Soy and soy products are not palatable to everyone. This post is an attempt to bring a tasty yet healthy soy centric recipe on our vegetarian table. If taste is the reason for you to avoid soy products and soya chunks in particular, you might be interested to read and see for yourself how this recipe turns out because you may find it very zesty and interesting this way !!

I love soya in all its forms – soy milk/ tofu/soy legumes and soya chunks. Being a vegetarian, it can sometimes get tough to cope up with the daily protein requirement of the body and since soya is a great substitute for meats for vegetarians, i have grown fond of it.

When i moved to Montreal this January, i realized that it was important to increase my family’s protein consumption and i was looking for ways to do so. One way was to load up on legumes, vegetables and milk. In Indians homes we usually have the tradition of making dry or gravy vegetable dishes to go along with our flat breads (chapatis/rotis) and carrying on with that practice here, i was already doing that. The other way was to incorporate soy in the meals and that is exactly what i did.

This recipe is high on proteins and even higher in taste. The beautiful and aromatic tomato gravy is absorbed by the spongy soya chunks making them taste so juicy and so not like a typical soy dish. The overall appeal of the dish is dry but each soya chunk is full of flavours and amazing juicy tenderness.

CHUNKY SOYA BITES

chunky soya bites Recipe 1 cup dry soya chunks (swells up to double the quantity upon boiling in water for 5 minutes)

1 onion – thinly chopped

Puree of 2 tomatoes

2 tsp oil (vegetable/canola)

Pinch of Asafoetida (optional)

1 tsp cumin seeds

1 inch ginger – grated

2 cloves garlic – minced

2 small green chillies – finely chopped

Salt to taste

1/4 tsp turmeric powder

1 tsp dry mango powder (can substitute with 2 tsp tamarind paste/tamarind chutney)

1 tsp garam masala (optional)

2 tablespoon sour cream (can substitute with yoghurt)

2 tsp fresh coriander – finely chopped Method Preparing the soya chunks Take a deep saucepan. Fill in with enough water and bring to boil. Add in 1 tsp of salt. Add in the uncooked soya chunks and let it cook on simmer for 5 minutes. The soya chunks will double up in size. Shut the flame. Drain the water and let the soya chunks cool down. Squeeze out excess water from the chunks and keep aside. Take a saucepan/ kadhayi. Bring to high flame and pour in oil. Now add in asafoetida and cumin seeds. Let it splutter. Now add in chopped onion and fry till golden brown. Reduce the flame to medium and add in the tomato puree, ginger, garlic, chopped green chilli, turmeric, salt. Cover with lid and let it cook for 5 minutes. You may add in 1/4 cup water if you want a little gravy consistency. Remove the lid and add in dry mango powder, garam masala and sour cream/yoghurt. Add in the boiled soya chunks and mix well. Cover with lid and let it cook for 5 minutes. The chunky soya bites are ready. To serve, put the chunky soya bites on a dish and garnish with chopped coriander and finely chopped green chilli. Serve hot with chapatis/parathas.

This dish is hot, spicy and truly delicious. Chunky Soya bites are great to savour with bread, chapatis/parathas and even noodles. We loved this dish. It is a quick meal fixer and for us it was ideal. We savoured the first serving with chapati and the second batch went as a filling for wraps. Dry and non messy for sandwiches or wraps but still juicy and tender in each bite !!

Since i had made a good quantity to last for 2 meals for us, i had kept half the quantity in the refrigerator to be consumed the next day. To my wonder, i observed that the masalas in the dish had mingled in and matured overnight and my dish was tasting even better. So, maybe thats a good tip to keep in mind for future. If made a couple of hours in advance, the dishes requiring addition of various spices actually works better as the spices get time to get properly absorbed by the vegetables (soya in this case)

Try this dish and let me know if it helped you get a little closer to trying out soya in your meals !! 🙂

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