One of the ways I’ve been trying to expand my culinary horizons is to venture outside of my comfort zone. I consider myself a good home cook and I’d say above average when it comes to most things, but I do have regions of the world where I feel most comfortable.
Some of that is due to what I like and what’s widely available, and some of it is because of the people in my orbit. That meant it was time to get out of my orbit and meet some new ingredients.
As you know, we have been experimenting with foods from around the world. So far we’ve done Japanese, Moroccan and Korean just to name a few.
But we also recently did…Haitian recipes.
I know about Haiti as a place. I know its history and a bit about some of the flavors common in Haitian cooking and why. So I was excited to learn.
Now, because all of these recipes are new to me I won’t get into the details of how I made them because I consulted with lots of other vegan bloggers and food content creators, and these recipes are pretty much theirs exactly.
Still, I wanted to share with you my week of vegan Haitian food!
Pikliz
This is the best place to start because it is such a staple at most meals. It is a pickled condiment that you can eat fresh or fermented, and we ate it both ways. It’s a lot like the all the little dishes you get when you eat Korean food.
I added WAY too much vinegar in the first batch and when it was fresh it was okay, but still overpowering. I fermented this batch and made a second one with less vinegar and it turned out much better. Most of the recipes I found required a lot of vinegar so I’d say cut it in half, at least.
Vegan Beef Patties
This is one of the dishes I was familiar with before this week of eating Haitian food as a vegan, but I must confess that I only had them prior to becoming vegan. I remember the flaky crust and the flavors inside the patty and I was happy to give it a go.
I used puff pastry because I wasn’t ready to make the actual dough and I felt it was an acceptable replacement (it was). Inside the patty I used vegan tvp mince, black beans, onion, garlic, tomato sauce and tons of herbs & spices.
I left some on the side so you have an idea what the insides should look like.
Griot
This is the one I was most excited about and also the most worried about. Trying to recreate meat dishes always feels a little weird but I bought the big ol’ pieces of TVP and rehydrated them as usual, but I marinated them afterwards in epis, which is a Haitian herbed sauce that is used as a marinade and a condiment.
I don’t have photos but I have used this a few times since because it is an excellent marinade for TVP.
Plantain Fritters
This might surprise you, but I did not find plantains at any of the grocery stores in the town I live in Romania. Just kidding, I wasn’t at all surprised so I had to improvise.
Of course, I used bananas to make the fritters, adding jerk seasoning and garam masala to the dough to compensate for the sweetness of bananas and it worked well. I also add the tiniest sprinkle of ground scotch bonnet pepper and it was, honestly, delicious.
The griot and the fritters went really well together, the hint of sweet & savory was a perfect combination, and of course with a bit of pikliz on the side.
Have you ever had Haitian food as a vegan? What was your favorite dish and which one should I try next?
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