Does anyone else have minor anxiety about eating crunchy things around other humans?
Croutons, chips, carrots, celery...(is it weird that these all start with a C?)
I KNOW I DO. I'm one of those people who will leave the room if someone else is chewing loud. I can feel this monster that starts from my toes and fills my head with steam until I'm about to burst. It's one of the few things in the world that sends me into a feeling of rage.
Thus, I feel it's not right for me to turn around eating crunchy things myself. So I try to only eat them in private, or I do that weird thing where I'm chewing excessively slow and everyone ends up looking at me anyway.
That's why these tostadas make a perfect party food. Crank the tunes and serve them up when nobody can hear ANYTHING, so nobody has to feel uncomfortable with their symphony of mouth noises.
You can totally make these one step easier and just buy pre-made tostadas at your local bodega or in the latin section of your grocery store, I just happened to have leftover corn tortillas laying around so I made them myself.
Vegan Tostadas, three ways
16 corn tortillas
2 TBSP olive oil
salt
1 batch Pecan Romesco
1 bunch lacinato kale, stemmed and washed
1 lemon
3 tbsp olive oil
pinch salt & pepper
your favorite hummus
1 english cucumber
1 ear of corn, cooked however (I grilled mine!)
2 TBSP tajin
1 batch Pico de Gallo
for the Black Bean Spread:
1 16 oz can black beans, drained & rinsed
1/4 c water
1/2 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp your favorite hot sauce
Prepare the tostadas- brush each tortilla with olive oil and sprinkle with salt. Broil on both sides just until golden and crispy- keep an eye on these or things can go south realllll quick.
Prep the black bean spread: In a blender, combine the beans, water, cumin, hot sauce and salt- pulse until juuuuuust smooth.
Chop the kale into fine ribbons and give it a nice rub down between your fingers with the olive oil and juice of one lemon. Toss with salt and pepper and set it to the side for a few minutes to settle in.
Slice the cucumber, I sliced mine on a diagonal and then in half- also it looks kind've like avocado in the photos and you can tooootally sub avocado if that's what your heat is saying! This is certainly one of those choose your own adventure type situations.
Now you have all of the ingredients you need in front of you, basically a tostada bar. ALSO YOU COULD JUST MAKE THIS A TOSTADA BAR FOR YOUR GUESTS! But if not, prepare each as follows:
Spread a nice amount of romesco onto a tostada, top with the dressed kale. BOOM.
Spread a healthy amount of hummus onto a tostada, top with cucumbers, corn & tajin. BOOM.
Spread a generous amount of bean spread onto a tostada, top with pico de gallo. BOOM
Happy crunching!
xo Audrey