These tortitas de camarón are without a doubt my favorite Mexican lent dish. There is a tradition of serving seafood-based dishes during lent in Mexico and this is just one of them. To make this vegan, I made my vegan tortitas de camaron with a mixture of chickpea flour, zucchini, spices, and ground up nori. They are served in a guajillo chile salsa roja with nopales (cactus).
Lent is supposed to be a time to abstain from meat as a means of sacrifice and repentance, but now that I’m vegan, this part of lent really no longer applies to my life. However, there are many Lenten dishes that I used to love like ceviche, Mexican shrimp cocktail, capirotada, sopa de habas, and chiles rellenos. I have of course veganized all of them!
Tortitas de camaron are essentially shrimp patties made with dried ground shrimp and whipped egg whites. You can find them served with salsa roja, mole poblano, and pipian (pumpkin seed sauce). For this vegan version, I tested making the patties out of chickpea flour cooked almost like polenta, then letting it cool, and cutting it out into circles. The flavor was good, but the texture was wrong and it seemed like a lot of steps for something that could be quite simple.
I finally settled on adding grated zucchini to the patties, and cooking them like you would pancakes, and I think you’re really going to like this! What are some of your favorite lent dishes??
The Recipe: Vegan Tortitas de Camaron
- To cook nopales, bring a large pot of water to a boil with salt and a cilantro sprig. Add nopales and cook until tender for about 8 minutes. Drain the nopales and rinse them immediately with cold water. Let them drain for a couple of minutes and now they are ready to use.
- The patties will seem like they are too soft in the middle, but as they cool down they will firm up.
- I only added 1 tsp. of nori powder, but if you want the patties to be very fishy you can add more. I made the nori powder by placing 3 sheets of nori (for sushi) in my blender and processing it into a coarse powder. You can also use dulse flakes.
- I added chile de arbol, because I like mine spicy, but you can omit them or add more.
Vegan Tortitas de Camaron
Ingredients
To make the patties:
- 2 cups Finely shredded zucchini
- 1 tsp. Garlic powder
- 2/3 cup Chickpea flour
- 1/2 tsp. Smoked paprika
- 1/4 tsp. Ground mustard
- 1 tsp. Nori powder
- 1/2 tsp. Salt
Sauce:
- 6 Guajillo chiles, dried stems, and seeds removed
- 1-2 Chile de arbol, stems and seeds removed (optional)
- 2 Roma tomatoes
- 1/2 White onion, chopped
- 2 Garlic cloves, peeled
- 2 Cilantro sprigs
- 1 1/2 cups Chile soaking liquid
- 2 ½ cups Chopped nopales, cooked (see note)
Instructions
To make the sauce
- In a cast iron pan set to medium heat, toast the chiles for 20-30 seconds on each side. Be careful not to burn them, or the sauce will be bitter.
- Bring a medium pot of water to a boil and drop in the chiles and the tomatoes. Lower heat and simmer for 15 min.
- Remove chiles and tomatoes from the soaking liquid and place in the blender with garlic, onion, and 1 ½ cups of the chile soaking liquid. Season with salt and pepper, and process until smooth and strain. Set aside.
To make the patties:
- In a large bowl combine the zucchini, garlic powder, smoked paprika, chickpea flour, ground mustard, nori powder, and salt. Mix well with your hand and let sit for 5 min. Mix again.
- Grease with preferred cooking oil (optional) then scoop out 1/4 cup of the zucchini mixture at a time into the pan. Cook for about 3 minutes on each side, until light golden brown. Set aside.
- Set a large saute pan to medium heat and pour in the sauce. Add cilantro sprig and let it simmer for 5-6 minutes. Add cooked nopales, stir, and adjust seasoning. Add the patties into the sauce and serve with rice.
Notes
- To cook nopales, bring a large pot of water to a boil with salt and a cilantro sprig. Add nopales and cook until tender for about 8 minutes. Drain the nopales and rinse them immediately with cold water. Let them drain for a couple of minutes and now they are ready to use.
- The patties will seem like they are too soft in the middle, but as they cool down they will firm up.
- I only added 1 tsp. of nori powder, but if you want the patties to be very fishy you can add more. I made the nori powder by placing 3 sheets of nori (for sushi) in my blender and processing it into a coarse powder. You can also use dulse flakes.
- I added chile de arbol, because I like mine spicy, but you can omit them or add more.
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