Friday, March 23, 2012

Broccoli with Beef--Veganized!

My wife and I recently went through about fifty banker's boxes full of paperwork, receipts, holiday decorations, and odds and ends from closets and drawers after our most recent move.  We also repaired and reorganized a secretary desk so that we could actually store office supplies in it and use it as a desk. (What a novel idea!)  This activity was strewn over several days and produced two very important results: 1) we discarded a lot of old paperwork that was now trash, donated unused items and reduced the number of banker's boxes we needed from fifty down to twenty two! and; 2) we found a few stashes of unused gift cards to various stores, over $400 in value!

Among these gift cards we had $50 to spend at Barnes and Noble.  Since my wife and daughter both have Kindles, there weren't a lot of books they wanted to physically purchase, so they let me buy several more vegan cookbooks to have on hand.  Later at home, as I was thumbing through new recipes, I came across a new product called Soy Curls in one of the books.  There was a brief description of what they were and it intrigued me enough to look them up online--what a find!  Here is the website so you can look at the product information yourself: Soy Curls  There was a list of retailers on the website and I was hoping to find that our brand new Whole Foods in Lynnwood carried them, but no such luck.  An Albertson's just a few suburbs away did carry them, however, so I took a twenty minute drive on a beautiful day to try them out.  The following Broccoli with "Beef" recipe was my first use of them and the result convinced me that I would transition from using TVP (textured vegetable protein) to using Soy Curls instead.

As you know from previous posts, I use TVP or dehydrated soy chunks a lot and it can mimic meat texture and flavor really well when re hydrated properly.  TVP is made from defatted soy flour and is highly processed so it is a fractionalized food as opposed to a whole food.  Soy Curls are processed as well, but are made from non GMO whole soy beans without chemical pesticides.  So, it's closer to a whole food than TVP is, and because it has the natural fat left in, the texture is actually more genuinely meaty and gave my recipe a superior result.  The best news is that you use them the same--re hydrate with water or broth or, as I always do, half broth half wine.  Soy Curls end up producing "beef" strips or "chicken" strips instead of chunks, but if you are making a stew, for example, you can cut the strips into chunks after re hydrating.  So now, when you think of beef strips, you can use Soy Curls for Asian stir fry recipes, Mexican fajitas and burritos, stroganoff, "steak" sandwiches, etc.  And when you think of chicken strips, again think of stir fries, fajitas, pasta with "chicken," etc.  You can make them more like pork and put them in a slow cooker with barbecue sauce for a pulled "pork" effect, or you can cut the "beef" strips into chunks for stews or the "chicken" strips into chunks for chicken salad.  You have to try these out to wean your families off of meat--they are less expensive* to buy, better for you, and can probably fool most people!

Veganized Broccoli with "Beef"
  • 1 8 oz bag Soy Curls
  • 2 cups vegan Merlot wine
  • 2 cups water
  • 4 tsp half sodium Better than Bouillon No Beef paste
  • 1 large onion, sliced
  • 4-6 cloves garlic, minced
  • 2 tsp minced ginger root
  • 2 tbsp low sodium soy sauce
  • 2 tbsp corn starch
  • 1 additional cup cool broth
  • 3 lbs organic frozen broccoli
  • Ground black pepper to taste
In an extra large skillet (I use my 14 inch skillet which I also use for things like paella) heat the wine and water and bouillon paste to  boiling.  Turn burner off, add Soy Curls, place lid on skillet and set timer for 10 minutes.  You can remove the lid and stir every once in a while to make sure that all the curls have contact with the hot liquid.  While the curls re hydrate into strips, slice your onions, mince your garlic and ginger, and mix the corn starch with the additional cup of cooled broth.  When the timer goes off, remove the lid and turn your burner to medium heat and add onions, garlic and ginger.  Saute with the curls until onions are translucent and there is little liquid left in the pan. At this point add about a half cup water to deglaze the pan and stir until brown bits come off the pan, add frozen broccoli and put lid back on, turn heat to low and simmer until broccoli is cooked but still bright green.  Remove lid, add soy sauce and remaining broth with corn starch and continue stirring until sauce is thickened.  Turn heat off and serve with steamed brown rice.  This quantity will easily serve eight people.  I think next time I have to make something sweet and sour!  MMMMMMMMMMMM!

Lower fat, lower sodium and way cheaper than take out!

*An 8 oz bag retails for $3.99 and will produce 24 oz of "meat." If you buy bulk direct from Butler Foods you can get the cost down to $2.54/8 oz, and that cost includes shipping expenses!

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