Ashy's vegetarian recipes ©2002 all rights reserved

Stir-fried soy-protein with radish

Soy-protein. Yuk! There are times, however, when you end up eating it. I don't really know why but it's probably because the stuff keeps for ever, and when you've eaten almost everything else in the house, guess what you find stuck at the back of the cupboard?

Soy-protein is said to be fairly nutritious but I don't believe that. It seems far to processed to be good for you. I reckon the guys who market it are playing on peoples fear that they are not getting enough protein in their diet. It's probably mostly mums who buy it to take to their vegetarian children when they visit them at university. I'm biased, I know, but I feel that accepting something like soy-protein as a necessary and beneficial part of your diet is tantamount to admitting that a diet of fresh vegetables and dried, but otherwise unprocessed pulses and grains is deficient. Bollocks.

Another thing to think about is the fact that soy beans are one of the main crops targeted by the genetic modification crew. Now we can buy packets of food that say, 'Does not contain GM products', but every so often we hear that such a packet was in fact found to contain traces of GM products. There are two possible scenarios here. One is that the food gets contaminated by accident but since, luckily, we have such rigorous checking systems, the error is discovered before it's too late and the companies who produce the stuff get so embarassed that they invest loads of money in a review of their whole production system as part of their quest for ever higher standards.

The other scenario is that the companies simply don't give a stuff and find it economically more viable to take a chance and just accept the consequences each time they get caught out. I know which version I believe, but then I'm just a cynic.

Here's the recipe if you still want to go through with this. It does actually taste quite good.

Ingredients:

 

A large handful of dried soy-protein
1 carrot
6 or 7 radishes (more of they're small)
A piece of cabbage or some bean sprouts
2 cm piece fresh ginger
3 or 4 cloves of garlic
1/4 tsp. whole coriander seeds
1/4 tsp. whole aniseeds
1-1/2 tablespoons soy sauce
Instant noodles minus flavouring sachets (1/2 packet per person)

  Soak the soy-protein in boiling water for 15-20 minutes then rinse it in cold water. Cut the radishes, carrots and ginger into matchsticks and slice the garlic. Shred the cabbage thinly if you're using it. If you are using bean sprouts, just toss them in whole. Pile all the prepared vegetables on a plate.

  Put a pan of water on to boil for the noodles (have the noodles out of the packet, ready to chuck into the water when it has boiled) then heat a little oil in a large frying pan or wok until it is smoking. Fry the seeds for five seconds then add the soy-protein and stir it about for a minute. Put all the other ingredients except the soy sauce into the frying pan and stir fry at a high temperature for 5 to 8 minutes - until the vegetables are softening. Chop sticks are best for stirring if you can use them. Add the soy sauce - pour it straight from the bottle and don't be too fussy about the amount. It should sizzle and steam. Remove from the heat, give a final stir and it's ready.

  During the frying the water will have boiled and you should have added the noodles, covered the pan and turned the heat right down - they only take a few minutes to cook. Drain them when they are soft, which should be around the same time as the vegetables are ready.

 
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