sometimes i just want greasy, oily mexican food that makes me remember what it was like to be a vegetarian. unfortunately, i can’t trust the stuff at conventional mex restaurants, and a lot of the veganized establishments offer dishes that are a bit too healthy-tasting. so i’ve decided to take matters into my own hands and create a masterpiece of junk food with no redeeming qualities except for a few tomatoes, and the fact it tastes ridiculously fine. vegan homemade nachos! so yummy, despite the fact that all i had on hand was follow your heart cheese.

now, imho, what sets these apart from the countless vegan nachos in everywhere else you’ve ever eaten, is that these include homemade chips. most restaurants smother store-bought corn varieties (from the bag) in vegan cheddar and all the fixins, leaving people like me 10 minutes and 1,000 calories short of satisfaction. now, while cool places like pure luck have the homemade chip thing down, they don’t even provide a nachos options. wtf! that’s where quarrygirl comes in: care-free, greasy, unforgivable homemade nachos…from the chip to the guacamole.

recipe, pix, and more. all after the jump.

first off, the ingredients you will need to make each individual part of the dish…

for the homemade tortilla chips (best ever!), you’ll need:
1 package of flour tortillas, fajita size (i used a mission brand pack of 10)
vegetable oil
access to a deep fat fryer. (if you don’t have this, you can bake the chips.)

for the pico de gallo:
3 tomatoes
1 small onion
some cilantro

for the guacamole:
1 ripe avocado
1 tomato
half an onion (give or take)
juice from 1 lime
1 clove of garlic, minced

ultimately, for the nachos themselves:
1 recipe of chips
1 recipe of pico de gallo
1 package of soy taco filling
1 can of black beans (i use amy’s brand)
1 package of follow your heart vegan gourmet cheddar cheese alternative
tofutti sour supreme (garnish)
fresh cilantro (garnish)
green onion (garnish)

now, the making of the nachos. let’s start with the chips. mmm.

take your package tortillas, and cut into 8ths. you should end up with tons of cute little triangles. before and after:

before

after

next, whip out your deep-fat-fryer (or your oven, if you are counting calories). if you bake them, i advise just throwing ’em in at 375 until they reach golden brown-ness. for me, i deep fried them in vegetable oil until crisp. about 3 minutes total. greeeeeeeease. so worth it.

yumm.

they should look like this when they are done:

yummier.

for the pico de gallo and guacamole, it’s pretty self explanatory. scroll up to read the ingredients, then chop and mix them together for each. this isn’t rocket science. just make sure you buy a nice avocado, and mash it evenly with your fork. the rest is taken care of.

now, assembling nachos themselves…

let the homemade chips cool, then put ’em on a greased baking sheet (atop some foil). apply the first layer of black beans.

then, layer on the soy taco meat.

grate the fake cheese, and cover the chips evenly with it. be sure to save some to sprinkle on right before you bake.

next, apply the only healthy layer (the pico de gallo).

throw some more chips on the top, and sprinkle with remaining cheese.

bake in the oven at 375 degrees for about ten minutes. i can’t really tell you to bake it until the cheese melts…because it won’t. so bake it until the cheese starts to get defiant and singed around the edges. ten minutes should do the trick.

pull the nachos out of the oven with the cheese still unmelted (i know, i know, we will fix that) and serve them on individual plates. microwave each plate for about 30 seconds (or until the cheese finally succumbs and transforms into a sticky, runny mess that covers the chips and your dishes). when it melts, you’re done—you deserve every calorie packed into that deep-fried pile. garnish with guacamole, tofutti sour supreme, cilantro and anything else you wanna add.

that’s it. sinful, fattening, homemade vegan nachos—ready for you to mow down. sooooo scrumptious.

and when there are leftovers (there will be), just microwave ’em the next day for “enchilada-style” nachos. the chips will turn into soft greasy tortillas and make you wonder if they’re even better than the original meal. i still can’t decide. 60 seconds per serving seems to be the magic time, but you may wanna check on that.

hope you love the quarrygirl nachos! woohoo.