Central Illinois Vegan

Have you ever wanted to work with a ground meat-like substitute that didn't cost so much money? Let me introduce you to TVP! This magical stable is not only cheap, but it's versatility and ease of use are unmatched in do-it-yourself meat substitutes. It's great in sauces, chili, sloppy joes, and my personal favorite: tacos. Before we get too much deeper into TVP tacos, let's talk more about the magical ingredient itself.

Textured Vegetable Protein is a soy product. It is made by extruding the protein of soy beans and then dehydrating it. The two most common ways that you can find TVP are chunks (about 2-3cm in either square or rectangular chunks) and granules. If you'd like to learn more details on TVP, you can check out this Wikipedia page: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Textured_vegetable_protein

The first thing to know about TVP is that you need to keep an eye on your moisture. TVP takes roughly two-to-one moisture to TVP by volume, though your moisture need not necessarily be water. Whether this is water, broth, tomato sauce, Tamari, even a bit of oil can get in there. While you're at it, don't miss an opportunity to season your TVP here. Salt, chili powder, cumin, garlic powder, cayenne pepper, whatever you want. Never miss the opportunity to season while soaking, it's the only way to really get your seasoning inside the pieces.

So, now, onto tacos! I'm going to give you the recipe for my taco "meat," I'll let you figure out what else to put on your tacos and whether to use tortillas, shells, chips or whatever.

Here's what you need:

• 1/2 cup TVP
• 1/2 cup tomato juice
• 1/2 cup water
• 1/2 tsp table salt
• 1/2 tbsp olive oil (not extra virgin)
• Another 1 1/2 tbsp of olive oil (also not extra virgin) for frying

Here's how you do it:

1. First, dilute your tomato juice with that water right there.  Yeah, that water, right there.
2. Take your salt and oil and then put it into the tomato juice.
3. Now, pour your TVP into your tomato juice mixture, stir well.
4. Occasionally come back and stir, it should be done in roughly 8-10 minutes.
5. Now, heat your pan, then heat your oil, and add your rehydrated TVP, stir regularly until it's hot and tender but still firm.

When you're done with this you can put it into the taco shells with all of your other stuff. This is a great thing to make when you're just craving TACOS.