all, we'd like to acknowledge Jaishree of Ruchi and Trupti of Recipe Center for passing a galore of awards! These include One Lovely Blog, Triple Award, Uber Amazing Blog, Adorable Blog and a Friendship award. Thanks a lot :)

Coming back to the post, well, it was one of those days when N felt like eating some spicy Mexican food and I felt like baking. As N and I walked into the kitchen, our eyes caught a glimpse of a yeast packet staring right at us. So we thought of this really cool dish :) Its like a burrito but instead of a tortilla, the filling is inside a bread...a yeast bread ;) And we had ourselves (yet another!) feast :D


Ingredients

For the Bread

1 packet active dry yeast
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup warm water
1 tsp sugar
2 tsp salt
1 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp crushed oregano

For the filling

1 1/2 cups cooked red kidney beans
1 cup firm tofu (crumbled with hands)
1 medium onion coarsely chopped
1/2 cup tomatoes, finely chopped
1 tsp turmeric
salt to taste
2 tbsp vegetable oil
2 tsp chili powder (we used Ancho and Chipotle chillies)
2 Jalapenos, finely chopped and not deseeded ;)

1. Dissolve the sugar into the warm water. If it gets cold, warm it again. Add the yeast to the water and let it become frothy. This takes about 10 mins.

2. Mix all the dry ingredients for the bread in a large bowl and make a well in the center. Pour the proofed yeast into the well and slowly work the flour into a dough.

3. Add the olive oil and continue kneading till you get a nice non sticky but moist dough. Add more flour if the dough is sticky. Coat it with some olive oil and let it rise until doubled in volume.

4. While the dough is rising, prepare the filling. Heat the oil in a pan and saute the onions. When the onions start to become translucent, add the tomatoes. Add the turmeric, salt, chili powders and cook until tomatoes absorb some oil and start to disintegrate.

5. At this stage, add the remaining ingredients. Cook at medium heat until a nice thick consistency is obtained. The filling should not be runny. This should take about 10 minutes. Make sure that the filling has cooled down before you use it on the bread.

6. After the bread has doubled in volume, push it back and knead it a couple of times. On a floured work-surface, roll the dough into a 8" long X 5" wide rectangle. Apply the filling lengthwise next to one of the edges, leaving 1" margin on all sides. Wrap it like a burrito such that the filling stays in the middle of this 'roll'. Place this roll into a loaf pan and cover it. Let it rise for 20 mins.

7. Bake at 375 F until the bread is done. A skewer should come out without the bread dough. It might come out with a little filling though ;) We also applied some vegetable oil and broiled it for a few seconds to give it a nice golden crust.

Viva Mexico!!! This thing rocked :D I guess its harder to prepare this compared to a burrito, but I guess as far as I am concerned, very few things beat the smell of freshly baked bread :)

UPDATE: Sending this to Vaishali of Holy Cow for the Vegan- Mexican event, and to Susan of YeastSpotting fame. She is behind the immensely popular blog Wild Yeast.