Guest guest Posted January 17, 2010 Report Share Posted January 17, 2010 Hi I'm considering becoming vegan and I was just wondering what can you get at a Mexican restuant that would be vegan- right now I always get things with alot of cheese. Thank you for any help! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted January 17, 2010 Report Share Posted January 17, 2010 Kelly, one of my favorite things to get in a Mexican restaurant is veggie fajitas -- and I'm not even a vegan. I skip the sour cream (a lot of restaurants use sour cream that contains gelatin), add guacamole and salsa, and they're wonderful! Be sure to ask whether the tortillas contain lard. Audrey On Sun, Jan 17, 2010 at 3:51 PM, Kelly <kellyproxmire15 wrote: > > > Hi I'm considering becoming vegan and I was just wondering what can you get > at a Mexican restuant that would be vegan- right now I always get things > with alot of cheese. Thank you for any help! > > > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted January 17, 2010 Report Share Posted January 17, 2010 Not sure where you live but I like to get bean chalupas/tostadas or avocado if they make it. Otherwise, many restaurants can make veggie fajitas by grilling vegetables. A side order of rice and beans is good if they are truly vegetarian which in many areas would mean black beans but not pinto. Lobo Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted January 17, 2010 Report Share Posted January 17, 2010 This always makes me angry....Why must pinto beans be made with lard? Most every place puts lard in pinto beans. Why are black beans spared?I make killer pinto beans at home sans lard. What's the deal? Also regarding vegetable fidgety..some places use the same grill to fry whatever so be sure to call ahead and ask is they can cook yours separate with vegetable oil. Also most flour tortillas are made with lard. Even the chips they put on the table. I learned this from a friend that works at a mexican restaurant. Most mexican places are lard happy. Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted January 17, 2010 Report Share Posted January 17, 2010 Well, some people just consider it more traditional... but few people could actually tell. More often pinto beans made with pork would be a flavor people can identify. In fact, many mainstream restaurants use vegetable oil for healthy reasons over lard nowadays. If you are in someplace like San Antonio, flavor come from comino also. Black beans are representative of non-northern Mexico areas or central/south america and flavoring would be different, i.e. not lard based. Most mexican restaurants I know of are trying to convey better health and do not use lard. Lobo ******************************************************** http://launch.NorthTexasBeat/ vegetarian, philosopher, drummer and more... Ft. Worth, TX (817)504-4951 http://www.facebook.com/lobo.tx ....have drum, will travel tarrant_county_drums/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted January 17, 2010 Report Share Posted January 17, 2010 Personally, black beans are my favorite bean! I might like your killer pinto beans, though, Jeannie -- would love to see your recipe! Good point about calling ahead -- I find that restaurants are very helpful when you do that (during a non-busy time!) and can give you much more information quicker than asking waitstaff at the table. And as far as Mexican goes, the less authentic places are usually the ones that use less lard, but the authentic ones seem to be the most knowledgeable about what's in their food -- ie, they make their own chips instead of buying them, etc. Audrey On Sun, Jan 17, 2010 at 6:39 PM, <jeannieh99 wrote: > > > This always makes me angry....Why must pinto beans be made with lard? Most > every place puts lard in pinto beans. Why are black beans spared?I make > killer pinto beans at home sans lard. What's the deal? > Also regarding vegetable fidgety..some places use the same grill to fry > whatever so be sure to call ahead and ask is they can cook yours separate > with vegetable oil. Also most flour tortillas are made with lard. Even the > chips they put on the table. I learned this from a friend that works at a > mexican restaurant. Most mexican places are lard happy. > Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry > > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted January 17, 2010 Report Share Posted January 17, 2010 Yes, I have to agree that some places are trying to head toward a more healthy approach and are using vegetable oil. However, more traditional places are still stuck on using the lard for frying and grilling. My friend told me that even the bread and pastries are made with lard. I usually stop at a new Mexican restaurant and have my daughter go in and ask first before I park because we have been disappointed too many times. That's if we didn't call first. I have had a tough time with this topic as I love, love, love Mexican food. Jeannie your time is the most cherished gift of all, tomorrow is promised to no one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted January 17, 2010 Report Share Posted January 17, 2010 Audrey, Yes, I agree with you. As far as my killer pinto bean recipe, I don't ever measure anything...lol