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Mofongo with Quorn Cutlets or Vegetables

August 8, 2011 by Leave a Comment

Living in Puerto Rico on a day-to-day basis can be a culinary challenge if you are a vegetarian. Some of my family members like my father, think that cooking vegetarian means cooking without any flavor. A few years ago as I started to cook vegetarian meals, I decided I wanted to make more Puerto Rican inspired dishes with a vegetarian twist.

Mofongo is usually made by deep frying pieces of plantain, putting them in a large mortar and pistel with a pork rinds, garlic, salt, pepper, and bacon oil or olive oil. You mash the mixture until all pieces are combined.

Puerto Rican Pilon given to me by my Grandmother

 

Since this is VegLatino, I of course decided to make an alternative to frying. I boiled the plantain which some would consider closer to making Domincan Mangu.

Here is my recipe for Mofongo with Quorn Cutlet Veggie Mojo. This recipe is for two people.

Ingredients:

One large White Onion in slices

1 small garlic clove. (Too much garlic in the mofongo might be a bit much so add to your taste)

2 Large plantains

1 8 oz can of tomato sauce

1 tablespoon of Sofrito (homemade is the best because store bought might contain animal by-product.)

Sea Salt and Pepper to taste

2 Quorn Cutlets or a bag of mixed of Vegetables. Basically any veggies you have in the refrigerator fresh or frozen.

Olive Oil

Oregano

1 packet of Sazon (any brand w/w/out annatto coloring and free of animal by product)

Mofongo:

Peel the plantains, cut into pieces, and put them to boil in a quart-pot filled water. Add a pinch of sea salt. You will boil these until fork tender.

Once fork tender put them in a mortar, tupperware, or glassbowl. Add salt, pepper, olive oil and the ½ clove of garlic that you will mince. Start mashing the mixture incorporating more olive oil as the plantain will soak up the olive oil you started with. I usually take a measuring cup, fill it with mofongo, as it molds to the cup, flip it on to a plate, and tap it out. You can also buy individual small mortars, mash the mofongo individually, and fill with mojo.

Taste for more sea salt and pepper if needed. Serve with your veggie mojo!

Mojo:

Add olive oil to the pan on medium heat. Add sofrito and cook for about a minute. Add the onion slices and cook those until they become translucent. Add sea salt, pepper, oregano, and sazon packet. Add in the mixed veggies or the Quorn cutlets and sautee. Incorporate the tomato sauce and let it simmer. Check veggies or Quorn cutlets until they are fork tender.

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You can serve the mojo on the side of your mofongo or mold out the mofongo and insert into the mofong0.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Filed Under: Puerto Rican, Recipes, Vegan, Vegetarian Tagged With: , , ,

Chayote Relleno

June 27, 2011 by 2 Comments

Today I decided that I was going to make Chayote Relleno. The first time I had chayote, I put sugar and tons of butter on it because it didn’t tast like anything to me. My mom put salt, pepper, and olive oil. Here is a bit more information about what Chayote is and the various ways you can prepare it.

When you look for it at the supermarket, look in the Spanish vegetable section. It should be white or green in color and look like a pear with ridges.

Chayote, Quinoa, Pink Beans

I had bought chayote recently and wanted to have it filled with vegetables and not processed soy protein. So that is exactly what I had for dinner today.

Cooking Chayote is simple; cut it in half, season some water with salt, and boil. I don’t peal the skin because the chayote will become soft enough to eat the entire thing. After it is fork tender, I cut out a hole in the middle extracting the pit. You can do a mojo isleño with onions and fill it as well.

After it was cooked I seasoned with some olive oil and sprinkle of pepper. I added cheese, cooked veggies (broccoli, cauliflower, carrots), sauce, and topped with cheese. I know I should have omitted the cheese to make it a vegan dish. I put it in the toaster oven at 400 degrees for ten minutes or until the cheese melted. You can also make a mojo isleño with onions as a filler.

You can not get any easier than that for dinner. I also made quinoa and pink beans. I have to say that the meal was healthy and excellent. For those who are vegan, omit the cheese.

