Vegan Bifana Recipe- Portuguese Sandwiches

 This recipe is inspired by a popular Portuguese sandwich, the bifana! It's traditionally made with slices of pork, red hot pepper paste, and sauteed onions, and served in papo secos bread rolls. This recipe uses seitan marinated in a smoky sauce, simmered in a little white wine, and slathered with a homemade roasted garlic and red pepper sauce. So delicious! 


 Serves: 6 

Ingredients:

  • 6 servings of cooked (steamed) seitan: You can use store-bought (and even substitute with sliced firm tofu), or follow this recipe to make your own- just stop before you marinade it. 
  • drizzle olive oil
  • 60ml dry white wine
Marinade:
  • 1 tbsp soy sauce
  • 1 tbsp vegan fish sauce (or sub more soy sauce)
  • 1 tsp smoked paprika
  • 1 tbsp maple syrup
  • 4 tbsp mushroom stock
  • 1/2 tsp cumin
  • 1/2 tsp chili powder
  • 1/2 tsp garlic powder
  • 2 tbsp olive oil
Sauce:
  • 1 red pepper
  • 5 large cloves garlic
  • 4 sundried tomatoes
  • 1 tsp chili flakes (more/less to taste- makes it spicy)
  • 75g toasted nuts of choice- I use a mixture of cashews, hazelnuts and pine nuts
  • 1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
  • 1 tsp smoked paprika
  • 4 tbsp sundried tomato oil
  • splash water
  • salt and pepper
To serve:
  • sauteed onions
  • bread rolls (you can substitute vegan butter and milk in this recipe if you want to make papo secos) 
  • salad (optional)
Method:
  1. Slice the seitan into strips, and place in a freezer bag. Mix together all of the marinade ingredients. Pour the marinade into the bags with the seitan and leave to marinate for an hour in the fridge.
  2. Meanwhile, make the sauce. Preheat the oven to 200C. Deseed the red pepper and slice in half. Place on a roasting tin with a drizzle of olive oil. Drizzle the garlic cloves (unpeeled) in some olive oil, and wrap in some kitchen foil, then place on the roasting tin with the peppers. Place in the preheated oven and roast for about 30-40 minutes. 
  3. Once roasted, add the peppers and the rest of the sauce ingredients to a high-speed blender. Squeeze the garlic cloves out of their skin and add to the blender. Blend everything together until thick and smooth. Taste and adjust seasoning- you may want to add some more water if the sauce is too thick or chunky.
  4. Cook the marinated seitan. Once most of the marinade has been soaked up by the seitan strips, preheat a little oil in a large frying pan over medium high heat. Add the seitan and fry for about 10 minutes, until the edges look charred. Pour the white wine into the pan to de-glaze it, and continue to cook for a few more minutes until the wine has cooked off.
  5. To serve: Heat up the bread rolls in a hot oven for a few minutes, before slicing them open and spreading a generous serving of the pepper sauce, a few strips of fried seitan, some sauteed onions and a handful of salad leaves. 
Enjoy! :)  

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