I’m not super particular about my burritos; however, if I’m being honest I typically like them to be meaty or cheesy or (obviously) both. But the reality is that variety is the spice of life, and that means reaching for or making something you might not normally make.

This burrito started with a simple concept: pickled smoked mushrooms. They’re delicious and meaty, and I thought, “these belong in a burrito,” and I pretty much knew it would need to be meatless; those mushrooms are the star of the show. I thought about some things that would go well in a tortilla with those, and before I knew it I had a vegan burrito if I just didn’t add butter to my rice and beans (HERESY, I know, but you can still add in butter if you want). So yeah, this is a vegan burrito. Not because it had to be, but because it could be.

Ingredients

Mushrooms (you’ll need a large mason jar and a smoker for these)

• 1 lb Portabello mushrooms
• 1 T cumin seeds
• 1 T dried oregano
• 1 T ground coriander
• 2 t onion powder
• 3 cloves garlic
• 1 t sea salt
• 1 /2 t ground black pepper
• 1 1/2 c. white vinegar mixed with 1 1/2 c water

• 1/2 t ground cumin
• 1/2 t ground coriander seed
• 1/2 t onion powder
• salt

Rice

• 15 cloves of garlic, roughly minced
• 1.5 c white rice
• salt

Beans

• 2 jalapenos
• 3 shallots
• 1/2 a cheap beer
• 1 regular can beans or 1 3/4 c cooked dry beans
• salt & pepper to taste

Slaw

• 2 red bell peppers
• zest from 1 lime
• salt to taste

Other

• 1-2 avocados (depending on size), sliced
• Cilantro, trimmed and washed

Directions

1. Pickle your mushrooms according to these instructions (best done the day before).
2. When mushrooms are done pickling, take them out of the jars and dump the liquid (or save for other pickling if you want, but it’ll be pretty murky…).
3. Squeeze all the excess liquid out of the mushrooms. This is a very important step if you don’t want your burritos to be too sour.
4. Add the second set of seasoning to the mushrooms.
5. Smoke on your stovetop for ~50 minutes.
6. While that’s going on, toast your minced garlic in a dry skillet on low heat until golden brown.
7. Cook rice like your normally would, but mix the garlic in with the dry rice at the beginning, and add more salt than you normally would to bring out the garlic flavor.
8. Next, make beans with the ingredients listed above according to this method.
9. While everything is going, now is the time to make your slaw. If you wanna get really fancy, you can peel the peppers first. Otherwise, just remove the ends and the ribbing, and slice into thin matchsticks.
10. Toss the red pepper with the lime zest, but don’t add the salt until right before you serve, as you don’t want the peppers to start sweating out.
11. Time to build the burritos! From the bottom up I like to go: rice, beans, avocado, slaw, mushrooms.