Comfortable And Tasty Recipes With Textured Soy

Textured Soy: Also known as soy meat, it is an excellent vegetable protein source and gives much play in the kitchen. It serves for lasagna, hamburgers, paellas

Like tofu, textured soybeans are derived from soybeans, which in this case, is obtained from the flour of this legume. Besides being very low in fat, it has a high percentage of vegetable proteins (20.21 g of protein per 100 g), known as “soy meat.” And, as you will see below, it is cooked many times as if it were minced meat.

In stores and supermarkets, you can find it in different ways. The most common is fine or coarse textured soybeans (depending on size), but it is also found in fillets, strips, or rinds. Depending on the recipe, one is more interesting than the other. But they all have in common that you have to hydrate them because they are dry.

In some recipes, you will have to hydrate it before cooking, letting it rest in water or broth until it is soft, while in others, you can take advantage of the cooking to soften it. Now, you always have to remember that it doubles its size when hydrating, so do not go overboard with the amounts when you see it dry, and it seems little.

1. Zucchini Spaghetti With Textured Soy Bolognese

One of the most common uses of textured soy is as if it were minced meat to make a vegan Bolognese sauce, that is, 100% vegetarian, without anything of animal origin.

Ingredients

For the Bolognese sauce: 150 g of OK textured soy | 1 onion | 1 carrot | 1 clove of garlic | 1 jar of crushed tomato | virgin olive oil | oregano | basil | salt and freshly ground pepper.

How to Make Vegan Bolognese Step by Step

• In a frying pan with a thread of oil, sauté the chopped onion, carrot, and garlic until well cooked.
• Add the textured soybeans and saute everything together for a few minutes.
• Add the crushed tomato, the aromatic herbs, salt, and pepper and let it Chup Chup for about 15 minutes.
• Taste it, correct the salt if necessary and add a pinch of sugar to remove the acidity. Stir well and turn off.
• You can use it to accompany some zucchini spaghetti, as we have done here, or some regular pasta.

2. Paella With Textured Soy

Textured soy also works wonderfully with rice and paellas.

Ingredients

For 4-5 people: 450 g of whole grain brown rice | 100 g of green pepper | 150 g of red pepper | 150 g of coarse-textured soybeans | 200 g of peas | 225 g of Garrofones (broad beans typical of Valencian gastronomy) | 5 ripe tomatoes | 4 cloves of garlic | 3 large artichokes | 2 lemons | 1 branch of parsley | 5 strands of saffron | extra virgin olive oil and salt.

How to Make Paella With Textured Soy

• Put the textured soybeans and 4 saffron strands previously crushed in a mortar to hydrate with hot water and reserve.
• Strip the artichokes, cut them into 8 parts, and soak them in water with lemon to prevent them from rusting.
• Heat a paella over the fire with a splash of olive oil. As soon as it starts to sparkle, add the grated tomato and the minced garlic and parsley and saute, stirring continuously.
• Add the pepper cut into strips, the artichoke, and the drained textured soybeans, stirring constantly.
• Add the peas, Garrofones, the remaining saffron, a pinch of salt, and sauté until they are coloured.
• Add the rice in the shape of a cross from the paella’s ends, and pour warm water until reaching the exact height of the cross. Stir gently and cook without stirring for 25-30 minutes.
• After the time has elapsed, taste and correct the salt, remove the paella from the heat and let it rest for 15 minutes before serving.
• Depending on the grain’s degree of cooking, you can add a little more boiling water and continue cooking a little more until it is just right without stirring.

3. Zucchini Stuffed With Textured Soybeans

In the same way that the textured soy bolognese is made, you can use it to fill some zucchini as minced meat.

Ingredients

Serves 4: 2 large zucchini | 250 g of OK textured soy | 300 ml of crushed tomato | 2 onions | 3 carrots | 3 cloves of garlic | 2 bay leaves | extra virgin olive oil | black pepper and salt.

How to Make Textured Soy Stuffed Zucchini

• Hydrate the textured soybeans with plenty of mineral water for at least a couple of hours.
• Cut the zucchini in half, empty them without reaching the skin, reserve the pulp and steam them.
• Cut and chop the garlic, onion, and carrot and saute everything with an excellent olive oil drizzle.
• Once the onion is translucent, add the previously drained textured soybeans and the chopped zucchini pulp.
• Saute everything together for a couple of minutes, add the tomato sauce and bay leaves and then cook for about 15 minutes over low heat.
• Fill the zucchini with the sauce and bake at 180º for about 10 minutes.
• If you want to save yourself steps, mix the previously hydrated textured soy with homemade tomato that you already have made or from the pot and fill the zucchini with the mixture.

4. Piquillos Stuffed With Millet and Textured Soybeans.

Textured soy also pairs very well with millet and quinoa.

Ingredients

For 4 people: 12 canned piquillo peppers | 250 g of millet | 40 g of fair textured soybeans | 1 spring onion | 1 tomato | 2 branches of fennel | 1 clove of garlic | fresh dill | sherry vinegar | extra virgin olive oil | pepper and salt.

