Why Vegan Ricans?

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Vegans because we don't need dead animal flesh inside our bodies it depletes our vitality, our mental powers and make us feel exhausted. We don't want to support factory farms and their unnecessary process of killing millions of animals for food. "Ricans" because we're native Puerto Ricans people who were born and raised in the Caribbean island, Puerto Rico "La isla del Encanto" which means "The Island of Enchantment".

Saturday, November 22, 2008

Vegan "Pastelon" Ripe Plantain Casserole w/ soy meat

Another classical Puerto Rican dish!!!
This recipe is usually made with ground beef and cheddar cheese. The dish is also very popular in Dominican Republic and Cuba. Plantains grow best in regions with tropical climates and warm temperatures. They are a good source of potassium and vitamins A and C, high in fiber and carbohydrates. You can find them in different colors: green, yellow or black.










Recipe: 6 to 8 portions
If you don't find black plantains in the grocery store buy them green and wait until they turned black...

3 ripe plantains
8 oz- ground soy meat
1 green pepper
1 red pepper
1/2 red chili pepper
1 onion
2 garlic cloves
8 button mushrooms
2 pinch saffron
1/4 tsp cummin
salt and pepper to taste
2 tbsp butter (Earth Balance)
1 tbsp Smart Balance oil

"Cheese" Sauce
1/2 cup Nutritional Yeast powder
1/2 tsp dehydrated onions
1/4 tsp chili powder
1 tbsp-dill
1/2 cup water
salt and pepper to taste
*mix all the ingredients and blend them...

egg replacer (1/2 tbsp w/ 2 1/2 tbsp water)


Preheat the oven 350'

Heat oil and butter in a shallow pan, add veggies and sauté for 3 to 5 minutes...
Add soy meat and saffron to the mixture of veggies, stir to cook them uniformly until the meat is ready to serve...

Peel the ripe plantains, cut them into long slices,
Layer a round baking pan with half of the ripe plantains, add the soy meat then the egg replacer and cover with the remaining ripe plantains, add the nutritional yeast sauce. yum!!!

Put the baking pan in the oven.... bake for a few minutes until golden brown...

14 comments:

Anonymous said...

Watching the video made me hungry! I love plantains and I'll definitely try this dish.

BTW great blog - I'll be coming back soon.

Bethany said...

wow. you make such amazing food.

Anonymous said...

Me encanta el concepto, Me encanto la receta, Les deseo exito... se que lo van a lograr
Love & kisses

Eileen-Puerto Rico

Anonymous said...

GRACIAS! I am Cubana and have been vegetarian for 6 months now. So excited to see latin based veggie dishes!

Heidi Leon Monges said...

wow this looks so yummie but sabroso and very latino and VEGAN!! omg...
aunque yo no soy vegan y/o vegetariana no como carne y este anio mi meta es dejar los lacteos, tu sitio me viene muy bien como fuente de inspiracion. felicidades

Melody said...

What a great blog!! I'm excited to try some of these. I will be visiting your site often. :)

The Author said...

This looks fabulous! I will be making this next week. Your recipes and your blog is a great resource for rican vegans! If you can come up with a vegan pernil recipe I will be in heaven!!! thanks.

Pedro-Cleveland, OH

Anonymous said...

I was so happy when I found your blog through youtube! It's nice to see more Hispanic vegans like myself. I'm Guatemalan and I love baking/cooking and this recipe is my next challenge!

All of your recipes look delicious!

Anonymous said...

Hi,

Had been looking for some Puerto Rican veg dishes. Very happy to have found your blog and these recipes.

Yum Yum and Yum!

I was born in Chicago but both parents hail from Puerto Rico. I want to incorporate some of our finest veggies into dishes, like the Yucca, Llame, Yautia and others.

I'm also writing a book on the topic. As i think there is great demand for it. I don't have to tell YOU how our food is awesome.

Nice to meet you.

Cheers,
Missy.

elsa said...

delicioso!!!!!

Weltengreif said...

I made this recipe tonight and just wanted to give you a quick feedback. First of all: it was very yummy and will certainly be made again! I was a bit disappointed at first because the final preduct looked nothing like your rather pie-slice-like result. The taste was excellent though because both hearty and sweet. What I found however was that there was far too little of both the egg-replacer mix and the nooch sauce; I would definitely suggest doubling both. The nooch sauce was also a lot thinner than in your video - perhaps some nuts should be blended in as well? I also thought that there could have been a few more mushies in there but that's my personal preference. And I'd suggest buying a fourth plantain to make really thick slices (because they're goooooood...).

Anyways: thanks for sharing the recipe!

noemi said...

are ya'll still checking your blog? I wanted permission to reprint for a vegan recipe zine I'm editing, Sofrito Pa ti. Let me know, noemi.mtz at gmail.

Laura Sofia said...

I'm from PR - living in S.A now - went vegan and two days into this undertaking met a band called Sober Daze from Austin but originally from PR too. we talked about PR ( naturally) and out choice to become vegans and they sent me to this site with love. Its so cool it brings a tear to my eye. thanks guys!

Laura Sofia said...

I'm from PR - living in S.A now - went vegan and two days into this undertaking met a band called Sober Daze from Austin but originally from PR too. we talked about PR ( naturally) and out choice to become vegans and they sent me to this site with love. Its so cool it brings a tear to my eye. thanks guys!