If you haven’t already gathered I love food. I love to eat it, make it, buy it, go to restaurants and scarf it, watch TV shows and read books about it,  and perhaps most of all I love to share it. I’ve been told on many occasions while here in Kauai that I may have missed my calling as a chef, but I’m not so sure that is true. Making food is a great hobby and stress reliever for me and one of the only reasons I made it through graduate school with an ounce of sanity because I like to cook with no rules. I handfull of this, a pinch of that, stirring it until it looks good. Of course I love a good recipe now and then, but most of the time I just love to wing it. Sometimes I am spectacularly successful at winging it, and sometimes I’m a spectacular failure (just ask R about the biscuits I tried to make from scratch and without a recipe last week. . . Yuck). Pursuing a food career seems like it might take out some of the joy and whimsy that I  love so much, especially if I were run into Gordon Ramsey or any of those crazy people on Cutthroat Kitchen!

Moving to Kauai has been a food lover’s dream for the most part. Fresh fruit veggies are abundant and usually grown in your own yard or your neighbors yard. Just last week I walked two houses down and bought bananas, lemons, limes, and a giant bunch of cilantro from my neighbor for $8. We’ve enjoyed mangoes, avocados, starfruit, mandarin oranges, and papayas grown in our own back yard and sampled filipino-style roasted pig caught, butchered and prepared by our neighbors and fish so fresh it was practically still swimming. Even with all of this fresh and interesting tropical food, sometimes there is no replacing your favorites from home.

After that sappy foodie love fest above and the availability of new and interesting food on this island it is hard to even write this, but I am DYING for one dish. Just one, rather unremarkable in any other state or circumstance dish. What is that dish? A Chipotle burrito bowl. Not just a Chipotle burrito bowl, a burrito bowl with white rice, black beans, steak, pico and hot salsa, cheese, lettuce, no sour cream and a giant scoop of guacamole (yes I know it is extra). Chipotle now an international company is a Colorado native (yes I have been to the original restaurant in Denver) and was a staple of my diet as an undergrad and let’s be honest as poor newlywed young adult as well. This week Chipotle officially launched their vegan meat substitute, Sofritas, with a nationwide buy one get one free burrito offer and the promotion made waves across the internet newsosphere. The company also made headlines for removing carnitas from many stores because of unsustainable farming practices of some of their suppliers. With Chipotle news popping up all over the place and my social media feed exploding with pictures of free burritos my stomach and also my heart screamed for a Chipotle burrito.

With no Chipotle restaurants in the state of Hawaii, there is just no getting a Chipotle burrito whenever I want one. If you are as lucky as I am you may have a sister that will occasionally overnight your favorite food from home when a case of homesickness sets in, but when that isn’t an option, I have to make it myself. With all of the hubub about tofu sofritas this week, I decided the best way to kick the Chipotle craving (or kick it into high gear) would be to try my hand at making sofritas and their signature cilantro lime rice on my own. Boulder was one of the test markets for Sofritas so I have had the chipotle version before and I was pretty impressed. I like tofu and we actually eat it at least once per week in a variety of ways, but when it is mixed up with chilies and spices and put in tacos and burritos it does turn into something pretty spectacular. Sofritas in Chipotle speak is ground tofu kicked up with adobo peppers and other spices. Sofrito in Mexican cuisine means lightly fried (or at least my high school spanish and advanced Mexican restaurant menu interpretation skills makes me think that is what it means) and is a dish that usually contains ground meat, tomatoes, beans, rice and spices.

Here’s what I did to make faux-potle sofritas –

Bought this:

1 package firm tofu
1 can organic black beans
1 can organic tomatoes

Already had this in the pantry/fridge:

Tortillas
Calrose rice
505 green chilies (medium heat)
Spices (fresh cilantro, dried cumin, dried red pepper flakes, salt, garlic salt)
2 limes (from the neighbor’s sale!)
3 cloves fresh garlic
Olive Oil

Did this:

For Sofritas:
Heated 1 good glug of olive oil in a tall-sided skillet
Added minced garlic cloves to the hot oil and stirred quickly
Added one block of firm tofu to pan and smashed with a fork until it resembled meat crumbles or scrambled eggs (drain your tofu before cooking by squishing it with some paper towels and weight for at least 20 minutes if you want an even firmer meatier texture)
Add rinsed black beans, ¼ cup or more of green chilies and 1 can tomatoes to to skillet
Season to taste with cumin, chili flakes and salt

For the rice
Cooked 1 cup rice according to directions (All I had on hand was calrose rice which is a sticky rice and definitely not what Chipotle uses. Try a longer grain rice like a basmati to replicate the texture of Chipotle rice better than I did)
Seasoned rice with hefty sprinkle of garlic salt, heaping handful of chopped fresh cilantro and the juice of one small lime.
Fluff with fork and serve.

With the faux sofritas I made a burrito bowl, cilantro-lime rice on bottom covered in sofritas, shredded cheddar, fresh spinach and an extra scoop of green chilies. R served up some soft tacos and we both closed our eyes and imagined we were in the concrete and corrugated metal decorated restaurant on 29th street in Boulder. It was delicious and satisfying even it it was faux-potle and we will definitely be keeping this recipe handy for when the craving strikes again.