Black Bean Tostada

Submitted by Chef Jean

"These little crispy treats are great served in wedges as an appetizer or whole as an entree. They are simply a mexican tortilla "pizza" with homemade enchilada sauce, seasoned black beans and traditional toppings. Adjust the amount of toppings to suit your taste. Easy to make and of course delicious! The prep time and cook time overlap, so it doesn't take as long as it seems."

 

• Ready In: 38mins
• Ingredients: 12
• Serves: 8-16

ingredients

• 8 corn tortillas, 6 inch
• 1 (15 1/4 ounce) can black beans
• 1 (15 ounce) can tomato sauce
• 2 tablespoons chili powder
• 2 teaspoons dried onion, minced
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 1 cup cheddar cheese, shredded
• 2 cups iceberg lettuce, shredded
• 1⁄2 cup tomatoes, diced
• 16 slices jalapenos (fresh or canned)
• 1⁄2 avocado, diced
• 1⁄2 cup sour cream

directions

1. Heat oven to 400 degrees. Lay the tortilla on 2 baking sheets(or make them in two batches). Spray lightly with non-stick cooking spray. Place in oven for 5 minutes or until they just start to get crispy.
2. Heat the tomato sauce, chili powder, salt and dried onion in a sauce pan and let simmer for 5 minutes. Rinse the beans and add to the sauce, mash the beans slightly to thicken the sauce. Allow to cool while you prepare the toppings.
3. Top each tortilla with the sauce and beans, leaving about 1/2 inch around the edge of the tortilla. Each one will take about 1/4-1/3 cups.
4. Top with the cheese and back for 8 minutes or until the cheese is melted and the tortilla is crisp around the edges.
5. Allow to cool slightly and top with the lettuce, tomatoes, avocado, sour cream and 2 slices of jalapeno each.
6. Cut in quarters to serve as appetizers.

Reviews

[ColoradoCooking]

These are really good.

 

[LifeIsGood]

I thought these turned out really good. When tasting the sauce on its own, I thought the combination of flavors was a little odd - but once on the finsihed tortilla, it really worked well! The tortillas were nice and crispy. I liked the partly mashed beans. Then the toppings really made everything sing. Thanks for creating this recipe for Dining on a Dollar. Good luck!

 

[Tinkerbell]

Over all, we really enjoyed this recipe. I cut it in half, as I didn't think everyone would be eating it, but everyone did & we all wanted more! My only change in the future would be to not add additional salt with the already salty dried onion, it just didn't need it, and maybe add some cumin & basil to the sauce instead. We also found it impossible to cut the finished tostada into triangles, so I scored them down the middle & then folded them in half like tacos. DS's favorite part was piling on the avocados, while mine had extra jalapenos. We also liked that these were individual snacks, so DH & DD could have theirs without cheese.

 

[PaulaG]

This is very good and quick. I used only about 10 oz of the tomato sauce, blended the sauce and beans with my immersion blender and the consistency was perfect for me. The chili powder was reduced by half. A great recipe and a delicious meal. Good luck in the contest.

 

[Chocolatl]

We thought we would love this dish, because we love all the ingredients, and have always enjoyed Southwestern food. Unfortunately, we were disappointed. The sauce was so dull and heavy that the fresh toppings could not rescue it. It was also far too thick and salty. Heating the beans in the acidic tomato sauce made them tough and difficult to mash. The contest ingredients could have been put to better use: we couldn't taste the onions at all, and the jalapeno and avocado were used only as garnish. The one thing that saved this recipe was the oven-crisped tortillas, so much lighter and fresher than packaged tostada shells. Ironically, this could have been the best dish in the contest. If I were designing it, I would saute and mash the beans first, before adding the tomato sauce. I would reduce or eliminate the chili powder, and season the sauce with cumin, garlic, and chopped jalapenos. I would either eliminate or increase the amount of dried onion. If I put in salt at all, I would add it only to the avocado. With these changes, the dish could be truly delicious, but I would not make it again as written.