I recently discovered soy granules and experimented with them in a few recipes. In my opinion, the recipe where it excels is ragù. The soy granules ragù is an excellent alternative to meat ragù, really.
It’s also a nutritious and protein-rich alternative to vegetable ragù, which I love and cook often.
In fact, vegetable ragùs made with coarsely chopped vegetables are the type of sauce I make most often, because they are perfect for getting my kids to eat vegetables (sometimes without them knowing it 🙄).
During the summer, I often made eggplant ragù, the only way I’ve found so far to make eggplants edible for my kids. But today I confirmed what I’d already experienced before: adding eggplants to sauces always works! 😉
And then this soy granules ragù is also a smart recipe. Unlike seitan (the only meat alternative I’d tried as a ragù before, and my kids always ‘detected’ it!), soy granules have a texture remarkably similar to meat ragù, satisfying both the picky palates and eyes, who in the end… ‘even if it’s not meat, it’s good’… they had seconds! and despite there being zucchini and eggplant inside, which is no small feat 😀
A plate of pasta with this ragù becomes a complete meal: grains (pasta, i.e., carbohydrates) + legumes (soy, i.e., vegetable proteins) + vegetables + minimal amount of fats (extra virgin olive oil). Nothing missing I’d say. 😉
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Other ideas for dressing pasta with vegetables:
- Difficulty: Easy
- Cost: Cheap
- Rest time: 15 Minutes
- Preparation time: 30 Minutes
- Portions: 4
- Cooking methods: Stovetop
- Cuisine: Vegan
- Seasonality: All seasons
Ingredients
- 1.8 oz soy granules (weighed dry)
- 1 carrot (large)
- 1 zucchini (small)
- 1 eggplant (small, or half if large)
- 1 onion (small)
- 14 oz tomato sauce
- oregano (or thyme)
- cinnamon (a small stick piece)
- 1 clove
- 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- 1 small glass white wine (optional)
Tools
- Pan
- Bowl
Steps
Before moving on to the procedure description, I’ll leave you a couple of clarifications about soy granules.
Like some other foods, before being treated and cooked, soy granules don’t look very appetizing, let’s admit it. Just like ground beef, raw chicken, or fish to be cleaned don’t look that appealing before cooking and releasing those delicious smells of meat ragù, roast chicken, or grilled fish, right?
Well, soy granules, too, aren’t much to look at and in my opinion, they smell a bit like bird feed 🙄 and you wouldn’t think they could, later, turn into an excellent ragù. Yet they do, I assure you! 😉Okay, with that premise, which I hope convinces the skeptics, the first thing to do before cooking the ragù is to: rehydrate the soy granules.
The method described on the soy granules package suggests cooking them in water or broth for 10 minutes, and I did so (in water). Then leaving them for another 10-15 minutes in the cooking water before draining. I did this because the package said the rehydrated granules would triple in volume compared to the dry product, but since it didn’t seem tripled to me at all, I thought of soaking them a bit longer. The result I got is this:
The bowl on the left contains 50 grams of dry granules and the one on the right the same amount rehydrated. As you can see, by eye, one could say it’s doubled perhaps, but not tripled. Then weighing it, I found that the 50 grams of my dry granules became 200 grams rehydrated. So, doubled or tripled, or whatever, it doesn’t matter much, this is the amount of granules I guarantee you for a ragù for 500 grams of pasta.
Once the granules are drained to remove excess absorbed water, proceed as in the preparation of a regular ragù:
– chop the onion and vegetables
– sauté the chopped mixture for a few minutes in a little oil in a large pan, in which the pasta will be tossed at the end
– pour in the rehydrated soy granules, mix, and season with pepper, or a pinch of chili, and add a piece of cinnamon stick and a clove.
These spices are optional, but if you’re used to using them in meat ragù, do it here too, because it ‘works well’ 😉 Optionally, instead of adding them at this stage, you can put them in the granules’ cooking water, as they absorb the spices’ aroma during rehydration. I’ve tried, and it works 😉
– let it flavor for a few minutes, then deglaze with a bit of wine (I used white, but red works just as well), and if you don’t have wine, it can also be omitted
– cook without a lid for 5-10 minutes, depending on how moist the vegetables are and how well the soy granules were drained, but until the moisture evaporates
– add the tomato sauce, a pinch of oregano or thyme, and cook with a semi-closed lid for no more than half an hour, stirring occasionally.
If you’ve already read my recipe for meat ragù, you know that I’m for quick cooking; ragùs that cook for half a morning aren’t for me 😀
– adjust with more oil if necessary, and toss the pasta directly in the ragù cooking pan, tossing it for a couple of minutes.Enjoy your meal!!!
Salt-Free Tips
Naturally, in my soy granules ragù, I didn’t add any salt 🙂 but, as always, I compensated with the great aroma of spices. Cloves and cinnamon, plus a pinch of herbs, are a foolproof remedy, trust me! 😊
If you’re interested in reducing or eliminating salt, always remember to:
▫ Gradually reduce the salt; your palate needs to adjust gradually and shouldn’t notice the progressive reduction.
▫ Use spices. Chili, pepper, curry, nutmeg, cinnamon, cloves, cumin…
▫ Use herbs. Basil, parsley, oregano, thyme, sage, marjoram, rosemary, mint…
▫ Use seeds. Sesame, pine nuts, almonds, walnuts…
▫ Use spicy vegetables or fruits. Garlic, onion, lemon, orange…
▫ Use my salt-free vegetable granules and gomasio.
▫ Prefer fresh foods.
▫ Avoid cooking in water, prefer methods that don’t disperse flavors (griddle, parchment, steam, microwave)
▫ Avoid bringing the saltshaker to the table!
▫ Occasionally allow yourself a break from the rule. It’s good for morale and helps you persevere.
If you don’t want to, or can’t, give up salt:
▫ You can still try my recipes salting according to your habits.
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In my new WhatsApp channel and on Instagram, on the Facebook page and Pinterest boards, in my two groups: Catia’s group, in the kitchen and beyond and Exactly what I was looking for! and if you want… subscribe to my Newsletter.
