San Jacobos (vegan cordon bleu)

 

Vegan steak filled with vegan ham and hot melting cheese, and coated in breadcrumbs.



Hola!

Today I bring you a vegan cordon bleu (San Jacobo in Spanish). It’s made of two pieces of a vegan steak that sandwich slices of vegan ham and vegan cheese, and it’s coated with crispy deep-fried breadcrumbs. It is like a chicken Kiev, but when you bite into it instead of getting a juicy puree, you find the wonderful layers of the vegan ham, and the hot cheese that pours from it and melts in your mouth. This a lavish recipe to treat yourself. And what a treat, indeed!

PLANT POWER, MAKE UP!

This is something that my iaia used to make for us, with a side of patatas a lo pobre. And I used to eat two, because, I’ve always been a food enthusiast. I absolutely loved them and I am very glad we can veganise almost anything these days.

The pork meat is an easy swap by any vegan steak, and we need a relatively large and flat steak, but also thick enough so that you can slice it into two thin slices.

Getting vegan ham and vegan cheese should be relatively easy.


SAN JACOBOS (VEGAN CORDON BLEU)

Makes: 2 cordon bleu
Prep: 10 minutes
Cook: 10 minutes


INGREDIENTS

Batter
2 tbsp. chickpea flour
2 tbsp. cornflour
1/4 tsp. Kala Namak salt (or regular salt)
1/2 cup + 1 tbsp. unsweetened soy milk

Coating
1/2 cup breadcrumbs
1 tbsp. dried parsley
1 tbsp. garlic granules

Filling
2 plant-based steaks (thick)
4 slices vegan ham
1 slice vegan cheese

1 litre sunflower or olive oil


INSTRUCTIONS

  1. Mix all the batter ingredients on a deep plate and blend if needed. On another plate, mix all the ingredients of the coating.
  2. Slice carefully the plant-based steaks in two, to make two thin steaks of each. Start layering steak one: steak piece, one vegan ham slice, half vegan cheese slice, another ham slice and the other steak piece to finish. Trim the ham and cheese to adjust to the steak size (the filling should not come out of the inside). Repeat for steak two. You can use wooden toothpicks to hold it in place. I used 4 on each, criss-crossing them (makes a wide “V” on each long side).
  3. Heat the oil in a frying pan and at a medium-high. Put the first cordon in the batter, turn and coat on all sides, then drain the excess batter. Pass it on to the breadcrumbs plate and coat very well, sealing the edges, so that it doesn't leak when frying. Repeat for steak two.
  4. When the oil is hot, put both cordon bleu in the pan. Fry until golden brown and turn around. Take them out and put them on a plate with kitchen roll to absorb the excess oil.

Serve when still hot or flash fry them, cool down and freeze. You can finish cooking them from frozen in the oven or frying again.

Since you have that oil in the pan, why not use it to fry some patatas a lo pobre?

Bon profit!