First, prepare the Jalapeno Ranch by adding all the ingredients into a small bowl and stir till combined. Place in the refrigerator while you prepare the rest of the dish.
To a food processor, add the Smoky Tempeh and blend till a ground meat-like consistency develops.
Grab a large cast-iron skillet and heat on medium-high heat. To the skillet, add some olive oil. Transfer the ground Smoky Tempeh to the skillet and cook for 4-5 minutes or until golden brown. Once cooked, remove from the skillet and set aside.
While the Tempeh cooks, to the same food processor as before, blend the onion and garlic till you achieve a fine chop. This shouldn’t take long, try not to over-process. Add the onion and garlic to the previously used skillet and cook down the onions until translucent. To the skillet, add all the spices and tomato paste. Stir till everything is coated. Add the tempeh back to the skillet and cook for another 3-4 minutes or until everything is well coated/combined.
To prepare the final dish, begin by taking the halved of pitted avocados and removing just a little bit of the inside to create a well for the Taco “Meat”.
Stuff each generously with the “Meat” and top with your desired toppings and a generous amount of Jalapeno Ranch!
Enjoy!
Notes
Meat: In this recipe I use tempeh. If you are not a fan of tempeh, I encourage you to use lentils (still a bit processed) or chickpeas. Cook them in the same way, just keep your eye on them in the pot/pan to avoid burning.Spice/Heat: If you are not good with spicy foods that are completely fine! Just omit the spice/heat from the dish! It will still taste great!Oil: If you are oil-free, just use 1 tbsp. of vegetable stock to get a nice steam/sautee on the veggies.Spices: Have fun with the flavors in this dish! You can go down any avenue here! Get creative and go with it! I do really enjoy the flavors as outlined above but you could even swap out the sauce for a peanut sauce and then make the filling a cilantro jalapenos flavor!Toppings: Once again, have fun and do what works for you! You can visit Greece, Asia, Mexico or keep it simple! Examples of fun toppings could be yellow cheese, salsa, crunchy ramen noodles, etc!