Caramelized Textured Soy Protein

Some will say to me “Bless you girl”, because the evocation of these little bits of secs will not really speak to them.
You stick your finger in your eye to the shoulder blade as my father would say, and it seems like a more painful and physical maneuver than learning to like textured soy protein.
Today I share with you a recipe that I love, and which can be used in many ways in your daily life: caramelized textured soy proteins aka, your future favorite PST recipe (for friends).

What is textured soy protein?

It’s all dry little bits (I didn’t say it was totally false) sold in packages or in the bulk department. There are several sizes and shapes: small, medium, large, medallions, matches… And of all qualities.
Those sold in organic stores are generally quite firm, I do not recommend very large ones which will give you the impression of eating a bowl of cereal more than something melting and soft.
On the other hand, the very small and medium ones are in my opinion passable and rather good provided they have been well seasoned. That’s good, that’s the topic of the day!

In stores, I usually buy those of the markal brand, which are enough for my use. To know: I order very little on the internet, so I only buy very rarely on sites, and therefore I am satisfied with these products.
For a different use or a wish to vary the pleasures, I advise you to turn to other brands such as Hello bio or vantastic food soy proteins.

How to cook caramelized soy protein?

The textured soy protein have long remained in my jars. Not too many ideas for preparing them, not really wanting to eat half-crunchy things that I had badly rehydrated.
It’s amazing how unfamiliarity with an ingredient can make it hateful to you.

This recipe makes soy protein very melting and at the same time caramelized and well coated with sauce. They are voluntarily quite seasoned, it is possible to put only half of the seasoning for a lighter result in salt/aroma.
I like to eat them in dishes with vegetables, rice: they bring a sweet and salty note full of umami.

To start, whatever the size of the soy proteins, I rehydrate them: the first time I prepared them, I tossed them plain in tomato sauce, you can imagine that we rarely hope to eat our bolognese with small pieces which crunch inside.
To carry out this rehydration, we are not going to just put water when we can put taste in the liquid, right?
Here I chose to put broth and tamari.
You can only put one or the other, it’s up to you. Know in any case that if your broth AND the tamari sauce are salty, it will also be salty in the end because we will here completely evaporate the juice. It will concentrate the aromas so if you are afraid that it will be too much for you, take it easy.

I ordered on Cabin of 12 a broth from the Écoidées “beef taste” brand. If it does not taste like beef, it is a pleasant flavor that emerges from its preparation, and I find it nice in this kind of recipe.
You can use a simple vegetable broth, preferably without added salt, or plan to add miso to bring a strong umami flavor. The more it goes, the more I eat miso, it has really become an essential in my kitchen (I use red miso, its taste is well fermented but at the same time a little less strong than brown).

To avoid all the problems of missing caramel, I decided to do things very simply. We let the soy proteins rehydrate, in water that we will have boiled well beforehand: it really helps to soften them and make them swell well.
Then, I put them in the pan with a little fat and the maple syrup, and let them reduce over low heat, until the proteins are coated with a delicious, well-spiced caramelized binder.
There is no simpler, and at the same time, not really a better thing.

These caramel soy proteins can be delicious with a vegan alfredo sauceor to replace the smoked tofu in this recipe of smoked tofu chard .