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Sisig is a Filipino dish that is commonly served as pulutan (a dish best eaten with alcoholic drinks) or as a side dish with lots of rice. The traditional sisig is made of minced pork ears, face and the belly, and is usually cooked with chicken liver, lots of onion, garlic and chopped siling haba (long green pepper).

For this plant-based version, I simply replaced the pork and chicken parts with chickpea and tofu, skipped the egg and mayonnaise while maintaining the rest of the ingredients.

Ingredients:

• 1 big can of chickpeas
• 1 palm-sized block of tofu (diced)
• 1 garlic head (minced)
• 1 medium onion (chopped)
• 4-5 pieces Red chili
• 3 pieces Siling haba
• Ginger (thumb size, minced)
• 1/4 cup Soy Sauce
• 1/2 cup Vinegar
• 1/4 cup Calamansi juice

How to Prepare and Cook:

1. Drain the water from the can of chickpeas and set aside.
2. Dice the tofu block and pan-fry until brown and crisp. You can also air-fry the tofu for a healthier, less-oily alternative. Slice the tofu into 1/2 inch pieces, lay them on your air fryer tray and dice them once done. Set aside.
3. Saute onion, garlic and ginger in a pan or pot until the ginger becomes tender and the onions translucent.
4. Mix in the fried tofu and chickpeas, cook and stir for 5-7 minutes.
5. Add in the red and green chilis and mix.
6. Pour the calamansi and soy sauce mixture. Coat everything in the pan/pot.
7. Pour the vinegar and mix it in well for a few minutes until all the ingredients are coated with the soy sauce, calamansi and vinegar.
8. Add salt and pepper to taste. You can use vegan mayo if available.
9. Although I didn’t include it in the video, we’ve also tried replacing the egg with a mixture of cornstarch, water and salt. You can pour in half a cup of that mix (the consistency has to be similar to beaten egg) and stir in with the ingredients until it gives you that light scrambled “egg-like” appearance.

I’d love to hear if you get to try this at home! Tag me in your Instagram or Facebook photo: @MissIngridNieto Enjoy cooking and eating!