Filed Under: Entrées, Puerto Rican, Vegan, Vegetarian Tagged With: , , , ,

El Sancocho Veggie with @Gardein Homestyle Beefless Tips

April 28, 2011 by 1 Comment

Pre-Packaged Root Vegetables

El Sancocho Prieto o wait I mean Sancocho Veggie, or Puerto Rican root vegetable stew, is something that many of us love to eat and reminds us of our moms or abuelas. It is also something that in my family  we would eat the night before Thanksgiving or Christmas Eve.

The Sancocho that many of us are used to eating also has proteins which go against being a vegan or vegetarian. Take out the proteins, add @Gardein Homestyle Beefless Tips, and you have a savory vegetarian hearty stew.

What goes into Sancocho? I know my mom would put whatever root vegetable she could find during the different seasons in Connecticut. Know you can find ready-made bags of all sorts of roots vegetables, peeled, cut, and ready to dump in your pot! No more taking the spoon to open up the platanos or guineos.

I asked my friends and family members what root vegetable / vegetable they add to their sancocho. Here is what they said:

Yazmin: Potatoes

Sara:       Corn on the cob

Idalyn: Batata

Carmen: ñame y batata

Yucca Bag at Costco.

Ingredients: (If you go to a Spanish Grocer or look in the Spanish section of where the vegetables are, the names of the root vegetables will more likely be in Spanish and not English)

1 Guineo Verde

1 Platano

1 Corn on the cob sliced

These root vegetables will be cubed into chunks like the picture of the ready-prepped package. Purchase one of each or omit whatever root vegetable you don’t want to try. All of these are dry and tasteless with the exception of Batata which has a sweet taste.

1 Yautia

1 Yucca

1 Malanga

1 Potato cubed

1 Batata

1 Calabaza (not the one used for Halloween. Purchase a small chunk from the grocery store.)

1 ñame

1 Tablespoon Sofrito (onion, tomato, garlic, green pepper, cilantro pureed)

1 tablespoon of Tomato paste or 8oz can of Tomato Sauce

Salt and Pepper to taste

1 packet of Sazon con Ajo

1 vegetable bullion cube (Note: This is a vegan/vegetarian recipe so don’t use chicken or beef cullion cubes)

Deep Stew pot

6 cups of Water  (Enough to cover the vegetables. Also depends on how deep your pot is and how much root vegetable you purchased and cut.)

2 tablespoon of Olive Oil

1 Bay leaf

Instructions:

Here is where you can save time with the pre-peeled and cut root vegetables and put everything in the pot.

Peel and cut all of the root vegetables into cubes except for the corn, green banana, and plantain. Those will obviously be cut into circles.

Add the olive oil to the deep stew pot on medium heat, sautee the sofrito and @Gardein Homestyle Beefless Tips. These should brown for at least 3-4 minutes according to the package. Add Sazon con Ajo packet and the vegetable buillon cube.

Add water to cover over the root vegetables and add the tomato paste or sauce. Stir until the tomato paste or sauce is completely dissolved and incorporated into the water.

By this time, the vegetable cube should have dissolved and you will add Salt and Pepper to taste.

You will add the pre-packaged root vegetables or the ones you cut. If you think that there is too much root vegetable, save some in a baggie and freeze.

Add the bay leaf and bring to a boil, then down to a simmer. Cooking time is about an hour or until all the root vegetables are fork tender.

What Root Vegetables are your Favorite in Sancocho?

Disclosure: We where given products by Gardein in appreciation from one of our previous posts on their great products. Even though part of the ingredients (beefless tips) where provided by @Gardein we don’t feel that this influenced the writing of this post in any way.

Filed Under: Puerto Rican, Recipes, Soups and Stews, Vegan, Vegetarian Tagged With: , , ,

Arroz con Quorn Naked Chik’n Cutlet Jardinero

March 31, 2011 by 1 Comment

 

I decided to try the Quorn Naked Chik’n Cutlet combined with rice. Puerto Rican’s have a dish that is compromised of rice and a protein mixed into the rice. So I decided that I was going to make this dish with the leftover barbecue mycoprotein cutlet from Quorn I had made the night before. This particular product is not pre-flavored so marinating it is a must. For those who are vegan, the product does contain egg. You can subsitute by marinating tofu or seitan.

