Friday Flashback – Fast, Cheap, & Easy TVP Tacos!

Many, many moons ago, if you were veg, there were two things you always had on your pantry shelf. (Even if you had to mail order them.)

One was TVP – aka Textured Vegetable Protein. For making meaty “crumbles” and bulking up homemade bean burgers. The other was Nooch – aka Nutritional Yeast. For that cheesy taste.

(Why didn’t we just buy Gardein crumbles and vegan cheese? Because Gardein and Daiya hadn’t been invented yet!)

Recently, I’ve been going back to the basics and using TVP again. It’s friendlier to my food budget than commercial crumbles and much tastier.

The trick is to correctly rehydrate and season the TVP. You don’t just throw a cupful of dry, unhydrated, unseasoned TVP into spaghetti sauce and chili and hope for the best.

Instead, combine a cup of TVP, a hot/boiling cup of vegetable broth for umami (in the old days we used liquid smoke), and let sit for 10 minutes, covered.

Then, lightly pan fry/saute the TVP with onions and garlic, and/or season with spices. The TVP will absorb the flavor as well as take on a more appetizing texture. After that you can add your tomatoes, taco sauce – whatever floats your vegan boat.

Here’s how I make my TVP Tacos. This typically takes me about 20 minutes.

Ingredients for Fast, Cheap, & Easy TVP Tacos

• 1 Cup TVP
• 1 Cup Vegetable Broth
• 1 TBL Vegetable Oil
• 1 Large Yellow Onion
• 3 Garlic Cloves, minced or pressed
• 2 tsp Chili Powder
• 1 tsp Ground Cumin
• 1 tsp Hot Hungarian Paprika
• 1 10 oz. can of Rotel Tomatoes
• 1/4 Cup Salsa
• Taco Shells
• Chopped Avocados or Guacamole
• Any Other Toppings Desired

Directions for TVP Tacos:

In a small pot, bring the vegetable broth to a boil. Add the TVP and cover. Let sit for 10 minutes.

In the meantime, heat the oil in a skillet. Add the onion and sauté for 3-5 minutes. Add the garlic and sauté for another minute or two.

Add the TVP. Add the chili powder, cumin, and paprika. Stir to mix the spices with the TVP, then let cook for about 5 minutes, until the TVP has “browned” a little.

Add the Rotel tomatoes. Simmer for another few minutes.

Add a few spoons of salsa, up to 1/4 cup. Keep in mind we are trying to make a very juicy taco filling, not soup. If you find you have too much liquid, just keep cooking until the liquid thickens and evaporates.

Spoon into taco shells and top with more salsa, if desired, and avocado chunks or guacamole. That’s another old school vegan trick – avocados can easily stand in for cheese in many dishes because of their creaminess and (healthy) fat content.

Serve with a Funky Cold Medina – err, I mean, a shot of Ritual tequila.

Notes:

• I use Better than Bouillon Base for the broth. I love it because you mix spoonfuls of the base with hot water to create only as much or as little broth as you need – very economical. Plus, it’s delicious! I’m partial to the Vegetable Base but they also make a vegan No Chicken base and No Beef base.
• For TVP, I prefer Bob’s Red Mill.
• I like using Rotel tomatoes because they seem to taste fresher than most canned tomatoes. Plus, since they have chilis and come in several different heat levels, you can eliminate the step of dicing and sautéing chilis.
• I use Pace salsa for these tacos. It’s not a great salsa, but it’s a good, basic, inexpensive salsa that’s ideal for recipes because the flavors won’t overpower the rest of the food. The main purpose of adding salsa to recipes is just to give the food a wee bit more flavor and more of a fresh taste. I save my really good salsas for chips or nachos.