My original thinking was that I had some leftover cabbage from another recipe I had made and so I wanted to find a way to get rid of it (like a chef

) by using it instead of throwing it out.

Just show me da recipe brah

Aight so boom

My one vegan friend posted about a dish she made wit “walnut meat.” And I was like you know what that’s dope Ima have to try that. Then not too long after I had found a post at the time that had ideas for meat substitutes that weren’t some processed company version. And one of the them was walnuts. So I was like “aight this a sign fr I gotta do this.” So I decided I would make a taco that would involve both the cabbage and the walnuts.

I looked up ways people prepared walnuts and most of what I was found was just mixing with an oil or liquid and putting it in the food processor. I decided I would do this too and add my own spices. I added some spices that reminded me of taco seasoning since that’s what I wanted to make it like. After that I said I wanted to add mushrooms to it.

So I took some sliced mushrooms and started to saute them in a pan. And while i was doing it I realized I didn’t have any vegetable broth, which is something I add to help soften them up. I looked in my fridge and saw that I had coconut aminos and soy sauce. I didn’t want to use the aminos since I had decided to add them to the taco seasoning blended with the walnuts. So I opted for the soy sauce.

Now y’all know I’m not a proponent of soy in general, and I tend to avoid it. But this was leftover from before I started buying liquid aminos. So bear wit me aight.

https://giphy.com/gifs/music-video-pGT51aikNjCVy

Now that I got that politically correct explanation over. I added the SOY SAUCE AND THE MAGIC BEGAN!!!! Cuz my MF brain was thinking.

I was like “lemme create some real spicy shxt.” Because *spoiler alert* by the time you read this I may or may not have posted a “reaction video” on my IG (@vegan_shxt if you not following already) of a friend of mine trying my food for the first time. Now, he let his wife try it after that and he gave me some feedback. Which I appreciate because that’s the only way to get better. So he made the comment that she liked it except for the sauce. And I was like “Excuse me.”

Now if there’s any part of my cooking I take the most pride in it’s always the sauce. So he told me that she would have liked it if it was spicy. So I was like “ight bet. I like spicy shxt.” So I bopped my way to the kitchen cuz if y’all don’t know I be vibin in the kitchen.

So I grabbed the….SRIRACHA.

Idk what y’all do but if I wanna make some shxt spicy I hop straight to sriracha and pull that thang out.

So after the mushrooms started to cook a little and soften up I started dripping them thangs in sauce like they was finna be featured in a Future music video. I made sure this was finna be spicy. But I also wanted a subtle sweetness to take a lil bit of flame off it. But that’s optional, you can skip the sweetness to make it all the way spicy. Then I carmelized some red onions in salt, pepper, chili powder, and smoked paprika. Wanted it to add to the spicy a bit.

BUT…..

This is where the greatest part of the creation comes in. You see I still had the red cabbage. And when I went to the store I decided I wanted to pick up some other fresh vegetables. So I grabbed some sweet orange peppers, cilantro, and carrots. So I had the idea that I would not Quavo, not Takeoff, but Offset the heat naturally with the raw vegetables.

“MY NXGGA, I’M A MF’N COOKING GENIUS” is what I text my cuzzo. I knew I just came up with some heat. So I took the bowl with the raw cabbage, added the sliced peppers, added the chopped cilantro, and lastly added the grated carrots. I also had picked up some serrano peppers and added them. You ain’t gotta do that but if you want to add a little heat on the veggie side you can do that. And that was it!

So once I settled on the name I went immediately to go write it down just to make sure I didn’t forget the recipe and get all the ingredients out my head. But then I just kept goin and it evolved to where I’m writing it now. This how hype I was.

I was writing for so long I got hungry and was mad because I thought I ate all my food already. Then I surprised myself when I saw my tacos still out there waitin for me. I looked at em like:

So bringing it all together the idea is that half the ingredients are primarily focused on being spicy as shxt and the other half is to cool it down and you have the freedom to tweak and add to it in order to customize it to your liking that’s why they called 50/50 tacos. In my head I’m imagining a dial that you tune to your level of spiciness depending on what you want to add to it. The recipe I gave (minus the serrano peppers) is my idea of what 50/50 is. But because we all have different tastes buds the goal is for YOU to create what your version of what a 50/50 taco is based on what’s added to it.