I had previously marinated the Naked Chik’n Cutlet in olive oil, limejuice, salt, and pepper. At the end of cooking the Naked Chik’n Cutlet, I added barbecue sauce. For those who are vegan, you can use tofu or seitan and marinade.

Besides the Naked Chik’n Cutlet, I added a medley of frozen vegetables that included corn, green beans, green peas, and carrots. So I made a combination Arroz with the Naked Chik’n Cutlet Jardinero.

Ingredients

1 Quorn Naked Chik’n Cutlet diced or ½ cup of Quorn Chik’n Tenders
1 Cup of Mixed frozen vegetables (peas, green beans, carrots, corn)
2 tablespoons of Olive Oil
1 tablespoon of Sofrito (puree of onion, tomatoe, green pepper, cilantro salt & pepper)
1 cup of rice (brown will take longer than white)
½ teaspoon of Salt
Pinch of Pepper
½ teaspoon of Curry (for color or use 1 packet of Sazon with Annatto )
2 ¼ cups of water (you know you have enough water if you insert a spoon in the pot and it stands straight up my mom’s trick)

Directions

In a medium saucepan on medium heat, add the olive oil. When the olive oil heats up, put in the sofrito and let it cook for a minute. Add the diced Naked Chik’n Cutlet or tenders, mixed vegetables, salt, pepper, curry or Sazon with Annatto. Sautee all the ingredients till you see the vegetables get tender.

Add the Rice. Now here is where different cooks will sauté the rice with vegetables and then add water. Others will add the water, let it boil, then add the rice. It is really your preference. Once you add the water, it should cover the rice and vegetables. Again if you use the spoon test, it should stand straight up and not tilt over.
Cover the rice on medium heat and once you see the water starting to evaporate, mix the rice from the bottom to the top to ensure even cooking. Put the rice on low and cover again. You want the rice to be tender once you taste it. Because you have added other ingredients that are not meat based, the rice should be the main ingredient you want to cook. I usually will follow the rice cooking instructions on the packet.

Once the rice is tender you can serve it with beans and gravy and other vegetables.

Will you try this recipe with this product? What would you modify in the recipe?

Let us know how it comes out.

Filed Under: Puerto Rican, Recipes, Vegetarian Tagged With: , ,

Gardein Pinchos ala Beefless Home-Style Tips

March 22, 2011 by 1 Comment

It had been a long time since my partner had eaten a kebob aka known as food on a stick. Although the kebobs made in most countries look very different than the pinchos we are used to in Puerto Rico, the main ingredient is protein. We decided to do a kebob with vegetables and Gardein Home-Style Beefless Tips. The Gardein site has a kebob recipe but I decided to do my own.

I did not use the entire packet and decided to make about eight kebobs or pinchos with two beefless tips on each. Any vegetable goes with kebobs but we decided to use tomatoes, mushrooms, and onions. Depending on how big you buy the mushrooms, you can use a whole mushroom or half. I bought baby portabella mushrooms and used a whole mushroom. You can use grape tomatoes or campari tomatoes halved.

Ingredients

Wooden or Metal Skewers (If using wooden skewers pre-soak in water)
Any Vegetables you like but we used the following:
10 Baby Portabella Mushrooms whole
Tomatoes Grape or Campari
1 Large Onion cut into large pieces
Gardein Home-Style Beefless Tips
Adobo to taste
Pepper to taste
¼ cup of Olive Oil
¼ cup of Freshly squeezed Lime juice
Cooking Brush
BBQ (Whatever Kind you like)

Instructions:

Marinade the mushrooms and Gardein Beefless Tips for at least 20 minutes by mixing the olive oil, lime juice, adobo, pepper, and pouring it over the ingredients. I found that marinating these two absorbed full flavor of the beefless tips and mushrooms.

Start a assembling the items on your skewers but making sure you have room at the bottom to turn them over. Once they are assembled, line them up on a grill or on a baking sheet in your oven and set to broil.

I put these in my oven to broil and was constantly turning them. When you start seeing the vegetables cook, brush on the barbecue sauce of your choice. These won’t take too long to cook because there is not meet. Just wait for the vegetables to brown. Add a piece of bread at the end of the pinchos to soak up the excess barbecue sauce.

