I bet you never thought you’d see such a healthy recipe on Amuse Your Bouche, right? It’s vegan, it’s full of protein, and there are no empty carbs at all. Shocking.

The truth is, I’ve been obsessing over that walnut taco ‘meat’ from the taco potato crisps recipe I posted about earlier in the month, and I wanted to make it again in a new incarnation. This time I added some black beans and made taco-style lettuce wraps, which is another thing that’s been on my ‘to make’ list for yonks!

I know wrapping this walnut taco meat in lettuce probably doesn’t sound like the most exciting way to serve it, but if you’re anything like me, you’ll agree that tacos are all about the fillings and toppings (much like pizza, sandwiches, quesadillas, and most other things served in bread). Take away the taco shell, and you’ve still got all the amazing flavours, but take away the fillings, and all you’ve got is… a shell. Which does a good job of holding everything together, but doesn’t add much in the way of flavour – and does add a lot of empty calories and carbs.

So in my opinion, lettuce serves as a pretty great alternative to a taco shell! It holds everything together into perfect little hand-held portions, but allows the focus to stay on the crunchy, spicy taco filling. You’re still getting some carbs from the beans (because it’s important to get some fuel in you!), but in a much more nutritious form.

Pluuus, the flavours! I rattled on about this walnut taco meat for long enough when I posted about it before, so I’ll just say very briefly once again: this stuff is absolutely gorgeous. It’s so full of flavour, and goes beautifully with almost any taco topping you can think of – tomato, avocado, guacamole, salsa, sour cream, grated cheese… they’re all welcome here. Generally I’d say the more the merrier, but I kept mine super simple with just some fresh cherry tomatoes.

What do you think – have I convinced you to try lettuce wraps?

Print Black bean and walnut taco-style lettuce wraps Prep Time: 10 mins Total Time: 10 mins Servings: 2 Ingredients 100 g walnuts

1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

1/2 tsp smoked paprika

1/2 tsp hot chilli powder

1/4 tsp ground cumin

400 g tin black beans 240g when drained, drained and rinsed

3 spring onions sliced

Juice of 1/2 a lime

leaves ~6 large lettuce the exact number depends on how big they are

g You choice of toppings e.: cherry tomatoes, avocado, guacamole, salsa, sour cream, grated cheese Instructions Add the walnuts to a food processor along with the olive oil and spices. Blitz until the nuts form a coarse crumb.

In a large bowl, combine the walnut mixture with the black beans, spring onions and lime juice.

Serve the walnut and black bean taco meat in the lettuce leaves, with your choice of toppings. Author: Becca Heyes

Love vegan food? You might like to try my caramelised butternut squash and quinoa burritos!