52 Weeks of Vegan Cooking challenge on Reddit is back again (because I’ve recently taken over as moderator) and the Week 33 challenge was DIY Mock Meats. Now there was a recipe I saw and saved a while back that I’ve been wanting to try… sort of. I’ve never particularly liked the spice combination of chorizo but I thought the recipe had a good base. I used that base in an attempt to make my own vegan salami.

Ingredients:

1 and 3/4 Cups of TVP (Textured Vegetable Protein) Mince.

2 Cups of Vegetable Stock, Hot. I used Massel brand.

1/4 Cup of Roasted Capsicum (Red Pepper), finely chopped.

1/4 Cup of Black Olives, finely chopped.

1/4 Cup of Red WIne Vinegar.

3 Tablespoons of Tomato Paste.

3 Tablespoons of Soy Sauce.

1/2 and White or Yellow Onion, minced. I used the food procssor for this.

3 Garlic Cloves, minced.

3 Tablespoons of Paprika.

Coarsly Ground Pepper.

A Pinch of Ground Cinnamon.

Method:

Put the TVP and the hot Vegetable Stock in a large bowl, cover and set aside for at least 10 Minutes. I only has TVP Strips so I had to rehydrated them then chop them into mince sized pieces; sooo time consuming!

Add all the other ingredients into the bowl and stir together.

Set aside for about 20 minutes while you hang out the laundry (or whatever it is you need to do).

Heat a little olive oil into a large pan or wok and add the mixture. Cook until all excess moisture is gone.

Set aside to cool. Enjoy.

Verdict: So it doesn’t really taste like salami but that’s okay because it still tastes good. It has a rich flavour and a meaty texture. I added a bit too much pepper so it’s a bit spicy and I used all smoked paprika making it far to smoky. Next time I will use 1 Tablespoon of Smoked and 2 Tablespoons of Sweet Paprika.