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