Learn to make the vegan version of a Puerto Rican classic; Vegan Tripleta. Complete with vegan ham, seitan chicken, and jackfruit “pernil”, to make this super authentic.
Vegan | Nut-free
Even though it’s 2020, and there’s literally a vegan version for everything, Puerto Rico somehow insists on living 10 years back in time. When it comes to vegan restaurants in Puerto Rico, well, there aren’t many. And the few that exist, are either mostly located in the metropolitan area of the island, have the worst operating hours (seriously, why only open 3 days a week from 10am-2pm?), or lack creativity in their menus.
That being said, up until today, no vegan restaurant or food truck has been able to come up with and offer the vegan version of THE MOST popular sandwich in Puerto Rico, The Tripleta. Like many vegan Puerto Ricans, I grew up not being vegan and ate tripletas on a semi-regular basis. So recently, I found myself missing that sandwich and immediately realized that I needed to veganize it. But first things first…
What is a Tripleta?
The Tripleta is a very popular street food sandwich in Puerto Rico; some will say that it’s our response to the Cuban Sandwich. Although, I don’t really believe that, since the Cubano is equally as famous here. I would say that this is the type of sandwich that one would eat at 2 am after partying all night, or as the ultimate hangover food.
It’s typically found at foodtrucks, side road shacks, chinchorros, and even some panaderías. Many people serve it in different ways, but the essence remains the same; inexpensive and can feed 2(+) people. As the name suggest, triple-, three different meats are used; this can be any meat like ham, steak, pork, chicken, sausages, beef, etc. But it’s not all meat, it usually also has lettuce or cabbage, tomatoes, potato sticks, mayo-ketchup, and sometimes even cheese. Once assembled, it’s wrapped in parchment paper and foil, and then slightly toasted on a grill.
So, how does that sound for a #VeganizedPuertoRican project?
Veganizing The Tripleta
I know what you’re thinking, “how the hell?”. Well, I said two things at the beginning of the post that is essential to this recipe: 1. there’s a vegan version for everything today, and 2. creativity. For the Vegan Tripleta, our meats are going to be: vegan ham, jackfruit “pernil”, and seitan chicken. After all of the “meats” are prepared, I assembled the sandwich in vegan pan sobao with lettuce, potato chips, and, the key ingredient, vegan mayo-ketchup.
Yes, a Vegan Tripleta is literally that easy. The most important thing is to marinate the jackfruit “pernil” and the seitan chicken very well, cook them individually, and then mix it all together on the grill. This process will make sure that each one of them keeps their own texture, while combining their unique flavors.
Of course, as with other recipes, you can get creative and mix it up with any other vegan meats that you find suitable. As well as switch the lettuce for shredded cabbage, add tomatoes, add fries instead of potato chips, and even vegan swiss cheese.
Notes:
- This is a nonsponsored post. However, I feel the need to share with you the brands that I used for this recipe in order to offer guidance when running into multiple options while grocery shopping. For the vegan ham, I used Yves Veggie Ham and for the seitan chicken, I used Uptons Naturals Chick Seitan. I can find both of these products locally.
- For the bread: If you live outside of Puerto Rico, chances are you probably won’t find pan de agua or pan sobao. To keep this recipe looking authentic, I suggest using a french baguette.
- As for the chips, most versions of Tripletas use potato sticks (the hotdog ones), but I don’t really like those since they rarely contain actual potatoes. We chose to use Lays potato chips.
The “Meats”: Assemble (see video below for reference):
Ingredients
Procedure
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