Disclosure: We where given products by Gardein in appreciation from one of our previous posts on their great products. Even though part of the ingredients (beefless tips) where provided by @Gardein we don’t feel that this influenced the writing of this post in any way.

Filed Under: Puerto Rican, Recipes, Sabroso Saturday, Vegetarian Tagged With: , , , , ,

Arroz con Cebolla

February 28, 2011 by 2 Comments

Arroz con Cebolla

I love making “arroz con cebolla”. It is one of those rice dishes that I could eat all the time. I try to eat as little rice as I can but this is certainly a personal favorite. Check out my recipe for “arroz con cebolla” at Nibbledish.

Ingredients

  • 1 cup of finely diced onions
  • 1 teaspoon of finely chopped garlic
  • 1 tablespoon of olive oil
  • 1/4 teaspoon of salt
  • 1 teaspoon of Goya Adobo without pepper (http://www.goya.com/english/product_subcategory/Condiments/Adobo)
  • 2 cups of long grain rice
  • 1 can of onion soup
  • water

How to make Rice with Onions (Arroz con Cebolla)

  1. In a pot heat olive oil.
  2. When oil is hot add the onions and garlic.
  3. When onion starts to look translucent add salt and adobo.
  4. Turn the heat off and add rice. Mix well so that rice gets coated with the oil in that pan.
  5. In another bowl add the onion soup -whatever size you have is ok- and add enough water to make it to 4 cups of liquid.
  6. Add the 4 cups of liquid to the rice and mix, but not too much. You don’t want to release too much starch.
  7. Turn the heat on and wait until it boild.
  8. Reduce to simmer and cover. Let it cook for about 20 minutes or until liquid is absorbed.
  9. Enjoy!
Filed Under: Diabetic Friendly, Puerto Rican, Recipes Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , ,

Canoas with Vege-Burger

February 26, 2011 by 2 Comments

This #SabrosoSaturday we bring you a sweet and savory treat all in one. I think this is the quickest entrée you can make using a microwave, a ripe sweet plantain, butter, and soy crumbles. You can make the canoa in the oven but it will take a little longer. Canoa in Spanish means canoe. The first time someone suggested I make my partner this dish, I had never eaten or even heard of a canoa before.

For those who don’t know what a canoa is, it is a sweet plantain split down the middle and filled with protein. Since this is VegLatino, I used Worthington Loma Linda Vege-Burger products as the filler. The good thing about this product is that you don’t have to drain any fat since it is not meat. You can use this in lasagna, tacos, or even stuffed cabbage. You can make this as a sweet dish but I prefer to make it with a tomatoe-based filler. All of my recipes are for two people because for the time being there are only two of us who eat. I have yet to make a canoa for JuanGa or Daniela, our two-month old daughter.

 

Ingredients

2 Ripe Plantains

1 small onion

½ green pepper

½ head of garlic finely diced

1 tomatoe chopped

Half spoon of capers

1/2 can of Vege-Burger (soy product)

¼ tsp of Salt

¼ Pepper

Pinch of Oregano

2 tablespoons of butter

1 tablespoon of olive oil

1 8oz can of Tomatoe Sauce

1 cup of water

Soy or Regular shredded Mozzarella cheese

Instructions for Microwave Cooking

In a sauté pan heat the olive oil on medium. Finely dice the garlic. Chop the onion, tomatoe, and green pepper. Add the capers. Sauté the vegetables and add the Vege- Burger; break it up with your cooking spoon. Add the salt, pepper, and oregano. Add the tomatoe sauce, water, and simmer all the ingredients. Taste for seasoning and cook for about 10 to 15 minutes.

Take the two plantains and cut the tips. Leave the skin on and cut the plantain from end to end with out splitting the plantain into two separate halves. Place in a microwave safe dish for five minutes. Start to cook the plantains and depending on how ripe the plantains are you will see how quickly the plantains will start to open.

At the two-minute mark stop the microwave and take them out of the microwave. Be careful because they will be hot. Use the butter to coat the inside of the plantain. Separate the skin a little to coat the outside of the plantain with the rest of the butter. Put the plantains back into the microwave and watch for the plantains to get softer and split completely. Take them out of the microwave and carefully remove the skins. Add the soy filling down the middle and top with the shredded cheese.