How to Make Piquillos Stuffed With Millet and Textured Soybeans

• Bring a pot with plenty of water and a pinch of salt to a boil.
• Add the textured soybeans and millet. And once cooked, drain it and transfer it to a bowl.
• Chop the onion and tomato, and add them to the millet and soybeans.
• Chop 1 branch of fennel and add it. Salt and pepper, season with oil and vinegar and mix until you get a smooth paste.
• Fill the peppers with the mixture—Reserve in the fridge.
• In a frying pan, heat the mustard, add the cream, and reduce until it thickens.
• Arrange three peppers on each plate and garnish with the dill. Accompany with the hot mustard sauce.
• Garnish with the remaining fennel branch.
• You can make the same recipe by substituting the millet for quinoa.

5. Vegan Textured Soy Meatballs

Since textured soy can be used as ground meat, it works great for making vegan meatballs.

Ingredients

For 8 meatballs: 120 g of OK textured soy | 1/2 red onion | 400 g of crushed tomato | flour for coating or wheat flour | garlic | fresh parsley | oregano | extra virgin olive oil | pepper and salt.

How to Make Vegetarian Meatballs

• Soak the textured soybeans in water for about 10 minutes, then drain very well.
• Saute with a little olive oil, salt, pepper, and minced garlic until lightly browned.
• Add 2 tablespoons of crushed tomato, add salt if necessary, mix well, remove from heat.
• Let it cool in a bowl and, once cold, form the meatballs. If the sauce has been very liquid, you can add a little flour to make the dough more manageable.
• Coat the meatballs in a little flour and sauté them with a bit of olive oil until golden brown to seal them.
• Chop the onion and fry it in olive oil.
• Add the crushed tomato, salt, pepper, oregano, and parsley.
• Saute everything together with a little and add the vegan meatballs.
• Rectify with salt if necessary and let it Chup Chup until the tomato is done.
• To give them more flavour, you can add some vegetables, mushrooms, spices to the dough.

6. Vegan Textured Soy Burger

And, of course, you can also make vegan textured soy burgers.

Ingredients

For 1 hamburger: 1/2 green pepper | 1/2 red pepper | 1/2 onion | 50 gr of OK textured soy | flour | salt and pepper.

How to Make Vegan Textured Soy Burgers

• Soak the textured soybeans in about twice the amount of water as soybeans until they are soft (the fine only takes a few minutes).
• Wash the vegetables and chop them very finely with a knife, a mandolin, or a mincer.
• Drain the soybeans well over a colander and mix it with the vegetable hash.
• Salt and pepper, mix and slowly incorporate a little flour (one or two tablespoons at most depending on the consistency you want).
• Knead with your hands until the ingredients are integrated and have enough consistency to form the burgers.
• Shape the hamburgers and fry them on a griddle with a little oil.
• You can accompany it with seed bread, lettuce, tomato, pickles, and a light mustard sauce.

7. Spinach and Textured Soy Lasagna

Another dish you can make with textured soy is a vegetarian lasagna (but not vegan because it has milk and cheese).

Ingredients

For 2 servings: 250 g of spinach | 50 g of OK textured soy | 6 plates of lasagna | 1 medium onion | crushed tomato | 1 clove of garlic | oregano | oil, and salt | bechamel | grated cheese.

How to Make Textured Spinach and Soy Lasagna

• Cook the lasagna plates following the manufacturer’s instructions.
• Wash the spinach, cut them, and saute them together with minced garlic and a pinch of salt in a pan with a thread of oil.
• Soak the textured soybeans in water for about 15-20 minutes.
• Chop the onion and fry it in a pan with a little oil and salt.
• Drain the soybeans well, add it to the onion and brown it a little.
• Add the crushed tomato and a little oregano, and simmer until the tomato is reduced.
• Assemble the lasagna by putting a plate of pasta, the spinach, another plate, the soy sauce, another plate
• and on top of it bechamel and grated cheese, and gratin it.
• If you want it to be a vegan recipe, make the bechamel with non-dairy milk instead of cow’s milk and
• substitute nutritional yeast for the cheese, which tastes like Parmesan.

8. Eggs Stuffed With Textured Soy

And yes, you can also use textured soy to fill eggs.

Ingredients

For 4 people: 90 g of OK textured soy | 4 fresh eggs | tomato sauce | piquillo peppers | mayonnaise | olives, and pickles.

How to Make Textured Soy Stuffed Eggs

• Boil the textured soybeans for 10-15 minutes with a little salt and, in parallel, cook the eggs ( here are all the tricks to make the perfect boiled egg ).
• Let them cool, peel them, cut them in half, and reserve the yolks.
• Saute the onion, add the well-drained textured soybeans and the tomato sauce.
• Saute everything together with a little, turn off, add two of the reserved yolks and mix well.
• With the help of a teaspoon, fill the egg whites with this mixture.
• Cover them with a tablespoon of mayonnaise (here is the formula to make it perfect and not cut) and decorate with strips of piquillo pepper and slices of olive and pickle.
• If you want them to be lighter, cover them with tomato sauce instead of mayonnaise.