Salpicao was one of my favourite dishes growing up. This is of course a vegan version of the Filipino classic.
WHAT IS SALPICAO?
Filipino Salpicao traditionally made with beef cubes cooked down in a savoury sauce with lots of garlic! Salpicao is also one of those Filipino dishes heavily influenced by Spanish cuisine since the country was under Spanish rule for over 3 centuries.
TWO VERSIONS FOR THIS VEGAN SALPICAO:
For this vegan version, I made 2 kinds:
- Version 1: vegan soy “meat” or chunks
- Version 2: Extra firm tofu!
I cooked both down with some sliced button mushrooms in the really tasty, and savoury sauce.
Version 1: using soy “meat” or chunks
Here’s the exact soy meat I used! PS. Link is not an affiliate link. I purchased these from Shopee and can be shipped in the Philippines.
For my US-based friends, here are similar meat substitutes that you can find on Amazon:
(these affiliate links)
Version 2: Using extra firm tofu
WHICH SHOULD I MAKE?
It’s totally a personal preference. I enjoy both, but I find that the soy chunks yield a much meatier experience since they’re of course textured.
I soak my soy chunks to rehydrate them. This is best to do overnight!
As for the tofu, I just simply pan-fry them.
Both versions use mushrooms and I just used some sliced button mushrooms from a can.
The aromatics: Lots of ONION AND GARLIC!
It’s really the garlic that adds to the flavour of this dish. Especially since we’ll cook them to a crisp later on!
AND YOU’LL WANT THE GARLIC REALLY, REALLY CRISPY.
THE SAUCE
Cooking everything down in the sauce.
The soy chunks absorb much more sauce compared to tofu, so I found that the version using soy chunks had less sauce after cooking.
ENJOY YOUR SALPICAO WITH:
Turmeric adlai (or your grain of choice)
Fried Garlic Rice (Sinangag)
For this version, I made turmeric garlic rice and paired it with my salpicao!
Plain rice is perfect, too!
Seen below is some plain adlai (locally grown Philippine barley or Job’s Tears)
You might enjoy these recipes:
- Filipino-Style Vegan “Pork” Barbecue
- Filipino Kaldereta or ‘Meat’ Stew
- Filipino Lumpiang Gulay or Fried Vegetable Spring Rolls
- Japanese Chahan or Fried Rice
- Chinese-Style Bolognese
- Ginger and Scallion Noodles
- Chili Garlic Oil Noodles
- Mie Goreng (Indonesian Fried Noodles)
Filipino Tofu and Mushroom Salpicao (Vegan)
Ingredients
Protein (Pick one!)
- 7 oz extra firm tofu or tokwa OR
- 2 oz dry soy chunks
- 1 tbsp vegan butter or olive oil (for the tofu)
Sauce
- 3 tbsp soy sauce
- 2 tbsp distilled white vinegar
- 2 1/2 tbsp cane sugar or other sugar
- 1/2 tsp paprika powder
- 1/4 tsp chili flakes
- Dash of ground black pepper
- 1 tsp dark soy sauce optional for colour
Salpicao
- 2 tbsp vegan butter or olive oil (I recommed butter more!)
- 12 cloves garlic minced
- 1 small red onion diced
- 200 g button mushrooms or other mushrooms of choice, sliced
- Salt or pepper to taste if needed
Instructions
Protein (if using Tofu)
- IF USING TOFU, Press the tofu or tokwa for 10 minutes to drain out excess liquid. I like to wrap mine in a towel and place a chopping board and plate on top. Afterwards, slice the tofu into 1” (2.5 cm) thick pieces or cubes.
- Heat a large non-stick pan over high heat.
- Add in the oil or butter for the tofu.
- Once hot, place the pieces of tofu on the pan. Pan-fry over medium high heat for 2 to 3 minutes on each side until lightly brown, around 10 minutes in total. Remove the tofu from the pan then set side.
Protein (if using Soy Chunks)
- IF USING SOY CHUNKS, place the chunks in a large heat proof bowl.
- Pour boiling hot water and leave the chunks to soak and rehydrate for around 12 to 15 minutes until doubled in size. You can cover the bowl to retain the steam.
- Carefully squeeze out the liquid from the soy chunks and then set aside.
Sauce
- While the tofu is pressing/soy chunks are soaking, mix all the sauce ingredients together.
- Note: You can double the sauce recipe if you'd like it with extra sauce after cooking–this is especially for the soy chunks version since soy chunks absorb more liquid.Feel free to adjust the sauce measurements to your taste.
Salpicao
- For the Salpicao, heat 2 tbsp butter or olive in the pan over medium high heat. I've tried this with both oil and butter, and would definitely recommend to use vegan butter for more flavour.
- Once hot, add in the minced garlic.
- Sauté for 3 to 4 minutes, moving around every 30 seconds, until golden brown and crisp.
- You can remove some garlic to set aside for topping later on.
- Add in the onion and sauté for 2 minutes.
- Add in the button mushrooms and then sauté over medium high heat for 3 to 4 minutes.
- Add in the pan-fried tofu OR soy chunks into th pan.
- Pour in the sauce. Turn up the heat to medium high heat and leave everything to cook until the sauce starts to thicken and is absorbed by the tofu.
- Taste the salpicao and feel free to season it with some salt or pepper to taste, if needed.
- Turn off the heat and then serve the Salpicao with steamed adlai or your grain of choice.
- For the turmeric adlai, I simple pan-fried lefotver adlai (or your choice of grain) with sme garlic and turmeric powder in the same pan. You can find my garlic turmeric fried rice recipe here.
- You can also have this with some singangag or fried garlic rice. See my sinangag recipe here.
- Top with more toasted garlic and chopped parsley, if desired. Enjoy!
NUTRITIONAL INFO
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This Post Has 16 Comments
This was so flavorful and easy to make. This will be a staple dish.
Hi Angela! Happy to hear you like it ◡̈ thanks so much for your review and comment!
This was amazingly good, love your recipes ?
This is sooo good! Love this recipe! ?
Yay glad you liked it!! ❤️ thank you, Joyce!
It’s easy to make and turn out delicious.hubby approved?.Thanks for the recipe,Jeeca.
Most welcome!! Happy you guys enjoyed hehe 🙂
Love this and excited to try! I made vegan salpicao before but didn’t thought of using mushrooms ? must try soon! I season my veggie meat in salt pepper and then fry in a bit of oil before I cook in the salpicao sauce so it doesnt absorb as much.?
Also, you mentioned here that it’s best to soak the soy meat over night, how may hours would you suggest? Thank you! ❤❤
Hi Joni! for the soy chunks, I usually leave them for 10-12 hours but a little shorter than that should be good too since they soak liquid so fast!
Made this for my family and it was a huge success. So delicious and will now be a regular dish I make. Thank you for the recipe
This is yummy and very easy to make.
Thank you Maria!!
Loved this recipe
Thanks Varsha, happy you did!! ◡̈
Jeeca! oh myyy! been a long time follower but only tried this time and did not disappoint! I love it my family loves it! We don’t really eat salpicao (the original meat version) but this one is a tasty dish! This one is easy and delicious! Super thank you for sharing your recipe!
Yay!! So so happy to hear this. Thanks Pol!! ◡̈