Vegetarian Picadillo

Tonight, I didn't try any new recipes. Instead, I revamped a traditional Cuban dish that my family regularly eats. This meant that I had to cook double. One picadillo pan with ground beef for my husband and children, and one picadillo pan for myself using protein crumbles. It was soooo worth it.

I am very excited about the result. So, for any of you other Cubans out there who are now vegetarians, this tasted pretty close to the real thing without the greasiness or aftertaste of beef.

I didn't change anything from the traditional recipe other than that I used the protein crumbles instead of the beef. No...wait...that's not true. My kids accidentally threw out my green bell pepper last night because I left it on the counter, so I used red bell pepper instead for the sofrito. Other than that, it was all the same.

For those of you that may not know, sofrito is kind of like a starter. Many cuban dishes start out with this as the flavor base. Some people like to use a food processor to make it in bulk and freeze it, but I DO NOT think it tastes the same. I prefer to make it fresh every time I cook. Besides it only takes a few minutes to make, and it's not rocket science, after all.

So here's the recipe:

Sofrito Ingredients:
olive oil
5 garlic cloves, minced
1 small onion, diced
1/2 green bell pepper, diced (I used red because I didn't have green, but green is ideal)
1 8 oz can tomato sauce

Other ingredients:
1lb soy protein crumbles
1 packet Sazon Goya sin achiote (if you can't find this at your grocery store, it doesn't matter)
1/2 c. pimento stuffed green olives
1/2 c. raisins
1/2 c. white cooking wine
1/2 c. water
2 bay leaves
salt, to taste
black pepper, to taste
oregano, to taste
cumin, to taste

1. Make the sofrito first. I like to make this in a shallow pan so that everything cooks evenly and quickly. Normally, I would brown the meat first, but since the protein crumbles don't need to be browned, you can start with the sofrito. Saute the garlic, onion, and bell pepper until the onions are translucent and the bell peppers are soft. This will smell amazing! Every time I do this, my kids migrate to the kitchen asking when dinner will be ready.

Be careful not to burn the garlic. If this happens you have to start over because it will be bitter and nasty. Yuck! Make sure you have enough oil so that the garlic doesn't stick. My mom and grandma use a lot more olive oil than I do, but you really only need enough in the pan so that the garlic stays nice and pretty.

Add the tomato sauce and mix. Cook this on high heat until the tomato sauce is reduced and somewhat clumpy. Mix it a few times while it's cooking to make sure that it doesn't burn. You want to keep it in there until it looks like it's about to go all wrong. It will look much drier and thicker than when you started.

2. Add the protein crumbles to the pan and mix with the sofrito.

3. Add the remaining ingredients to the pan and mix well. It should have A LOT of liquid. If it doesn't, you can add more cooking wine or water. (The Sazon Goya packet isn't really necessary if your sofrito is good, but it's a little cheat for getting good flavor quickly. If you can't find it at your grocery store, don't worry about it.)

4. Bring to a boil, mix, then reduce the heat and simmer over low-medium heat for 20 minutes. The liquid will have reduced to a thicker sauce that coats the "meat"

5. Serve over rice. I used brown rice, but picadillo is traditionally served with white rice.

Being able to eat such a typical Cuban dish as a vegetarian was really great for me. I even ate it with a banana on my plate--a very Caribbean thing to do--, just like I used to when I was a kid. I love the sweet and salty flavors of the raisins and olives, and the tangy-ness of the tomato sauce. If you don't fancy raisins, just pick them out afterwards, but definitely don't omit them all together. It would change the flavors too much and the saltiness of the olives would dominate the dish.

I was so happy with my dish that I ate it all before realizing that I hadn't taken a picture...which is why, the picture above is of my leftovers container that I am totally taking to work for lunch tomorrow.

I only have one last thing to say about this recipe. I love that you only have to get one pan dirty. Well, two if you count the pot for the rice.

Enjoy!