Soya saga

My experiments with soya nuggets started early in life! I have always loved eating them; it made my mom happy too because it has so much protein and fibre and I used to gobble it up without any complaints. I remember I was in class 2, so I must be around 8 years old and even back then I used to try my hand at cooking although I was not allowed near the stove. I was a fussy eater back then and would create a huge tantrum whenever my mom would feed me meat or fish. Now apparently in my kiddie brain I realised that the texture and taste of soya nuggets is just somewhat similar to chicken if you put the right spices. So I made a sandwich for my parents and grandparents called it “Vegetarian chicken sandwich”. It just had two buttered slices of bread, a few slices of cucumber, onions, tomatoes, and soya nuggets soaked in saline water with a dash of pepper. I was extremely happy with my work when everyone liked it and felt so proud that I had done something different 😛 (Well, I have never been modest, you should know what you are good and bad at and accept it; being in denial is unhealthy!)

Anyway, I did not know that 20 years later I would have something called a blog and would write about things which you can make with soya nuggets: Besides soya bean curry, koftas or tikkis, here are some quick recipes where you can add soya nuggets to make your meal more nutritious and delicious:

1)      Scrambled eggs: Scrambled eggs and Maggi are an empty stomach’s best friends. When you have nothing in the fridge and are too tired to make anything but still want to eat something substantial, just scramble some eggs. (Always keep eggs, you can do wonders with them). Here’s what I usually did after coming home from work at 1 am: Chop half an onion, some chillies, garlic, tomatoes, coriander leaves, some soaked soya nuggets (don’t forget to squeeze out the water) and stir fry them in 1 tbsp oil for 3 minutes. Add salt, pepper, chilli powder, turmeric and stir for 2 minutes. Break two eggs and scramble them with the veggies and you have a delicious yet filling meal ready in less than 10 minutes. Serve it with some toasted bread if you want.

 

2)      Instant noodles/Maggi: Let’s get to the second best friend of an empty stomach: Maggi or any other brand of instant noodles (I love Wai Wai, Maggi Masala and Ata noodles). Add the same ingredients mentioned above and follow the same steps. Eggs are optional. Once the veggies and soya nuggets are stir fried with the spices, add the noodles and 1 cup water, not a lot. Stir it for 2 minutes and then add another cup and let it simmer for 2-3 minutes. Instead of soupy noodles, this will be a drier version of Maggi with chunky soya nuggets.

3)      Poha or flattened rice flakes: This combination was also discovered in a cold Delhi night, as usual after coming from office. Soya granules work better in this case and you don’t even need to soak them (ya, I always kept a packet of nuggets and granules, they are so easy to store). Soya granules are available in most markets in India and are great for making tikkis or koftas. I used it in poha: Heat 2 tbsp oil and fry chopped onions, ginger, garlic, chillies. Add diced potatoes, peas, French beans, carrots and soya granules and fry them with ½ tsp turmeric, chilli powder, cumin powder, coriander powder and salt. Add soaked poha (you can use them dry if the flakes are very thin) and stir for 3 minutes. Add a little water to just cover the poha and stir it till the water dries up. Sprinkle some chopped coriander leaves and serve hot.

4)      Fried rice/pulao: Fry some soya nuggets with vegetables of your choice with spices and seasoning. Stir in the parboiled rice and fry them together to make fried rice. You can add soy sauce too. It changes the taste, texture and brings in new flavours to an otherwise simple fried rice.

5)      Nuggets fry: I first tasted it when I was in primary school and my friend’s father gave this to her for tiffin. It had my favourite soya bean nuggets and they were fried! What better combination could I ask for! Basically all you need to do is soak soya nuggets in saline water and fry them with a dash of chilli powder, cumin powder, salt and pepper. Sprinkle some chaat masala on it. Instant snack!

6)      Sandwich/Tacos/Stuffed parathas: For cold sandwiches all you need to do is put some soaked soya nuggets along with sliced cucumber, onion, tomato, mayonnaise between slices of bread. For hot sandwiches, tacos or stuffed parathas, stir fry soya nuggets, chopped onions, garlic, tomatoes, baby corn, carrots, beans or any vegetable available right then with spices and seasoning and stuff it into slices of toasted bread, crispy or soft tacos and rotis. You can add cheese for tacos and sandwiches too.

7)      Soya bean kababs: A stall in Greenpark Market, New Delhi used to sell ‘vegetarian’ kababs like paneer, capsicum and also soya bean kababs which were the least expensive. I did not have a lot of money to indulge myself so I would buy the soya bean kababs and they tasted heavenly. Soak some soya nuggets in saline water, squeeze out the water. Make a paste of chilli powder, cumin powder, coriander powder, salt, pepper, a pinch of amchur, a little butter and smear it all over the nuggets. Put them in skewers and grill them or put it in the oven for a couple of minutes. Done!

8)      Salads: In a large bowl, throw in some chopped tomatoes, onions, cucumber, apples, chillies, baby radishes, baby corn, spinach leaves, basil leaves, coriander leaves, lettuce leaves, soaked soya nuggets, chopped boiled eggs (optional), a dash of olive oil, lemon juice/balsamic vinegar, mayonnaise (optional) salt and pepper. Toss it and serve. You can also lightly fry the soaked soya nuggets before adding them in the salad so that they have a crunchy texture like croutons.

Do let me know if you can think of any more uses for soya nuggets! I think I will make some for lunch today!