I came up with this after making what turned out to be pretty bland beans. lol I make a tasty vegetable broth with Onions, Carrots, celery stalk (including leaves), garlic cloves, garlic powder, onion powder, cumin, salt, pepper, celery salt, I put Tony Cacerie(sp)?,( It is a really awesome season salt). I also put a couple vegetable cubes. I make enough broth to freeze for multiple dishes. The pinto beans I soak overnight. The next day I rinse well and drain and pick out any impurities. I put in a pot and fill with the vegetable broth. I put them on medium on the stove and when the froth comes up I skim it and once it is clear I cover the pot and put on low and let them cook for almost 2 hours. The beans come out so tender and the broth is so rich. I serve this with some rice on the side and some cornbread and voila! To make the rice; I rinse the rice to get much of the starch out...I drain well. I like to add some tumeric and vegetable broth, & season. Once the water boils I add the rice and put lid on pot and reduce the temp and set timer for 20 minutes. The rice comes out perfectly. yum....I made myself hungry. lol I love to put the rice in the beans and some people keep them separate. I am sorry I don't have measurements like most normal people..lol I have an emotional experience with food....lol I am a " touch, feel and taste " cook. ;-) Jeannie Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted January 17, 2010 Report Share Posted January 17, 2010 Of course, I enjoy making my own mexican food and have found that olive oil brings a richness in flavor than I ever had growing up with lard. One just has to adjust as needed whether using for tamales, tortillas or refried beans. Lobo ******************************************************** http://launch.NorthTexasBeat/ vegetarian, philosopher, drummer and more... Ft. Worth, TX (817)504-4951 http://www.facebook.com/lobo.tx ....have drum, will travel tarrant_county_drums/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted January 17, 2010 Report Share Posted January 17, 2010 Interesting........ I was in a Tex Mex restaurant last night and when I was ordering my usual vegetable fajitas, the waitress told me that the fajita sauce has Worcestershire sauce in it (and this is made with anchovies!). I really appreciated her telling me this. She offered to have the veggies roasted instead of prepared in the sauce......... I think she was just wonderful! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted January 17, 2010 Report Share Posted January 17, 2010 I have an old vegetarian cook book, and one of the Mexican recipes, uses, of all things, lard. (Ofcourse,I didn't use lard). I wouldn't anyway, vegetarian or not. It was for Empanadas. The fact that it's a vegetarian cookbook with lard as an ingrediant....my empanadas turned out excellent, by the way. I should post the nonlard recipe. I made the pastry from scratch,but should've used either puff pastry or Pillsbury cresent rolls. --Rhonda Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted January 17, 2010 Report Share Posted January 17, 2010 This recipe looks so delicious. I can relate. I am a " touch, feel and taste " cook too! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted January 17, 2010 Report Share Posted January 17, 2010 Interesting. I didn't know about using olive oil in mexican food. I thought it was vegetable oil that was preferred. I will try that. I was pretty bummed out this past december. I was at a Fiesta Store (a store that caters to mexican and other ethnic type stuff) they had a sign advertising homemade tamales. I have been craving tamales for years but hadn't had any for the fact of the lard. I walked over and asked them if I could place an order for a few dozen if they would use vegetable oil instead of lard. The lady told me that they could not take my order because tamales do not come out right if lard is not used. I was very sad to hear this. She tried to explain that the " masa " or dough would not hold together right or something. It was hard to understand exactly what she was trying to explain. Another interesting fact I learned is that many people don't associate lard with a pig. lol She had asked why I didn't want the tamales with lard since they are " really good " , I told her because I don't eat meat from pigs or any animals. She said she didn't know what it was made from. lol Jeannie Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted January 18, 2010 Report Share Posted January 18, 2010 Tamales can be made with vegetable oil instead of lard. The Texas Tamale Company in Houston makes them and doesn't use lard and they're wonderful! I've never made tamales and have no idea how they do it, though. Elizabeth in, of course, Houston Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted January 18, 2010 Report Share Posted January 18, 2010 Elizabeth, My bad luck...... When I lived in Houston, I never had heard of the Texas Tamale Company. lol Where in Houston are they? I would love to see if they would do mail order. The people that told me they could only do tamales with lard were in Fiesta on Bellaire. Jeannie Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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