Tortilla wraps - gluten free

These wraps are like savoury pancakes…but thick and robust enough to take a filling and they are gluten free to boot!

Fill them with whatever you fancy, here I have gone for a simple vegan yoghurt and bean salad, but how about this ‘untuna’ filling or my favourite lentil and peanut dip.  You could also fill them with a veggie chilli as long as it is not too liquidy (I am the master of making  mess with finger food...just warning ya!)

The chia seed is the star of the show in terms of binding the ingredients together and ensuring that these wraps do not fall apart. You could probably use ground flax as a substitution but my personal experience with chia and flax is that ground chia has a better ‘gumming’ action and I usually opt for it given the choice.

I left these wraps pretty plain but they would be the great base for some Italian, Mexican or Indian spices depending on your filling flavours.

Recipe: Gluten free tortilla wraps

Serves 2 (approx 6 wraps)

Ingredients

½ cup chickpea flour

½ cup buckwheat flour

3tbs starch (I used arrowroot)

½ tsp baking powder

¼ tsp salt

¼ tsp garlic powder

Other seasonings as desired to taste (I kept my tortillas ‘plain’)

3tbs ground chia seed mixed with ¼ cup warm water

1 tbs coconut oil

1 cup warm water

Method

Mix dry ingredients together and then add wet ingredients and mix well to form a batter of ‘yoghurt’ consistency.

Lightly oil a frying pan and once hot add a dollop of batter spread thinly (quickly!) and fry the tortillas as you would a pancake. Cook them for 2-3 mins on one side then flip and finish with a minute on reverse.

Serve immediately, or if making in advance simply warm through in the oven or microwave before serving. These are best eaten within 24 hours. I have not tried freezing them but I imagine that would work, making sure they are separated with parchment.

For further guidance on making gluten free choices please see this post.

For tips and info on recipe measurement conversions, ingredients, substitutions and the methods behind how I do things.... check out my 'baking tips' tab at the top of the page.

Mexican tortilla stack

I love a good old veggie chilli!  Even before I began eating a vegan diet I often preferred to cook up a veggie chilli over a beef one. I think it’s more the textures and flavours of the dish than the actual meat itself that I fell in love with. The spices and the kidney beans are really what make a chilli.

Actually come to think of it, I usually find it’s the textures of a dish and the context of the food that I find draws me in…. for example I always loved my mum’s homemade chicken pie with veg and gravy, but I think I actually just have a thing for gravy smoothed over pastry and veg, I don’t think it really matters so much what the pie contains! Similarly tofu scramble on toast satisfies me just as much as traditional scrambled egg would have done.

(I now can’t get a vision of pie and gravy out of my mind!)

So, whilst a chilli is good… I wanted to change things up a little bit and up the protein count In the process. Beans! Beans! Beans! I also wanted to get a little saucy with a flavoursome cheese-style sauce drizzled over the top. I think the sauce makes a lovely rich complement to the dish but you could always have it without. This dish also reminds me a little of a classic lasagne, with it’s lovely layering!

This is a super simple meal that looks great in the centre of the table, well that is until you cut into it, then it gets a bit messy! This serves 4 but you could easily use large tortillas to serve more, or make your own. I have used regular tortillas here, as I am not gluten free (although I often opt for recipes that are), but you could easily sub these for GF wraps available in many supermarkets.

Recipe: Mexican tortilla stack

Serves 4

Ingredients

1 tbs olive oil

1 onion-finely chopped

1 red chilli- finely chopped (or up to ½ tsp dried chilli flakes)

2 cloves garlic- finely chopped

1 tsp ground cumin

1 tbs ground coriander

400g can black beans

400g can red kidney beans

400g can chopped tomatoes

100ml vegetable stock

A bunch of spring onions- sliced

350g sweetcorn (canned or frozen)

4 wholemeal tortilla wraps (regular or gluten free)

Vegan cheese sauce- see note below

Method

Heat oil in a large pan and gently fry the onions for around 5 minutes until soft. Stir through the chilli, garlic, cumin and coriander and cook for a further minute.

Pour in the beans, tomatoes and stock. Simmer for 10 minutes. Whilst this is simmering make up the cheese sauce- see below. Stir through the spring onions and the sweetcorn.

Place a tortilla wrap in the base of a spring form cake tin- approx. 20cm diameter. Spoon over ¼ of the mixture and spread evenly. Drizzle a little cheese sauce over the mixture. Top with another tortilla and repeat the process with 4 wraps in total finishing with a layer of bean mix and cheese sauce.

Bake the stack for 25 minutes at 200C. Slice into wedges to serve.

Note: You can use your own favourite strong cheese sauce recipe. My current favourite is taken from Oh She Glows and has a strong ’cheesy’ mustardy flavour giving a nice flavoursome kick to the tortilla stack.

The original recipe can be found here but is also provided my ever so slightly tweaked version below for reference. I increased the flour (I used cornflour) to 1.5 tbs to ensure a nice thick sauce.

Recipe: Cheese Sauce

 

Ingredients

¾ cup almond milk

6tbs nutritional yeast

1 tbs coconut oil

1 ½ tbs cornflour

2 tsp Dijon mustard

¼ tsp garlic powder

½  tsp salt and pepper

Method

Melt the coconut oil in a small pan over the hob. Whisk the flour and milk together in a separate bowl ensuring there are no lumps. Add the milk mixture plus all remaining ingredients to the pan and whisk well. Simmer and whisk for approx. 5 mins until thick.

Note: this sauce also freezes well so can be made in a batch.

For tips and info on recipe measurement conversions, ingredients, substitutions and the methods behind how I do things.... check out my 'baking tips' tab at the top of the page.