Day 28: Stir Fry Soya Nuggets - Two Recipes Using 2 Different Sauces - March 30, 2014

Soya Nuggets Cooked with VH Spicy Thai Chili Sauce

Soya Nuggets Cooked with (Lee Kum Kee) Black Bean Sauce 

Soya nuggets, or soya chunks, are a protein-rich filler or substitute that can be used in any dish to replace meat or meat products.  They are sold dry and can pick up the flavour of whatever you put with them.  Today, we decided to create two different variations using two different jarred sauces.

We have read many web sites that claim how delicious and easy to use the soya nuggets are.  They are used often by vegetarians who are looking for a protein boost, and have a meat-like texture.  They are also used as fillers with some foods, but most of what we found was geared toward a vegetarian.  In fact, several websites specifically claim that using these will give you the "meat fix" you want without the cholesterol and heart disease you don't want.  We are not sure what health benefits soya nuggets may offer (or not), or if they prevent other health issues.  What we do know is that they were easy to use and gave us something new to try.

In order to use these soya nuggets, they must be reconstituted.  That means that the water needs to be put back into the nuggets.  This is easy to do through soaking the soya nuggets in water for about 15 to 30 minutes before you use them.  The longer you soak them, the softer they will be.  We did read that people would soak these in a vegetable broth for added flavour.  We chose to use water only so we could taste the actual nuggets without being 'fooled' by the flavour of the broth.

But, how could we figure out what to do with them once they were softened?  The more we read online, the more the choices became clear -- we should use them as if they were chicken, and use a pre-made sauce to make it easy.  We chose two different sauces to use.  They were two of the more common choices as we read through all the different sites.  The most common was a curry sauce, but the ones we found in the store had fish or milk products, so we stayed clear of those.

RECIPE  1: Soy Nuggets with Spicy Thai Chili Sauce.

The first which we chose is the VH Spicy Thai Chili Sauce.  A recipe is on the jar of sauce and was geared toward making Chili Glazed Salmon.  But there is a also note that chicken can be substituted.  We did substitute for a chicken-like product by using these soya nuggets.  The recipe is for the sauce that you pour over the salmon or chicken, and it sounded like it would taste good, so we followed it to make our first pan of soya nuggets.

For this sauce recipe, you will need the following:
1/2 cup VH Spicy Thai Chili Sauce
2 TBSP VH Soya Sauce (any brand will do)
2 TBSP orange juice
Cooking Spray, as needed

Spray your baking pan with pan spray and pour in the strained soya nuggets.  They should have been soaked in water or broth, then the excess liquid needs to be drained.  Then, put the softened nuggets into the baking pan.

In a separate bowl, mix together the Spicy Thai Chili Sauce, Soya Sauce, and orange juice.  Pour this mixture over the soya nuggets.  Bake at 400º F (about 205ª C) for 15 minutes.  Serve hot.

RECIPE 2: Soy Nuggets With Black Bean Garlic Sauce

Our second sauce was Lee Kum Kee Black Bean Garlic Sauce.  We like black bean sauce with chicken, vegetables, beef, and fish, so we should like it with soya nuggets -- right?  Well, to make this dish, we followed the stir-fry recipe on the bottle.  We used the soya nuggets in place of diced chicken.

For this recipe, you will need the following:

1 TBSP oil
1 cup soya nuggets
2 TBSP Black Bean Garlic Sauce
1 bell pepper, diced
1 small onion, diced

This is a straight-forward stir fry.  Start by heating 1 TBSP oil in a frying pan or a wok.  When the pan is hot, put the soya nuggets in the hot pan and cook them for three minutes.  Make sure to keep the nuggets moving inside the pan so they do not burn or stick to the pan.

Add the sauce to the nuggets and cook for 1 minute more.

Add the onions and peppers and stir fry for two minutes until the vegetables are soft.  Serve hot over rice or noodles.

We liked both the sauces.  The Spicy Thai Chili Sauce had a sweet flavour with a little kick of hot at the end.  On the other hand, the Black Bean and Garlic Sauce gave us the smooth, salty taste that we like.  Both were good sauces, and both are suitable for vegan diets.  The soya nuggets did pick up the flavours of both sauces, as mentioned across the web.  We thought they were a little chewy -- like over cooked chicken would be, and that was not something we expected.  As a straight substitute, this may not be the best answer for us, but it is a decent answer.  We like experimenting with different foods, and this was well worth trying!

"Just as the thought of fire does not warm the body, so faith without love does not actualize the light of spiritual knowledge in the soul.

From St. Maximos the Confessor (The Philokalia Vol. 2; Faber and Faber pg. 56)

Source of quote: http://theodorakis.net/orthodoxquotescomplete.html