Tofu picadillo or “ground tofu”. Since going vegetarian, there are certain cuban dishes that I’ve had to go without. Picadillo being one of them. It’s a tricky dish to make vegetarian. Even now I’m still trying to work out the kinks. However, the other night I attempted to make “tofu picadillo” and I have to say, didn’t come out half bad. Good enough to create a post, lol.
I tend to add a little heat to some cuban dishes. It’s not traditional for cuban food overall. But I like spicy food and so I added a couple of scotch bonnet peppers in this particular dish. Of course it’s optional for those of you who do not like spicy food.
Traditional cuban picadillo also includes raisins, olives, or diced pre-fried potatoes (or all of the above). But of course those are optional and not included in the recipe below.
Ingredients:
1 Block of tofu drained and pressed
1 or 2 Scotch bonnet peppers (optional)
1/2 Green bell pepper
1/2 Red bell pepper
5 Large cloves of garlic
1 Yellow or white onion
3 Large tomatoes
2 Large bay leaves
1 Tbs Cumin
1 Tbs Oregano
1/2 cup Cilantro
Salt and Pepper to taste
Prepping the Tofu:
Slice the tofu into half inch thick sections. Place on paper towels with additional paper towels on top and stack additional plates on top to help squeeze some of the excess water out. Leave for roughly 15-20 minutes.
After 15-20 minutes, remove the additional plates and place the slices of tofu on a dry plate without paper towels. Use a fork to start breaking apart the tofu so it looks like a crumble.
The traditional cuban picadillo calls for a small can of tomato sauce, but I like to use fresh tomatoes from time to time.
Remove the skins of the tomatoes:
Lightly make cuts along the skin of the tomatoes. Don’t cut too deep. Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Place the tomatoes in the water for about 5 minutes. You should see that the skins can be easily separated from the tomato. After the 5 minutes, remove tomatoes from the water and place in cold water. You should be able to easily remove the skins with a spoon or butter knife.
This process helps against having lose tomato skins in the final dish since they don’t dissolve as easily as the rest of the tomato.
Lightly coat the bottom of a pot with olive oil. Dice the tomatoes along with the peppers, onion, and garlic. Once the pot is heated, add the veggies along with the oregano, cumin, bay leaves, salt and pepper. Let simmer on medium/low until tomatoes are dissolved and it looks like a sauce.
Taste the mixture and adjust seasoning if needed.
Let the mixture cool down.
Place the crumbled tofu in a container of choice with the sauce mixture. The ratio of crumbled tofu to sauce should be roughly 2:1. Let the tofu marinate in the sauce for an hour.
If you have left over sauce, you may freeze for later use.
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
Line a baking sheet with non-stick foil. Lightly coat with olive oil. Evenly spread the marinated tofu crumbles on the baking sheet. Place in the oven for an hour and stir every 20 minutes. The color of the tofu will turn from white to a light brown resembling ground turkey.
Sprinkle cilantro overtop.
Once done, it may be paired with salad, mashed potatoes, pasta, rice and beans, or used in any dish you’d like.
