This recipe blends unexpected flavors and textures for a quick lunch and is based on a vegetarian arepa I discovered in Southern California.
| Prep Time: | 20 mins |
| Cook Time: | 15 mins |
| Total Time: | 35 mins |
| Servings: | 4 |
| Yield: | 4 arepas |
Ingredients
- 1 (8 ounce) container tofu, drained
- 1 (16 ounce) tube prepared polenta
- olive oil
- 2 bananas, sliced lengthwise
- 1 cup black beans, undrained
- 2 avocados – peeled, pitted, and sliced
- 1 large mango – peeled, seeded, and diced
- ¼ cup diced onion
- 1 jalapeno pepper, seeded and minced
- salt to taste
Instructions
- Preheat the oven’s broiler and set the oven rack about 6 inches from the heat source. Grease a baking sheet.
- Slice the tofu and polenta into slabs of equal thickness; brush with olive oil and arrange on a baking sheet.
- Cook the tofu and polenta under the preheated broiler until the tops are crispy, about 5 minutes. Remove from oven and set aside.
- Heat the olive oil in a skillet over medium-high heat. Cook the bananas in the oil until crispy on the outside, yet soft on the inside, about 5 minutes. Remove the bananas from the oil and set aside.
- Pour the entire can of black beans into a blender and blend until a thick sauce forms.
- Stir the mango, diced onion, jalapeno pepper, and salt together in a small bowl.
- To build the arepas, place a slice of polenta on each of four plates and top each with first about 1/4 of the bean sauce, then a piece of tofu, a few slices of banana, some avocado, and finishing with about 1/4 of the mango salsa.
Reviews
Interesting. Different. My meat loving husband liked it more than me. I would only partially drain the beans so they would be thicker. I also added cumin because I didn’t have jalapeño.
So easy and so very tasty. I did my own twist on the mango salsa, but otherwise followed the recipe. Even my picky kid ate seconds!
My first time cooking with bananas, delish and fun! I did put the avocado in with the mago salsa with a little lime to keep it fresh and used a red onion. The whole family loved it!
Didn’t make any real changes. I drained the beans by accident, but added some water to make up for loss of liquid. I also used grapeseed oil ( I didn’t even realize that until I was cleaning up). Regardless, I Love this dish! Worth 5 stars and more. Thank you thank you thank you.
this was not terrible but it was a horrible mess to eat. I won’t be attempting this again. I would have appreciated some guidance with frying the bananas, because they were completely inedible when prepared as instructed. greasy sticky little things that didn’t hold together when I tried to scrape them off the bottom of the pan.
Delicious, healthy and unusual! I made the following changes and would recommend them. I cooked the bean purée in a small sauce pot, and spiced it up with crushed red pepper. I added sweet mini red and orange peppers to the salsa and skipped the jalapeño.
I may be addicted to this dish! I followed the recipe with a couple of (minor) exceptions. I omitted the tofu (don’t like it) and seasoned the bean sauce (per other reviews) with cumin, onion powder, and some of the diced jalapeño. My polenta took longer than 5 minutes to get crispy. Even my picky, meat-eating husband said this “wasn’t bad,” and that’s saying something since I expected him to hate it!
You can use store bought mango salsa if you can’t find a good mango. Everyone I’ve made this for loves it! Meat-eaters, vegetarians, and vegans!
Excellent! Flavor combinations work nicely together. My variations: Gave the tofu a pat-down with salt, fried the bananas in peanut oil (wonderful), and added 2 tbsp of lemon juice to the mango salsa. Great recipe. One for the books.
Amazing, delicious & scrumptious!! We made these as a side dish for Christmas and have since made them twice. So yummy!!!
EXCELLENT! I used serrano chilis in the salsa so it wouldn’t be too hot and I followed a reviewer’s advice to sprinkle the tofu with cumin. This was a huge hit with all my family. It looks beautiful and it was so easy to make. I will definitely make this again.
My husband raved about this at least four times before finishing this meal. “Best one we’ve tried since our diet!” “You can make this one again!” “This was so good.” “Good dinner, Jenn.” I can’t wait to make it again! Even the kids liked it (14 months and 2.5 years old) Things I changed because of simplicity/what we had in the house. Marinated tofu in teriyaki sauce for about 20 minutes. Grilled the onions for the salsa since we don’t really like raw onions. Omitted the jalepeno because we didn’t have one. Added dried cilantro to the salsa. Omitted the polenta and just used the tofu on the bottom. Side of quinoa.
I loved this recipe. When blending the beans I added roasted garlic and sautéed onions to the mix. I also substituted tempeh for the tofu for a better texture.
I loved this dish. It is fresh and interesting and fairly easy to make. The presentation is wonderful.
Not gonna lie, I was very curious as to how this would turn out because it seems like a very random combination of things, but this was really tasty! Both my husband and I really enjoyed it. Update: I have made this a few times now and love it so much that I just wanted to add to my comment reiterating how delicious this is. We make enough for leftovers and people at my office are often intrigued…and it tastes great as leftovers as well!
Made a few adjustments based on my preferences and what I had on hand: tempeh instead of tofu, red onion instead of white, a dash of smoked paprika in the beans, plantain instead of banana, a little olive oil and lime juice in the salsa. Excellent and refreshing! Thanks angloesque!
Amazing dish, sounded so strange but tasted so very good! Can’t wait to make it again.
I was excited at the ingredients as I loved everything listed. I agree with the reviewer who said this would be good even without the Tofu. I will try chicken or shrimp next time, just for variety and a protein component. I am also gluten intolerant and a healthy tasty recipe like this is always a joy to find. For those who had challenges with the cooking of the Tofu and Polenta: I use the broiler method to cook these items. This recipe came out great. Just need to be careful not to overcook or they will get tough. It takes a little practice to perfect but is yummy once you get the knack.
Great recipe. I followed it exactly as written except I used grits (cooked then broiled) instead of polenta, as I was out of corn meal and I prefer to make my own vs. buying pre-packaged. Also added some cherry tomatoes to the salsa for color and dipped the tofu in marinade of garlic, olive oil, liquid smoke, worcestershire sauce and soy. My non-vegan bf went back for seconds!
Delicious! Easy to cook, too. Makes great leftovers. I also followed someone’s suggestion to add the avocado to the salsa which worked wonderfully. I’m definitely adding this one to my favorites.
I really liked this recipe! I kind of just threw it all together and next time I won’t add the tofu – I didn’t think it really needed it since it already had so much texture and flavor. Thanks for the recipe!