TVP!

Oh my...did I ever have more than just an aha moment in the kitchen today.  Ok so my discovery may be nothing new to you vegetarians out there but for me it was an amazing culinary "trick"...and a very healthy one I am discovering from all the delving I have been doing into this "TVP"...among the top features....NO FAT AND NO CHOLESTEROL!

So my mother in law asked me if I wanted a bag of it because she wasn't going to use it after all...she had encountered a meal prepared by Seventh Day Adventist's it seems...and she was very impressed with the flavor and texture of this mystery product...Again, you vegetarians are probably rolling your eyes by about now...well a mystery to us it was.

I am talking about Textured Vegetable Protein.  It's a granulated product that is made of soy and is used as a meat substitute...so those words in of themselves are enough to make me turn the other way but every review I read about TVP was very good...I kept reading things about how delicious it was and how the texture made it a great meat substitute.

So I had this unopened bag of TVP by Bob's Red Mill... you know the brand that has its very own little section in all the grocery stores now Bob's Red Mill TVP.

So it was a toss up between making a veggie burger or taco meat.  I was in the mood for tacos so I just made my taco meat recipe and substituted the TVP.  I will tell you foodie readers right here and now I could fool anyone if they did not know it wasn't beef.  Everything I read was true.  It is delicious and the end result is a texture that is like crumbled ground beef.  This culinary venture is about as far left into the world of vegetarianism as I have every drifted, I shredded some almond jalapeno jack cheese substitute to further the experiment...there was not one negative thing to say about the meal...cept maybe that I wasn't sipping a cold blended margarita or a cold mexican beer.

TVP Tacos ala Villegas

1 cup TVP Granules

1 cup chicken broth

1 medium sized yukon gold potato or any other buttery flavored spud

1 medium sized chopped yellow onion

2 cloves chopped garlic

1 tsp Chipotle Powder

2 tbsp chipotle salsa

1 tablespoon Ground Cumin

1 tsp Ground Mexican Oregano
1 tsp granulated garlic powder
1 tsp onion powder

1 tbsp Knorr Brand "Caldo de Tomate" Knorr Caldo de Tomate

(this is what I use to salt my meat also...don't add any additional salt)

In a bowl, add the TVP Granules to the chicken broth and stir well.

Allow the TVP to soak up all of the liquid for 15 minutes

Either Boil or Microwave the potato and discard skin

Saute in canola oil, the onion, garlic and the spices

Add the cooked potato and mash with a fork, till it's in very small chunks

Add the TVP and the salsa

Mix well

Cover and simmer for 15 minutes

Fill a taco shell with the TVP taco mixture and your regular taco toppings

I hope I find at least two vegetarians that didn't know about this  ;-)

robert