Yes, they are the same as the dehydrated soy chunks.

What are the Chinese chunks made from? Haven’t tried that before.

Textured vegetable protein. Has a meat-like texture to it and is very versatile depending on how you cook it and spice it.

I thought so as well, but it does actually make a big difference. You can try it and see if the result is worth it for you.

If you have a soy allergy you can try a chana masala with chickpeas, or use a pea-protein alternative instead of TVP.

Seitan would also work depending on how you prepare it. You can find many recipes on how to make seitan shreds.

Yeah, they’re in strip form like these here

Just to clarify, I boil them in veggie stock and bit of dark soy sauce (light works too, but the dark soy sauce gives them more colour). I then make sure to squeeze them really well so they’re not overly soggy. Then I fry them in a pan with the spices and the Worcestershire sauce.

Edit: Another tip is to quickly rinse them with cold water before hydrating them. This removes any of the raw soy or dry sort of flavour.

Agreed. I don’t mind sharing how I made something, tips and tricks, things I found useful or handy, etc. But I don’t have an exact recipe for every dish I make and a lot of the times I even forget. What spices did I use? Yeah I know the general idea, but not exactly how much or even each and every spice.

The question “how did you make this” or better yet, asking about a specific aspect of the dish is much better and more fair than “please provide the recipe”.

Wow, thanks for the very thorough reply! And given those ingredients I bet it was incredibly good!

The mushroom sauce and red onions/shallots are probably the main culprits I would guess. The wine also does give a beautiful glaze, I use Mirin a lot in my Asian-inspired dishes and it really elevates the final look of the dish.

From what I remember I more-or-less followed the recipe from here and used TVP instead of chickpeas: https://naturallieplantbased.com/vegan-tikka-masala/

For the TVP I usually hydrate it in veggie stock, use a bit of soy sauce and vegan Worcestershire sauce and some spices including garlic powder, onion powder, smoked paprika, and maybe change it up a bit depending on the dish.

Looks delicious!

I noticed the colour is quite a lot deeper than when I usually make it, is it the wine? Or maybe you cook the onions for longer?

Thank you! I’ll try to write down a recipe for it sometime soon, everyone ought to try this dish once at least 🙂

The mushroom-scallion oil sounds very interesting! I’ll definitely give that a try as well, I bet it’s worth the effort.

I use smoked tofu and fry it in the same pan with the mushrooms, then season them with soy sauce and a drip of toasted sesame oil.

A very very important tip is to add toasted sesame oil, for me this is absolutely not optional! It brings out all the other flavours and really elevates the dish to another level. If the dish would be a 5/10, adding toasted sesame oil would take it up to 8/10 just on its own, it’s that crucial!

If you have any questions or comments please let me know! I love this dish so much.

Fresh shiitake mushrooms cost around 3eur for a 150g package. A bag of dried shiitake which is like 150grams is around 5eur and it lasts me a long time. I usually take 2-3 dried shiitake mushrooms at a time when making soup or stock, they impart a very strong flavour when they’re rehydrated.

I really like the eggplant/zucchini combo in a lot of dishes. Mediterranean cuisine has a lot of it.

Shepherds pies are delicious and so satisfying. I think Jamie Oliver’s tip with squeezing the oil over the potatoes before putting it in the oven is really good. Gives the potatoes a very nice crispy and delicious outer layer (and it looks great too!) Timestamp here: https://youtu.be/vkTfd0SihMM?feature=shared&t=354

Is that mostly to have it smoother? I don’t mind the chunky texture 🙂

If the foil too is unnecessary and could be avoided, I do not see why not.

I guess it would work if you’re careful with the placement of the sauce.