Here’s some suggestions of ingredients you can add to either spice it up or cool it down:

Chill fam (Cooler)	A lil bit mo spicy (Hotter)
Tomatoes	Jalapenos
Kale/Lettuce	Hot Sauce (Red Hot or Crystal only lmao)
Cucumbers	Red Pepper Flakes
Lime/Lemon juice	Ginger

You can also tweak the amounts of the current ingredients added to create your version. That’s the artistic side of cooking I like. Not necessarily the aesthetics that you may traditionally think about when you think art. Remember how older people always tell you “ain’t always about looks, it’s about personality too.” So yeah, it’s more the ability to create a unique flavor or taste of a dish based on your choices of ingredients. There’s no limits.

So now it’s time to get to the part y’all been really waiting for.

It’s coming.

But I want to say thank you to anyone who read this from top to BOTTOM I want to say I really appreciate you because this is personally a big moment for me. I’ve always wondered how people come up with original recipes and felt like it was a daunting task that’d be hard as hell for me to achieve. So to do something like this is like a personal milestone for me. And so you being a part of it by reading this post means a lot to me whether you know it or not. If you reading this if you don’t mind go back to IG page (@vegan_shxt) and just leave a comment on the recipe post about what you thought of this. That shxt would be dope and I’d appreciate it!

Aight so enough of that shxt. Here’s the complete recipe with measurements.

Recipe

Ingredients

• 1 tablespoon coconut aminos
• 1 tablespoon avocado oil
• 1 cup walnuts
• 4 tablespoons avocado oil
• Salt 
• Pepper
• Smoked paprika 
• Chili powder
• 1 teaspoon liquid smoke
• 1/2 cup of sliced mushrooms 
• 1/2 or 1 red onion (depending on how much you want)
• 2 tablespoons sriracha
• Salt 
• Pepper
• Seasoned salt
• 1 teaspoon agave or maple syrup
• 1/2 cup red cabbage
• 2 grated carrots
• 1/4 cup chopped cilantro
• Peppers (any kind that’s not hot)
• tortillas

Instructions

1. Cut the red cabbage in quarters and then chop. Place cabbage into a medium sized bowl.
2. Wash and peel carrots and grate them into the same bowl as the cabbage.
3. Dice the peppers and add them to the bowl of fresh veggies and set aside.
4. Slice the mushrooms (if necessary) and set aside.
5. In a medium pan add avocado oil (or choice of vegetable oil) and then begin to saute the sliced mushrooms in the pan.
6. While the mushrooms are cooking, slice the red onion. Add the remaining two tablespoons of avocado oil to another pan (enough to keep them from burning) and then add the red onions.
7. Season the onions with salt, pepper, chili powder and smoked paprika. Let cook until they caramelize.
8. While onions are cooking add sriracha, agave or maple syrup, salt, and pepper to the mushrooms and let cook until they caramelize. (can adjust amounts depending on your preference)
9. While onions and mushrooms are cooking add walnuts, liquid smoke, aminos, 1 tablespoon of avocado oil, and seasoned salt to food processor and blend until walnuts are crushed and look “meat-like.”
10. Warm the tortillas in the oven
11. Combine the ingredients (to your liking) on the taco with one side having the “hot” ingredients and the other side having the “cool” ingredients.”
12. Eat that shxt!

Got cho ass lmaooo

Trust me on this you’ll enjoy it.

Damn if you made it this far then congratulations you figured out the hint I left in the post. Now you probably wondering…what was the point in putting that hint there or “I hope this nxgga not about to make a dumbass confession.”

WELL YEAH NXGGA I AM.

That’s not the real name of the tacos. I’m high key an anime fan. So when I was making the tacos and a name came to me it was really this…

If you don’t watch anime and don’t know who that is I’ll make it simple. His hero name is “1/2 Hot , 1/2 Cold” I ain’t finna explain that. But that’s the inspiration for the actual name of the recipe. But because I’m an official business now I’m just playing safe with it. But it’s true unofficial name is the “1/2 Hot, 1/2 Cold Taco” where you create your own level of equilibrium.

I appreciate you for reading.