Vegetarian Sloppy Joe Sandwich

I have a colleague who is a foodie and a critic. One day I made a sandwich with potato patties and was boasting that I made veggie burger sandwich. She said that the taste was good but she would call it Aaloo Tikki. The other day I made spicy stir fried noodles, she called it Curried noodles and pointed out that I couldn’t keep away from curry powder.

To be honest, I felt the same that the burgers with potato tasted like aaloo tikki even after adding oats flakes for chewiness. Though I replace the browned beef with Kidney beans in recipes, I had to hide the feeling that it tasted like “Paruppu Usili” ( a dhal preparation). Though I don’t know how the meat version tastes, I do agree that the substitutions reminded me of other tastes that I know.

After knowing that Textured Vegetable Protein and Seitan make good meat substitutes, I wanted to give it a try. Since I was introducing a new taste and texture to my family, I thought of making the seitan instead of investing in Wheat Gluten powder. The seitan (wheat gluten) turned out well and inspired me to use it in a recipe that looked less meaty. If I prepare “Mock schezhuwan duck” all of a sudden, I am sure that the family critics won’t even look at it.

With some search, I managed to find “Sloppy Joe on Corn Tortilla” recipe. I replaced the turkey with seitan and kidney bean mixture. The recipe called for sloppy joe sauce. But, normally they use tomato sauce and Worcestershire sauce (Source : a Friend). Yet again, I had to find Worcestershire sauce that doesn’t contain Anchovies, which was a hard find. So I took a recipe for that sauce and added the ingredients that were on hand, to my Vegetarian version of Sloppy Joe.

Ingredients:

1 Cup seitan (Steam for 10 minutes, Cool and pinch into small pieces)
1 Cup kidney beans ( Soak, Pressure cook and mash coarsely)
1/2 Cup chopped onions
1/8 Cup Olive oil
1/8 Cup thick tamarind extract
1/8 Cup vinegar
1/8 Cup orange juice
1/8 Cup Maple syrup
2 Tbsp Tomato paste
1 Tbsp minced garlic
1 Tbsp minced ginger
1/2 tsp minced Jalapeno peppers
1/2 tsp Ground Cloves
1/2 tsp Ground Black pepper
1/4 tsp Red chilli powder (optional)
Salt to taste

To serve:

4 Corn tortillas
Cheese as per taste (optional)

Method:

1. Mix Tamarind, Orange juice, Vinegar, Maple syrup, Tomato paste, Cloves, Black pepper, Chilli powder in a small mixing bowl. Set aside.
2. Heat a heavy bottomed pan and add the olive oil. When the oil is hot add the chopped onion.

Boiled Kidney Beans and Wheat Gluten

3. When the onion is browned, add the ginger and garlic. Fry for a minute.
4. Add the jalapeno peppers and add the tamarind-vinegar mixture.
5. Reduce the heat and simmer until the liquid is reduced into half.
6. Add the seitan and mashed kidney beans. Stir fry until the mixture scrambles but retains moisture.

Vegan Sloppy Joe

7. Fill the seitan mixture to the corn tortilla and sprinkle with cheese while warm. Serve with a salad on the side. I served it with Mango Salsa.

I have to say that we surely had a different textured and awesome tasting dinner.

Sloppy Joe Served

This is my entry for the event “Eat healthy – Protein rich”, hosted by Sangeeth. This also goes to the “Healthy cooking” event hosted my Mansi.

Sloppy Joe - A Closer look