Meatless Tacos

Jump to Comments

A few years ago, I visited a health food store and picked up a bag of TVP. The cashier rang it up. While she was putting it into a bag, she paused and said, “What exactly do you do with this stuff?”

Texturized Vegetable Protein (aka “TVP”) is a soy replacement for ground beef. You used to only be able to find it at health food stores, but recently I’ve found it in large grocery stores such as Safeway and Superstore. Organic food markets might also carry it. It usually comes in a prepackaged bag, although I once saw it sold in bulk. TVP is always sold dry, and you have to reconstitute it and flavour it before or during cooking.

My favorite use for it is tacos, and I use my mother’s recipe. My husband, an avowed carnivore, actually prefers these tacos to traditional beef tacos.

You will need:

* 1 cup dry TVP
* 1 TB soy sauce
* about 1 cup boiling water
* 1 TB olive oil
* 1 onion, diced or minced
* 2 tsp garlic powder (or to taste)
* 3 tsp chili powder (or to taste)
* hard taco shells
* taco fixin’s (shredded cheese, lettuce, tomato, sour cream, hot sauce, etc)

Place dry TVP into a medium bowl. In a Pyrex glass measuring cup, put soy sauce, then fill cup to the 1 cup mark with boiling water. Pour the soy/water mixture over the TVP and stir well, making sure all the grains get wet. Set aside for 10 minutes.

In a medium frying pan, heat olive oil over medium heat until just hot (not smoking!). Add onion and sautee until onion is limp and well-cooked. Add reconstituted TVP to frying pan and mix well. (You may need to add another glop of olive oil if the mixture seems dry. It will dry out slightly in the frying pan.) Add garlic and chili powders to taste.

Spoon TVP mixture into taco shells. Put 4 filled taco shells on a plate and microwave on high for about 20-30 seconds. (This is optional, but it makes the tacos nice and hot, and they aren’t quite as fragile while you’re filling them with the lettuce and cheese.) Fill with any desired taco fillings and serve.

1 Comment

Filed under Food Favorites, Recipe, Vegetarian