Vegetarian-izing (or Vegan-izing) Filipino Food - Dish #1

When I was growing up, my mom was the one who cooked the food for our family.  On days when she wanted to make something quick and easy, she'd cook giniling (also known as picadillo) using ground beef, potatoes and green peas.  If there was any extra giniling left in the morning, she'd use it to make tortang carne (beef omelette) for breakfast.  This was one of my favorite breakfasts when I was little.
Flash forward to the present, and, as a vegetarian striving to reach vegan status, I wondered if I could re-create Filipino dishes so that they're vegetarian or vegan.  First thing I did was look for a Filipino cookbook, which my sister was happy to lend to me.  It's a super old book titled Filipino Cooking Abroad by Eleanor Laquian and Irene Sobrevinas.  I wasn't even born yet when this book was published! (FYI - It was published in 1977.) It's a wonderful read though because it has great sections on the history of Filipino food and descriptions of food based on region.
So the first Filipino dish I thought I could vegetarian-ize was tortang carne.  I used the tortang carne recipe from the cookbook and substituted the ground beef with Worthington Vegetarian Burger and the eggs using a vegan omelette recipe I found on FatFree Vegan Kitchen blog.  I could have easily made this dish vegan using vegan ground beef, but I wanted to try the Worthington product just to see how it will taste.  Simply Food has a whole section dedicated to Worthington products.

When it comes out of the can, I highly recommend breaking the beef down using a fork.  Once you do this, you'll notice it really looks like ground beef.  Although the can says I can just heat it and serve, I treated it as if it was uncooked ground beef and thus did not change anything in the original recipe.   

After I was done prepping the carne, I put it in the fridge to cool.  While it was cooling, I started working on the egg substitute for the dish.  The vegan omelette recipe called for tahini which I have only heard of in hummus recipes.  I've never actually used this ingredient before.  In fact, my boyfriend and I were at the spices section of Micronesia Mall Pay-Less for what seemed like an eternity looking for some McCormick spice labeled "tahini" because I thought it was some type of grounded spice.  Little did I know it was in the organic section and it's actually a kind of paste!  Every time I cook, I learn something new.  

I went with Joyva Sesame Tahini because it looked like it had a decent amount of tahini that would last me a long time. When you open it up, make sure to stir it well before using.  Making the vegan egg mixture was quite easy and by the time I was done, the giniling was already done cooling.  I poured the vegan egg mixture in with the giniling, stirred, turned on my stove, and started cooking.

  

I recommend making the torta the size of your spatula so that it's easier for you to flip when the bottom side is nice and brown.  Because the original recipe called for large sized tortas (I'm assuming they had big spatulas), I'm not sure how many servings my method makes.  I do know that you can always store the left over giniling-egg mixture in the fridge until you're ready to cook more tortas, which was is what I did.

When my family tried them, they thought it tasted pretty good.  In fact, my dad couldn't even believe I didn't use eggs as an ingredient.  I recommend eating tortang carne with a scoop of hot rice and a side of ketchup, just like how my momma taught me.         

  

Tortang Carne

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 pound vegetarian (or vegan) ground beef

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 medium onion, diced

2 tomatoes, diced

2 medium potatoes, pared and diced

1 teaspoon minced or dried parsley

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon pepper

1 cup water

1/4 teaspoon sugar

cooking spray

VEGAN EGG OMELETTE MIXTURE

24 ounces soft tofu

4 tablespoons almond milk (or soy milk)

4 tablespoons nutritional yeast

4 tablespoons cornstarch

4 teaspoons tahini

1/2 teaspoon tumeric

1/2 teaspoon salt

Saute garlic, onion and tomatoes in 1 tablespoon oil on medium heat.  Add beef and stir until brown.  Season with salt, pepper and sugar.  Add parsley, potatoes and 1 cup of water.  Cook covered for 15 minutes or until potatoes are tender and most of the water has evaporated.  Let cool in refrigerator.

While the meat mixture is cooling, make the egg mixture.  Combine all vegan egg omelette mixture ingredients in a blender or food process until smooth.  

When the meat mixture is cool, combine it with the egg mixture.  Wash and dry your skillet (or use another one) and spray the bottom of the pan with cooking spray.  Pour in a scoop of the egg-meat mixture the size of your spatula and let it cook undisturbed for 3-4 minutes over medium heat.  Loosen sides with spatula and flip it over to cook the other side.  Cook 3-4 minutes more.  Transfer to serving plate.