How to have a vegan Mexican brunch party
Turn brunch into a fully fledged fiesta with these vegan recipes by Club Mexicana’s Meriel Armitage
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Your support makes all the difference.Sweetcorn fritters with sour cream, avocado and ‘bacon’
Makes: approximately 10 fritters
Ingredients:
For the corn batter:
500g tinned sweetcorn, drained
500ml plain unsweetened soy/oat/almond milk
250g plain flour
1 tsp salt
1 tsp black pepper
50g fine polenta
1 tbsp baking powder
50g nutritional yeast flakes (optional)
Method:
Combine sweetcorn and milk.
Combine dry ingredients and mix well.
Combine wet and dry ingredients, adding more flour if the mixture is too wet. You want it to be the consistency of cake batter.
Season to taste.
For the sour ‘cream’:
Ingredients:
400ml plain unsweetened plant-based yoghurt
Juice of 1 lemon
Salt to taste
Method:
Whisk all ingredients together.
Add more salt or lemon to taste.
For the toppings:
Ingredients:
Avocado, sliced
Plant-based bacon
½ red onion, thinly sliced
200g coriander, chopped
Your favourite hot sauce
4 tbsp vegetable oil
Method:
Heat oven to 150C.
Heat oil in a large frying pan on a medium/high heat.
When hot add sweetcorn batter. Scoop approximately ¼ cup of the batter and ladle into the pan – you can vary the sizes of these, I like to keep them the size of scotch pancakes.
Cook for about 5-7 mins, or until brown and crispy on the underside, then flip over onto the other side and cook for another 5 mins or so, until they look the same on both sides.
Remove from the pan and put onto kitchen roll to soak up excess oil, dab the tops too.
Repeat process with excess batter.
Put cooked fritters into the oven to keep warm.
In the same pan, heat remaining oil and cook the bacon until crispy on both sides.
Remove from pan and cut into 2cm strips.
To serve:
Remove fritters from the oven, and stack into piles of 2 or 3 on a plate depending on how hungry you are.
Top each pile with 3-4 slices avocado, scatter with bacon, red onion and coriander.
Add hot sauce to taste.
Huevos rancheros with scrambled tofu, black beans and sour cream
Serves: 4
Ingredients:
For the sour ‘cream’:
400ml plain unsweetened plant based yoghurt
Juice of 1 lemon
Salt to taste
Method:
Whisk all ingredients together.
Add more salt or lemon to taste.
For the scrambled tofu:
Ingredients:
1 red onion, finely diced
1 clove garlic, finely diced
400g firm tofu
200g silken tofu
1 tsp turmeric
1 tbsp nutritional yeast flakes
2 tbsp soy sauce/tamari
½ tsp salt
Freshly ground pepper to taste
2 tbsp olive/vegetable oil
Method:
Heat 1 tbsp oil in a large frying pan over a medium heat.
Cook the onion for 5-10 mins until translucent.
Cook the garlic for 1-2 mins, being careful not to burn.
Add turmeric to the onion garlic mix and cook for 30 seconds..
Crumble firm tofu into the pan, breaking up with spoon. Cook, stirring, on a medium-high heat for 10 mins or until browed slightly on all sides and coated with turmeric
Add nutritional yeast, soy sauce, salt and stir to combine with the tofu.
Add silken tofu to pan and stir to combine everything whilst cooking on a medium heat.
Cook until fixed well and it all looks the same colour.
The colour and texture should resemble scrambled egg consistency.
Set aside, reheat if necessary before assembling.
For the black beans:
Ingredients:
1 red onion, finely diced
2 clove garlic, finely diced
1 400g tin black beans, drained, reserving 4 tbsp of tin water
2 tsp smoked paprika
½ tsp cayenne
Salt to taste
1 tbsp olive/vegetable oil
Method:
Heat 1 tbsp oil in a large frying pan over a medium heat.
Cook the onion for 5-10 mins until translucent.
Cook the garlic for 1-2 mins, being careful not to burn.
Add paprika and cayenne and cook for 1 min.
Add beans and tin water.
Cook on a medium heat for 10-15 mins, stirring frequently.
Add more water if they become dry and sticky.
Don’t worry if you mash up the beans a bit, that’s nice.
Taste for salt and add if required.
