Meatless Mondays: Papadzules

Now that I'm back to blogging on a more regular basis, one of the ideas I had was a weekly entree that didn't involve meat, since that's one of the best ways to cut your food budget without making your family and yourself feel like you're depriving yourself. (If you're already on the Meatless Monday plan, try stepping it up to twice a week.)

This week is one of my favorites, but it's not for the faint of heart. It's a bit on the spicy side, but you can use a milder salsa if you so desire. The pumpkin seed sauce isn't spicy, but a little salty. If you want to make this vegan, use a silken firm tofu instead of the hard boiled eggs. Once you mix the chopped tofu with the salsa, you won't know the difference.

Papadzules (vegetarian enchiladas with pumpkin-seed sauce)
Serves 4

Salsa

Ingredients
3 or 4 ripe tomatoes
2 cups of water or broth
1 or 2 fresh sprigs of epazote (optional; can substitute cilantro)
1 habanero chile, sliced almost in half; leave stem on and remove seeds
Salt
1 small onion, chopped
2 tablespoons oil, divided

Instructions
Bring the first 4 ingredients plus some salt to a boil and simmer for 5 minutes. Remove from heat. Take the tomatoes and habanero out of the broth and set aside. Remove the skin from the tomatoes and discard the skin. Reserve the broth. Heat one tablespoon of the oil in a small skillet and sauté the onion until soft. Set aside.
Purée the cooked tomatoes and sautéed onion in a blender. Heat the remaining tablespoon of oil in a saucepan. Add the puréed tomato mixture and simmer for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add more salt to taste.

Salsa de Pepita

Ingredients
1 cup of pepitas (fat shelled pumpkin seeds), toasted until they turn golden
2 cups of broth (reserved from the salsa making, above; may not use all of it)
Salt

Instructions
Strain the broth. Finely grind the toasted pepitas, using either a blender or food processor. Add the reserved broth slowly, until you have a paste. Blend or pulse, slowly adding more of the broth, until you get a saucy consistency. Set aside.

Filling

Ingredients
6 hard-boiled eggs, peeled and chopped
12 corn tortillas, heated until they are soft and pliable
Warm salsa (see above)
Warm salsa de pepita (see above)

Instructions
Place a warm tortilla on a plate. Put some of the egg down the center of the tortilla, add some salsa, then fold over two opposing edges of the tortilla on top of the egg. Place this bundle on another plate, seam side down. Repeat until you have formed 3 for each serving.

Ladle the salsa de pepita over the top of the papatzules. Then ladle on some more salsa. Serve.