A Mexican classic Christmas dish gets a vegan make over! Unlike the traditional recipe that requires days of preparing the salted cod, this vegan bacalao can be ready in just over an hour. If you had ever tasted the original version, you will be blown away at just how similar this vegan version tastes.
Drain and rinse the hearts of palm, if they’re not cut into chunks already cut them. Set aside. Heat 3 Tablespoons of olive oil in a large pan then saute the onion until soft, add the potatoes and cook just until they begin to soften, like 8 or so minutes. Mix in the garlic and cook for 2 minutes.
Then add the tomatoes, bell peppers, hearts of palm, seaweed, half of the parsley, capers, 3/4 of the olives you have, and the paprika. Mix until well combined. After about 15 minutes pour in like 1/4 of water or as needed to let the “bacalao” simmer and not dry out.
Once everything is nice and soft, taste and add as much salt as you’d like. Add as many of the pickled chiles as you’d like and also a big splash of the juice they came in. Stir well and allow to simmer for another 10 minutes or as long as you’d like. Right before you serve it mix in the remaining parsley and olives. Serve topped with more chiles gueros and olives if desired.
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Notes
*Serve with plain white rice, and/or crunchy bolillos or French bread. Also you can serve a simple green salad or even some green beans if you want to make it a bigger meal. ** These amounts make enough for 4 decent servings (with the side dishes) or 2 very hearty portions with just the white rice.*** If you cannot find the pickled chiles gueros you may substitute with any yellow, pickled and mild chilies -- Pepperoncini is an acceptable substitute.