Total cooking time is about 25 minutes.

Attribution Photo Credit by Evil Jess

Filed Under: Entrées, Puerto Rican, Recipes, Sabroso Saturday, Vegan, Vegetarian Tagged With: , ,

Vegetarian Piñon by @wilobenet

February 5, 2011 by 4 Comments

To kick off our First Vegetarian Friendly Sabroso Saturday (#SabrosoSaturday) we want to share a Puerto Rican Classic improved to be Vegetarian by whom I consider to be Puerto Rico’s most talented Chef Wilo Benet.

Piñón

Ripe Plantain and Soy Ground Meat “Lasagne”

Serves 6

Ingredients:

4 ounces steamed green beans, cut into pieces

vegetable oil for frying

6 ripe plantains, peeled

4 cups picadillo (recipe below.)

1 tablespoon olive oil

6 eggs, beaten (If ovo vegetarian substitute by egg substitute)

Steps

1. Preheat the oven to 300°F. In a frying pan, heat about 2 inches of vegetable oil to 350°F. Slice the plantains lengthwise into quarters. Add to the hot oil, in batches, and fry for about 4 minutes until golden on both sides. Remove from the oil, and set aside to drain on paper towels.

2. In a bowl, combine the picadillo with the green beans, mix well, and set aside.

3. Prepare the piñón: Oil the bottom and sides of a 7” x 11” baking dish with the olive oil.

Arrange a layer of the fried plantain slices on the bottom of the baking dish. (You may have to cut some plantain slices into smaller pieces to fill in any empty spaces). Press down with your hands. Add the picadillo mixture on top and spread into an even layer. Pour ¾ of the beaten eggs over the layer of meat, and prick the surface of the meat with a fork so that it absorbs the egg. (The egg holds the piñón together for even slicing). Arrange a layer of the remaining plantain slices on top (You may have to cut some plantain slices into smaller pieces to fill in any empty spaces). Pour in the remaining eggs over the plantains, and with a rubber spatula spread into a thin layer.

4. Place the piñón in the oven, and bake for about 40 minutes, until the egg has cooked, the meat is heated through, and the surface of the piñón is golden and springy to the touch.

5. Remove the piñón from the oven, slice as you would a lasagne, and serve.

Picadillo

Ingredients:

3 tbsp. olive oil

½ cup sofrito

½ small onion chopped

1 cubanelle pepper chopped

½ cup of Goya spanish tomato sauce

3 cups of ground soy meat already reconstituted

½ cup slivered almonds

1 tsp. of adobo

3 tbsp. of chopped cilantro

Steps

  1. In a skillet at medium to high temperature heat the oil and stir in the, sofrito, onions and peppers. Stir occasionally until the onions are translucent.
  2. Add the soy meat, tomato sauce, almonds, adobo and cilantro and continue cooking in medium temperature until all the flavors are all well incorporated and the excess liquid has been evaporated.
  3. Reserve aside for the Piñon.

This Recipe was shared with us by our good friend Wilo Benet. If you would like to see more of Wilo’s Recipes which can be modified to vegetarian feel free to buy  his book Puerto Rico True Flavors.

More About Wilo (photo credit – wilobenet.com)

Puerto Rican Chef Wilo Benet is owner of two restaurants, Pikayo – his fine dining and flagship restaurant — opened almost 20 years ago; and Varita a wood-burning rotisserie concept, which craftily places Puerto Rican comfort food front and center. Both restaurants offer menu and personalized vegetarian options.

Benet has redefined Puerto Rican cuisine and in the process has put the Island’s enchanting flavors on display for the whole world to admire.

Benet has participated on the Travel Channel’s “Bizarre Foods with Andrew Zimmern”, appeared as a guest judge on the season finale of the fourth season, and as a contestant in Bravo TV’s new series “Top Chef Masters”, a spinoff of the award-winning show, “Top Chef”.

What other Recipes with Sabor would you like to see?

Filed Under: Entrées, Puerto Rican, Recipes, Sabroso Saturday