Filipino Menudo is a stew of hearty ingredients like garbanzo beans, potatoes, carrots, hotdog, pork, and liver.
For my Vegan Filipino Menudo with Wheat Gluten, I used plain wheat gluten that I got from an Asian store to substitute the meat. I chopped the gluten like croutons, fried them, and included them to my stew. You’ll be surprised by how similar it is to meat texture.
To have a nice earthy taste of the original version, I used tempeh soybean cake instead of liver.
VEGAN FILIPINO MENUDO
INGREDIENTS:
2 cups wheat gluten, seitan, soy protein, or tofu, chopped
4 tablespoons oil
6 cloves of garlic, peeled, crushed, and minced
1 medium onion, peeled and chopped
1 red bell pepper, deseeded and chopped
2 carrots, peeled and diced
3 medium potatoes, peeled and diced
1 can (15 oz.) tomato sauce
3-4 tablespoons tomato paste
1 block tempeh, diced
½ cup cooked garbanzo beans
¼ cup tablespoons soy sauce
DIRECTIONS:
- In a medium pan, fry wheat gluten or tofu until golden on all sides. Set aside. Skip this step if using precooked seitan or soy protein.
- Using the same medium pan over medium heat, pour oil and saute garlic, onions, and bell pepper until onions have turned soft and translucent.
- Add carrots and potatoes. Pour tomato sauce and tomato paste. Mix well and simmer until the carrots and potatoes are tender.
- Add garbanzo beans, wheat gluten, and tempeh. Mix well.
- Season with soy sauce. Add more tomato sauce or tomato paste to taste.
- Simmer for another 10 minutes in low heat.
- Turn off the heat and serve with rice.