Apparently yesterday, the 3rd of November was National Sandwich Day. The National refers to the U.S. naturally, but that doesn’t mean you can’t honour and celebrate the sandwich if you aren’t in the U.S, especially if you love sandwiches.
I do and I’m sure that it’s still the 3rd of November somewhere in the world so here’s my humble offering for celebrating the food that’s a sandwich – a vegetarian Cemita Peublan Style Sandwich with Green Tomato Salsa Verde.
That might seem like a mouth full (in more ways than one) but it’s a very simple sandwich made out of home-made Mexican Cemita Buns. These buns are really good and you should try making them if you can. If you can’t be bothered with Cemita buns, use sesame topped burger buns instead for an awesome sandwich.
Mexican Cemita Buns are used to make a sandwich which is very popular in the Puebla region of the country. I understand that some people even call the Cemita Sandwich the “King of Mexican sandwiches”! There they make the Cemitas Poblana, which is a sandwich is filled with sliced avocado, meat, Queso Oaxaca or Quesillo (a string cheese sold as balls) or Panela cheese (fresh cow’s milk cheese), onions, a strongly flavoured almost floral herb called pápalo (supposedly a cross between arugula and coriander in flavour) and a red Chipotle sauce.
If you went to Puebla and talked about a Cemita without meat, I’m assuming they would probably wonder what you were talking about. At least, that’s the reaction I’ve encountered many times when I’m in a predominantly non-vegetarian culture and I mention I’m vegetarian!
I wanted to make a vegetarian Cemita Sandwich but strike a balance between being vegetarian, and keeping as close to the spirit of a Pueblan Cemita as I could in my sandwich while dealing with the reality of not being able to source many of the essential ingredients.
I was inspired by this detailed article on Serious Eats about Publan Cemitas where Daniel Gritzer declares his love for the Cemita Sandwich and I quote, “the New York cemita and I are not in an exclusive, forever-happily-ever-after relationship. No, we have a more unorthodox thing going, because I also share my emotions and loyalty with the Pueblan cemita. That’s right, I’m in an open cemita relationship, and I am not ashamed to admit it.”
So I picked out a few ingredients that I could find and knew we liked, to put into my Cemita Sandwich. A lot of people often use mushroom or tofu as a replacement for meat when making something vegetarian, but we don’t really like mushrooms much and are happy to give tofu a miss.
I went with pickled jalapeno peppers instead of chipotles, avocado which is apparently a must here, fresh coriander/ cilantro instead of the Mexican herb pápalo, red onions, and Mozarella instead of Mexican string cheese. I also added some sliced red bell pepper for colour and flavour, though it’s not something you’d normally find in a Cemita Sandwich.
It seems that Cemita Sandwich makers in New York like to toast the two halves of the bun on a griddle or pan and though that’s not the Pueblan way of doing it, I thought I’d try that out.
I also decided to add a little more “freshness” to my Cemita Sandwich with a Green Tomato Salsa Verde as a sauce. “Verde” means green and that is what this particular Salsa is. This is the season for green tomatoes here and I love to use them however I can.
Some people prefer not to use green tomatoes raw and if you have similar concerns, you can always use cooked green tomatoes to make this Salsa Verde. You can use the Salsa Verde as a sauce in the Cemita Sandwich or serve it on the side. The recipe, which is more of a guideline really, is for 2 Cemita Sandwiches.
Vegetarian Peublan Style Cemita Sandwich With Green Tomato Salsa Verde
Ingredients
For the Sandwiches:
- 2 Mexican Cemita Buns (or sesame topped buns)
- 1 large large avocado
- 1 large red bell pepper sliced lengthwise
- to taste Salt
- to taste black pepper
- 2 small red onions , sliced into thin rounds
- to taste pickled Jalapenos
- fresh coriander/ cilantro leaves
- 1 cup cheese grated / shredded Mozarella
- little olive oil
For the Green Tomato Salsa Verde:
- 4 green tomatoes , chopped
- 1 green chilli
- 1 small onion , chopped
- 1 small handful fresh and tender stems coriander leaves
- 1 tbsp fresh lime juice
- 2 to taste Salt
Instructions
- To make the Green Tomato Salsa Verde, just put all the ingredients in your blender and run it till you have a slightly chunky mixture. Adjust for taste with more salt and lime juice if necessary and refrigerate till needed. This Salsa is best consumed not long after it is made.
- If you do not like the idea of consuming raw green tomatoes, please cook them and then add them to the other ingredients in the blender. This recipe makes about 1 cup of the Salsa Verde.
- To make the sandwiches, cut through the Cemita/ sesame topped buns. Toast both halves of the bun if you would like your's that way. Otherwise, start building your sandwiches.
- Then build them from bottom upwards with the following ingredients in the order given. First sliced avocado and lots of it, then slices of the red bell pepper and a little salt and crushed pepper if you want it. You can add a little of the cheese here if you want or not at this point.
- Next layer the onion rings, then the pickled Jalapenos, and coriander leaves. Add some of the Salsa Verde over this and top with a generous amount of the cheese and then a light drizzle of some olive oil over this.
- Close the sandwich with the top half of the bun and serve with more Salsa Verde on the side.
I'm Aparna and My Diverse Kitchen is my ovo-lacto vegetarian food blog where you'll find recipes, food stories & photography. I've been blogging since 2007 and believe the kitchen, and the dining table (by extension) is really the heart of a home. 
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