Dried Soya Chunks/Mince

wigglywoozle

I saw this in the supermarket today and wondered what it might be used for? It didn't say how to prepare it on the packet (in the wholefoods and speciality foods section) but I thought it could be a cheap alternative to meat? Can anyone enlighten me??!!

MoneySavingSapphire_:D

I use it as mince as vegetarian mince is so expensive! You put it in a bowl, pour over boiling water, cover and leave for 1-2 minutes. Then drain and add to cooking. You can use it alone if other flavours are present (eg, tomato sauce in pasta) or to bulk out meat. Sainsburys/tesco/morrisons have it for about 80p for 500g, not sure how much you saw it for. Its well worth getting, I'm not a proper veggie but prefer it to meat mince as its cheaper and not full of 'bits'...

pawpurrs

I find its more flavoursome if you use bovril/marmite/beef stock to rehydrate it as its a little bland, depending on if you are veggie or not. Its great for chilli as that takes away from the blandness and its cheaper than quorn. Try and get gm free,as a lot of soya is gm.
or you can use 50/50 with meat to make the meat go further.

wigglywoozle

Thanks very much. I will give it a go. It's definitely cheaper than meat or quorn. Could you use it in the slowcooker do you think? I like to make chilli or bolognese in the slowcooker so it'd be great if you could.

pawpurrs

wigglywoozle wrote:

Thanks very much. I will give it a go. It's definitely cheaper than meat or quorn. Could you use it in the slowcooker do you think? I like to make chilli or bolognese in the slowcooker so it'd be great if you could.

you could i guess but i think its meat that really benefits froms slow cooking, especially the cheaper cuts.

Mr_Proctalgia

I use Soya mince/chunks a lot, they do well 50/50 with meat but as said they definately need a boost flavour wise. I have tried Bovril, Marmite etc but so far find that Gravy Browning is best for colour (and it's vegan too) and Maggi is best for taste, that being said I recently made some Chilli non Carne for a friend and Kallo Veggie cubes tasted great (at a price!!!) It is indestructable in a slow cooker, improves overnight, (where have I seen that before?) and is useful when a meal is a bit runny as it soaks up water like nothing else (except potato flakes) but it depends on the texture you are seeking I guess.

HTH

kingmonkey

Ive started using this recently. I mainly use it mixed with meat.