Soft tacos with soya and bean filling

It's Saturday and finally there's time to cook properly and relax with a film or a series binge in the evening, as I don't have many plans for the weekend. I'm just happy to be at home right now. This sort of tacos with a spicy soya chuck, black bean and sweetcorn filling would be just right for tonight. They are easy to make and fun to eat. These ones are full of protein and veggie goodness. Have a look at my recipe!

Soft tacos with soya and bean filling

Ingredients

1 cup dried soya chunks

1 onion

3 garlic cloves

Olive oil

2 small bell peppers

240 g / 1 can black beans

140 g / 1 small can sweetcorn

5 tomatoes

Ground cumin to taste

Ground coriander to taste

Smoked paprika to taste

2 tsp smoked chilli sauce

1 tbsp tomato purée

Splash of liquid aminos

Splash of liquid smoke

8 soft taco shells

Grated cheese

Chilli mayo or ketchup

Method

Prepare the soya chunks as per the packet instructions.

Chop the onion, garlic, tomatoes and bell peppers.

Cook the onion and garlic in olive oil until soft, then add the peppers, beans, sweetcorn and tomatoes.

Season and let simmer under the lid until the flavours have blended nicely.

Add the soya chunks into the vegetables and simmer some more.

Serve the mix with soft taco shells, grated cheese and chilli mayo or ketchup.

Enjoy!

I'm sharing this recipe with Jacqueline from Tinned Tomatoes blog for Meat Free Mondays.

Have a nice weekend!

Your VegHog

Spicy soya chunk tacos with char-grilled peppers and bean rice

If I didn't manage to post this for Taco Tuesday, perhaps we can have a Taco Thursday? The week is almost over and I hope to have more time to write, post, comment and edit photos over the weekend. I don't have anything special planned, so maybe I'll actually manage.

Quickly back to the taco subject, before I have to go to bed. I normally always add cheese to tacos, but now for a change I wanted to make well seasoned vegan tacos. I chose chilli and smoke marinated soya as the main protein and added some rice with black beans to the mix. Then in order to add some colour and more smokiness, I char-grilled bell peppers to be added to the tacos.

Ingredients

1 cup dried soya pieces

1 tsp vegetable stock extract

1 cup red camargue and wild rice

1 onion

2 garlic cloves

Vegetable oil

1 can black beans

Salt

Ground cumin

Ground coriander

2 bell peppers

Fresh coriander

Taco shells

For the soya marinade:

1 tbsp smoked chilli paste

1 tbsp maple syrup

1 tsp liquid smoke

1 tsp vegetable stock extract

Method

Cook the dried soya pieces in water for a few minutes and add some vegetable stock extract to the cooking water. Then drain them. Prepare the marinade by mixing the ingredients and then mix it with the soya pieces. Cover and let marinade in the fridge for a couple of hours.

Chop the onion and garlic finely and start cooking the onion first in vegetable oil. After the onion is soft and browned, add the garlic and cook for a couple of more minutes. Then add the black beans to the pan. Cook the rice separately in water and once cooked, mix it into the bean mix. Season with salt, ground cumin and ground coriander.

Cut thin strings from the bell peppers and char-grill them on a grill pan until they have distinct grilling marks.

Put all the fillings into taco shells, season with fresh coriander and enjoy!

Your VegHog 

Belgian Beer Stew

Now here is something I cooked last week when it was a bit chillier. However today I have a horrendous fever and cold, but writing about this recipe warms my heart a little bit. So greetings from the bottom of the bed, hopefully back up and cooking soon!

Ever since my last holiday to Belgium, I have been planning a dish to cook with Belgian beer, as I brought a few nice bottles with me. I chose to make a vegetable and soya stew out of it and here's the recipe. The potatoes I used were ruby red and so is the award winning Gouden Carolus Classic beer, so there's a bit of a ruby red theme going on. 

