recipe: vegan pastelon
where are my sweet & salty lovers at?
Pastelón is a Puerto Rican dish popular in other Caribbean countries such as Cuba, Dominican Republic, and Venezuela. It's made with layers of ripe, sweet plantains alternating with layers of picadillo and cheese. The dish comes together like a lasagna. Once you try this recipe, it will become a staple in your kitchen.
This vegan version of Pastelón, Puerto Rican lasagna, is made with ground cauliflower and mushrooms to replace the meat and smothered in a rich sofrito sauce and loads of vegan cheese. The result is layers of delicious flavors that will have you coming back for seconds!
The star of the dish is ripe plantains. In most versions of this dish, you fry and layer the ripe plantains. In my interpretation, I boiled and mashed the ripe plantains. I used two layers of sweet plantain in my pastelon recipe with one layer of picadillo in the middle. Many recipes for pastelon call for three layers of plantain and two layers of filling. Just remember, you can change it up and make it your own according to your preference.
SWEET PLANTAINS- For this recipe, you want super-ripe yellow plantains (reference picture above). Plantains are ripe when their yellow peel is dotted with black spots. The darker they are, the sweeter the plantain. This is essential to achieve the sweet and salty combination of this dish.
PICADILLO- I swapped ground beef for minced cauliflower and mushrooms.
SUBSITUTIONS- You can take out the mushrooms and do a whole head of cauliflower, 16oz mushrooms instead of cauliflower, 16oz can of lentils, plant-based alternative for ground beef, textured vegetable protein, crumbled tofu, or crumbled tempeh.
SOFRITO- Sofrito is a flavor base of onions, garlic, cumin, salt, olive oil, and green pepper.
CHEESE- In non-vegan recipes, Pastelon calls for mozzarella. We are using the vegan alternative, and my favorite is Follow Your Heart.
SUBSITUTIONS- create your own vegan liquid mozzarella or vegan bechamel.
INGREDIENTS:
3 ripe plantains
½ head of cauliflower
4 oz mushrooms
1 green bell pepper, quartered
1 medium-sized yellow onion, quartered
6 garlic cloves
2 tbsp tomato paste
¼ cup Spanish olives (optional), diced
¼ c. olive oil
16 oz Follow Your Heart mozzarella
Spices: adobo, cumin, salt, and pepper
DIRECTIONS:
Start by putting a pot of water to a boil—Preheat the oven to 375F. In a food processor, chop the cauliflower and mushrooms set them to the side. Wipe out the food processor, and add the green bell pepper, onion, garlic, 1-2 tsp cumin, olive oil, and salt, set to the side. Peel and chop your plantains, set to the side.
Once the water is boiling, throw in the plantains cook until soft. On a medium-sized pan, add the sofrito and cook on medium-low until fragrant. Add the tomato paste, 1 tbsp adobo, and stir to combine. Add the cauliflower mushroom mixture and olives stir to mix. Cover and let it simmer for 10 minutes.
Mash your plantains with a bit of butter (optional but tasty) and add a bit of salt. Once the picadillo is ready, begin to layer.
In an 8” square baking dish:
First layer mashed plantains
Second layer picadillo
Third layer ½ bag of cheese
Fourth layer mashed plantains
Fifth layer remainder cheese
Bake for 20-30 minutes. You want the cheese to be completely melted and golden brown on top.