Set aside, reheat if necessary before assembling.
For the base and toppings:
Ingredients:
8 x corn or flour tortillas (approx 15cm)
Vegetable oil for shallow frying
Avocado, sliced
200g cherry tomatoes, halved or quartered
2 tbsp pickled jalapenos, slices
200g coriander, chopped
Your favourite hot sauce
Method:
Heat oil in a large frying pan on a high heat – enough to cover the bottom, up to about 1 cm.
Fry your tortillas in the pan for about 30 seconds, until browned and crispy, then flip over and do the other side. You’ll need tongs or a fork to avoid bringing your fingers. The key is to get them crispy but not burned.
Remove with slotted spoon and put on kitchen roll to absorb oil, dabbing on both sides.
Repeat process until all tortillas are cooked and draining.
Put 2 on each plate, overlapping in the middle (like a Venn diagram) then top with enough tofu scramble to cover them, whilst leaving some crispy edges.
Top the scramble with black beans, you want about half the amount of black beans to tofu.
Top with 3-4 slices avocado in the centre.
Drizzle sour cream all over.
Scatter with tomatoes, coriander, pickled jalapenos.
Liberally apply hot sauce.
Spicy shakshuka with scrambled tofu and herb salsa
Serves: 4
Ingredients:
For the scrambled tofu:
1 red onion, finely diced
1 clove garlic, finely diced
400g firm tofu
200g silken tofu
1 tsp turmeric
1 tbsp nutritional yeast flakes
2 tbsp soy sauce/tamari
½ tsp salt
Freshly ground pepper to taste
2 tbsp olive/vegetable oil
Method:
Heat 1 tbsp oil in a large frying pan over a medium heat.
Cook the onion for 5-10 mins until translucent.
Cook the garlic for 1-2 mins, being careful not to burn.
Add turmeric to the onion garlic mix and cook for 30 seconds.
Crumble firm tofu into the pan, breaking up with spoon. Cook, stirring, on a medium-high heat for 10 mins or until browed slightly on all sides and coated with turmeric.
Add nutritional yeast, soy sauce, salt and stir to combine with the tofu.
Add silken tofu to pan and stir to combine everything whilst cooking on a medium heat.
Cook until fixed well and it all looks the same colour.
The colour and texture should resemble scrambled egg consistency.
Set aside.
For the tomato sauce:
Ingredients:
1 tbsp olive oil
1 medium onion, diced
1 red pepper, deseeded and sliced in to 1cm x 5cm strips
3 cloves garlic, finely diced
1 red chilli, finely sliced
2 x 400g tinned chopped tomatoes
1 tbsp chipotle in adobo (optional)
1 tsp sugar
1 tbsp ground cumin
1 tbsp smoked paprika
2 tsp chilli flakes, more if you like it extra spicy
Salt and pepper to taste
Method:
Pre-heat grill to max and heat 1 tbsp oil in a large oven proof frying pan over a medium heat.
Cook the onion and red pepper for 5-10 mins until translucent.
Cook the garlic for 1-2 mins, being careful not to burn.
Add cumin, paprika and chilli flakes. Cook for 30 seconds.
Add tomatoes, chipotle in adobo and sugar. Stir to combine.
Cook for 10-15 mins, until sauce has thicker and reduced.
Add salt and pepper to taste.
For the herb salsa:
Ingredients:
200g parsley
200g coriander
1 garlic clove
Juice of 2 lemons
200ml vegetable oil
1 tbsp capers, drained
Salt to taste
Method:
Add all ingredients to a high speed blender.
Blend on high until a smooth consistency
Add salt and lemon to taste
Note: you can switch up the herbs to what you have on hand, basil is nice too.
For the toppings:
Ingredients:
Avocado slices
Sliced red onions
Pickled jalapenos, sliced
Toasted sourdough
Method:
Sprinkle scrambled tofu over the tomato mixture on the pan.
Place under hot grill, until slightly browned on top. Around 5-10 mins.
Drizzle with herb salsa.
Top with avocado, red onions and jalapenos.
Served with toasted sourdough, buttered or drizzled with olive oil.
Club Mexicana Spitalfields has recently launched ‘Bangin' Brunch’, a weekend celebration of the very best of Mexican food – with a plant-based twist. Find out more at clubmexicana.com
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