Vegan Ndambé Sandwich, a vegan take on a Senegalese street food sandwich. Crusty baguette and a spicy filling made with mushrooms, black eyed beans and sweet potato.
Serving Vegan Ndambé
Ndambé is a popular street food sandwich from Senegal. Made with a spicy bean filling. Traditional recipes call for beef but we use mushrooms to make an even better vegan version.
The spicy bean filling can be made ahead of time and used as a sandwich filling for a few days. Traditionally it is eaten all throughout the day but especially at breakfast.
We like serving the Ndambé sandwich with a crunchy salad to add some additional texture. Tomatoes, red bell peppers and cucumber dressed in parsley, chilli flakes and lemon juice with a pinch of salt. Spreading the sandwich with some spicy mayo adds another dimension to the sandwich. Squeeze over some lemon juice before eating for some extra brightness to the sandwich.
Vegan Ndambé – Spicy Bean Sandwich
Ingredients
Ndambé
- 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
- 1 medium onion diced
- 300 g chestnut mushrooms roughly chopped
- 2 cloves garlic minced
- 1 spicy red chilli minced
- 1 tablespoon tomato purée
- ½ teaspoon smoked paprika
- 1 bay leaf
- 1 sweet potato diced
- 200 ml vegan beef stock or mushroom stock
- 1 tin black eye peas drained and rinsed
Sandwich
- 3 tablespoons vegan mayo
- 1 tablespoon chilli sauce more or less for desired heat
- 1 lemon half juiced, half wedges
- 2 French crusty baguettes
Salad, optional
- ½ cucumber
- 1 red bell pepper
- 10 cherry tomatoes
- ½ teaspoon chilli flakes
- Parsley
Instructions
Ndambé Filling
- Heat the oil in a large pot over medium heat. Once hot add the mushrooms with a pinch of salt and sauté until the mushrooms are starting to brown around the edges and most of their liquid has been released. This will take around 8 minutes.
- Add the diced onion and sauté until soft and translucent, around 4 minutes.
- Add the minced garlic and chilli and continue to sauté until fragrant, around 1 minute.
- Now add the tomato purée and continue to sauté until the purée turns a deep red colour, around 2 minutes.
- Add the smoked paprika, bay leaves, diced sweet potato and the vegan stock. Mix well then cover the pot and bring to a boil. Turn down to a gentile simmer.
- Simmer the sweet potatoes until they are fork tender, around 15 minutes stirring often.
- The salad and chilli mayo can be made while the sweet potatoes are cooking.
- Next, add the drained beans, mix well and continue to cook, with the lid off, until most of the liquid has cooked off and you are left with a thick sandwich-filling texture. The sweet potatoes will start falling apart and thicken the sauce.
- Taste and adjust the seasoning. We added ½ teaspoon of salt. The amount of salt needed will depend on the amount of salt in the stock.
Salad, optional
- The salad is optional, however, the crunch adds an extra texture to the dish.
- Dice the cherry tomatoes, bell pepper and cucumber into small pieces and add to a bowl. Add a pinch of salt and mix to coat in the salt. Leave aside for 5 minutes.
- Drain any liquid at the bottom of the bowl.
- Add the chilli flakes, lemon juice and chopped parsley. Mix well then taste for seasoning.
Sandwich
- Mix the vegan mayo and chilli sauce in a small bowl then spread the sauce on both sides of a crusty French baguette.
- Serve plenty of the Ndambé filling hot with the optional salad. Serve with lemon wedges to be squeezed over before eating.
Notes
