OK, listen up, cooking class, because I'm gonna give you the only recipe on earth that:
  1. Uses textured vegetable protein, and
  2. Actually tastes good. I have this on good authority from my sister, who lives in a vegan house on her campus, and has tasted several permutations of food that contains TVP.
You can use this recipe to impress your vegetarian potential SO. This is a modification my Mom made to a traditional Mexican recipe. It is served in a large crock, with the chili on the bottom and a layer of cornbread on top.

For the chili, you need:

  1. 3 tablespoons cooking oil or olive oil
  2. 1 c. TVP + 1 c. boiling water
  3. 2 medium onions, minced
  4. 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder, or 2 cloves, crushed
  5. 1 teaspoon oregano
  6. 2 teaspoons salt
  7. 1 teaspoon red chili powder
  8. 1 cup water
  9. 3/4 cup cooked fresh-frozen corn
  10. 2 cups tomatoes or 1 can No. 2 tomatoes (Mom uses home-canned tomatoes)
  11. 1 sweet green pepper, chopped
  12. 2 cups cooked green beans or 2 cups cooked pinto beans (or red kidney beans and garbanzo beans)
  13. 12 pepitas (pumpkin seeds) (Can be purchased from a mexican grocery store)
For the cornbread, you need:
  1. 3/4 cup corn meal
  2. 1-1/4 cups all-purpose flour
  3. 2 teaspoons baking powder
  4. 1/4 cup sugar
  5. 1/2 teaspoon salt
  6. 2 eggs
  7. 1/4 cup peanut oil
  8. 1 cup water or soy milk
Instructions:
  1. Cook the TVP, onions, garlic and green peppers in the hot oil.
  2. Add all other ingredients, except those for the cornbread.
  3. Simmer for 30 minutes.
  4. Preheat the oven to 375, while you prepare the cornbread. The original recipe calls for only corn meal, flour and water.
  5. In a medium-sized mixing bowl, beat the eggs, and then beat in the milk and oil.
  6. Sift the corn meal, flour, baking powder and sugar into the liquid mixture, beating slowly just until dry ingredients are moistened.
  7. Immediately, transfer the chili into a baking dish and spoon the cornbread batter evenly over it.
  8. Bake for 30 minutes, or until the cornbread is golden brown and a wooden toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
Serves six.