Walnut ‘Meat’ Tacos with a Fresh Pineapple Salsa

Walnut ‘Meat’ Tacos with a fresh Pineapple Salsa

I have had a couple of requests to upload the recipe for these walnut meat tacos.  I am a huge fan of Mexican food and love how social it feels, sitting around eating with your fingers and downing a couple of mojitos!  I would love to say the recipe is my own, but I have adapted it slightly from Aine Carlin’s The New Vegan.  I have made these tacos for my pop up low FODMAP brunch and the launch event I did with Makrobios.  They are super fresh, crunchy and the walnut ‘meat’ really is ‘meaty.’   They work perfectly as a vegan starter or as finger food and if you are interested into getting into the raw food movement this is a great introduction.

If you want to make this in advance I would recommend making all the elements separately, but fill the lettuce taco shells at the last minute or they will go soggy.  Also try and get the best quality walnuts you can, preferably organic as it will really make a difference to you finished dish.  My version of this recipe is low FODMAP as well as gluten free and vegan.

Walnut ‘Meat’ Tacos with a Fresh Pineapple salsa – serves 4 – 6 as a starter

130 g Organic Walnuts (I used Makrobios organic walnuts)

5 sun dried tomatoes and a tsp of their oil

1 tsp cumin

1 tsp dried coriander

1/2 tsp smoked paprika

pinch of cayenne pepper

1/2 tbsp of gluten free soy sauce

2 tbsp of olive oil (I used Clear Spring)

2 – 4 little gem lettuces, depending on their size

For the Salsa:

1/2 fresh pineapple, peeled and diced

1 yellow pepper, diced

a handful of chives, finely chopped

juice of one lime

a handful of fresh coriander chopped

An avocado, cut into thin slices and extra fresh chopped coriander for serving

Put the walnuts into a food processor and pulse into a coarse rubble. Add all the other ‘meat’ ingredients except the lettuce and pulse until it forms a crumbly ‘meaty’ texture.

For the salsa, simply combine all the ingredients together, mix and leave for a few minutes for the flavours to develop.

To build the tacos, separate the lettuce leave and spoon a little of the walnut meat into the centre.  Top with a slice of avocado, a spoonful of the salsa and a sprinkling of extra coriander.