Not your typical Filipino longganisa
Longganisa is a Filipino breakfast sausage that is savory and sweet, and made with pork. It tends to be very high in fat, sugar, and salt. I typically had this when I was a child at my grandma’s house. Now that I’m in the field of nutrition, I am finding healthier ways to make my favorite Filipino dishes.
This recipe was adapted from astigvegan.com. Enjoy!
Servings: 6 sausages (2 to 3 per serving)
Ingredients
- 2 ounces of dried shiitake mushrooms, soaked in warm water for at least 20 minutes
- 7 ounces extra-firm tofu, drained, pressed, crumbled
- 1/4 cup brown sugar
- 3 to 5 garlic cloves, minced
- 1/4 cup tomato paste
- 1 teaspoon paprika
- 1 tablespoon vinegar (any kind of vinegar will work)
- 1/2 to 1 tablespoon chili oil (depending on how spicy you like it; you may use sesame oil if you want it without spice)
- 2 tablespoons low-sodium soy sauce
- 1/2 to 1 tablespoon liquid smoke (depending on how “smoky” you like it)
- Pinch of salt and pepper
- 1 cup or more of whole-wheat bread crumbs*
- 3 tablespoons avocado oil or nut oil for light pan-frying
*Follow this simple recipe if you’d like to make your own whole-wheat bread crumbs. Note: The general guide is 4 slices of bread yields about 1 cup of bread crumbs.
Directions
- Drain and mince the rehydrated shiitake mushrooms.
- Thoroughly mix the mushrooms, tofu, brown sugar, garlic, tomato paste, paprika, vinegar, chili oil, soy sauce, liquid smoke, salt, and pepper in a bowl.
- Add bread crumbs and make sure all the moisture is soaked up. You may need to add a little more if the mixture is too wet.
- Let the mixture sit for 30 minutes in the fridge.
- Taste the mixture and adjust seasonings as needed.
- Using your hands, form mixture into small sausage links or small sausage patties.
- Heat pan over medium heat and add oil.
- Lightly pan fry the vegan sausages until nicely brown on all sides.
- Serve hot with your favorite grain or starch and add any vegetable for a complete meal.
Nutrition information (per serving)
- Calories: 250
- Total fat: 11 g
- Cholesterol: 0 mg
- Sodium: 390 mg
- Total carbohydrate: 32 g
- Dietary fiber: 6 g
- Total sugars: 13 g
- Protein: 10 g