In a year of quarantine, I have to celebrate the fact that we got to actually go somewhere before all the craziness started. That place was Chile. We spent over a week there and it was all sorts of amazing. It's also where we were introduced to sopapillas, and like with most foods I try, my first very un-vegan thought is, "crack and egg on it."
So, who wants Eggs Benedict when you can try this Huevos Curacaví I came up with? I put it in Spanish, because Chileans speak Spanish, duh. I chose Curacaví because that the city where we first tried sopapillas and merquén.
Sources: All Recipes | Healthier Dishes | Williams Sonoma
Makes: 4 eggs | Time: 40 min
Changes to recipe sources: used pumpkin puree instead of fresh squash in the sopapillas; added plant based milk to a dip recipe to make the sauce; replaced smoked paprika with Chilean spice merquén (and used more of it).
Ingredients
Sopapillas
2/3 cup #pumpkin puree
2 cups & 2 tbsp all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 cup & 1 tbsp vegan butter, melted
1 cup canola oil for pan-frying
Jalapeno Pepita Sauce
3/4 cup raw pepitas, quick soaked in hot water and drained
2 med/large #jalapenos , finely chopped
1/2 cup water
1 tsp fresh lime juice
1/4 cup fresh cilantro
1/4 tsp onion powder
1/2 tsp sea salt
1/2 tsp merquén
1 small clove garlic , minced
Plant-based milk, to thin
Eggs
4 eggs
water
Instructions
Soak the pumpkin seeds in hot while you prep the sopapillas.
Mix the flour, baking soda, and salt together in a mixing bowl, and set aside. Stir together the pumpkin puree and melted butter. Stir the flour mixture into the butter mixture until blended. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead until soft and satiny, adding a little more flour if necessary. Cover dough with a towel and allow to rest 15 minutes.
While the dough is resting, might as well make your sauce. Blend all but the plant-based milk together in a Ninja Bullet or Vitamix. Then add small amounts of plant-based milk to thin the sauce until you get your desired consistency. Set aside.
Back to the sopapillas. Roll out the dough to 1/8 inch thick, and cut into 3 inch diameter circles. Poke each circle a few times with a fork to make holes and prevent rising. (The dough made 6 sopapillas, but it was good to have those back ups since I burned 2 of them. OOPS!)
Pour canola oil into a large, deep skillet and heat over medium-high heat until hot, 385 degrees F. Might as well get your water simmering for the poached eggs at this point, too. Fill your egg-poaching pan with 1/2 inch water, set over medium heat and bring to a simmer.
For the sopapillas, place several of the dough circles into hot oil; cook until lightly browned, 3 to 4 minutes. Drain on paper towels.
For the eggs, lightly oil the poaching cups and warm the cups in the pan. Crack an egg into each cup, cover the pan and cook to the desired doneness, 2 to 4 minutes.
Bring it all together. Plate sopapillas. Top each with a poached egg and drizzle with the jalapeno pepita sauce. Enjoy!