Ingredients

1 cup soya protein chunks

1 tbsp soy sauce

2 tbsp olive oil

1 carrot

8 small potatoes

3 small onions

3 garlic cloves

1 tbsp vegetable stock powder + 200-300 ml water

330 ml / 1 bottle dark Belgian beer (I used Gouden Carolus Classic beer 8,5 %)

Fresh sage leaves

Fresh flat leaf parsley leaves

Black pepper to taste

Method

Prepare the soya protein chunks as described on the packet. Mine needed to be boiled in water for a few minutes and then they can be fried in oil, which I also did. Pour a little soy sauce on them and set to side for later.

Chop the vegetables: carrots into slices, potatoes into halves or quarters depending on the size, onions into thin half rings and garlic finely.

Start slow-cooking the onions in olive oil at low heat and under the lid. They should simmer there until they start getting brown and very soft. Stir them occasionally. Then add the chopped garlic and simmer some more.

After that the potatoes and carrots can be added, first stirred in for a few minutes and then the beer can be added. Let it cook for a few minutes and then also add the vegetable stock.

Cook under lid for at least 40 minutes until the potatoes are cooked and the flavours have blended nicely.

Season with black pepper, parsley and sage and add more beer or stock, if needed. I didn't add any salt, because I felt that the beer and vegetable stock added enough saltiness.

And it's all done! Enjoy!

Your VegHog

Macaroni casserole

This is a different version of macaroni cheese without a creamy sauce and with added soy mince. This one is quick an easy to make and a perfect dinner for busy weekdays.

WARNING! This recipe makes two large oven dishes, so if there aren't enough eaters, half the amounts or prepare as cheap eats and freeze for future use.

Ingredients

1,5 cups soy mince

1tsp vegetable stock powder

2tbsp soy sauce

3 shallots

3 garlic cloves

2 bell peppers

1tbsp olive oil

2tsp salt

1tsp white pepper

1tsp paprika

1tbsp parsley

500g macaroni

300g Red Leicester and Cheddar cheese mix grated

Method

Hydrate the soy mince in water with added vegetable stock powder and soy sauce for about 15 minutes.

Chop the shallots, garlic and peppers and cook them in olive oil until soft. Add the drained soy mince to the pan and season. Let it simmer for about 20 minutes to let the flavours blend.

Boil the macaroni in water until done. Then add it to the soy mince and stir.

Place everything into large oven dishes and cover with grated cheese.

Bake at 200C for 15 minutes until the cheese has melted and is golden brown.

Enjoy!

Your VegHog

Carrot, pepper and zucchini patties with soya

This is a recipe for very quick and tasty vegetable patties made of basic ingredients. I added some soya to these as well for the extra healthy touch and these patties are almost vegan. I used eggs to bind the mixture, but feel free to substitute it.

Ingredients

1 small zucchini

3 carrots

1 red pepper

1 onion

1dl soya crunch

Fresh parsley

Fresh chives

2 eggs

1dl wheat flour

1tsp nettle salt

Ground black pepper

Vegetable oil for frying

Method

This is how to make the patties: grate the carrots, pepper and zucchini and chop the onion small. Boil the soya crunch in water for 5 minutes and remove its excess water by pressing it through a sieve. Mix all these ingredients in a bowl and add the eggs and the flour. Add enough flour to make the mixture fairly firm but you might need more than one desiliter flour or not quite that much depending on the juiciness of the vegetables.

Season the mix with salt and pepper. I now have this nettle salt that I like to use all the time, so I added it here as well, but don't worry if you can't get such a thing. Season the mix also generously with some fresh parsley and chives.

Heat some vegetable oil in a pan to a moderate temperature. Put enough oil to the pan to enable shallow frying. Shape fairly small and thin patties of the mix directly to the pan and fry each side for a few minutes until the patties are firm and fried golden brown.

Place them on a piece of kitchen roll to tap off the excess oil.

These are best to be served as a side with potatoes, salad and maybe some light gravy.

Enjoy!

Your VegHog