Vegan Soy Sloppy Joes

Photo: Learning Vegan

This recipe is for "Messy Mikes" from my favorite cookbook author Joanne Stepaniak's book Vegan Vittles.  She offers two versions: one made with tempeh and one with TVP (texturized vegetable protein).  I'm reprinting her TVP version here because while Mexico doesn't have tempeh, every corner store in the country seems to carry TVP (they call it "soya"), along with the rest of these everyday ingredients.  Make this recipe, and your Mexican friends will once again be so surprised at how you can use common Mexican ingredients to create such an exotic traditional gringo dish!

A note on some of the ingredients: this recipe calls for ketchup and apple cider vinegar.  If you're in Mexico, I highly suggest you work hard to find Heinz ketchup.  I found it in Sam's Club.  US-style ketchup is far superior to Mexican-style ketchup, which is so watered down that it hardly tastes like tomato at all and the color looks like orange soda syrup.  Since Heinz has more tomatoes, it's also more prostate-healthy than its Mexican counterpart.  So splurge.  You won't regret it.

This recipe also calls for apple cider vinegar.  Stay away from the grocery store, because most of those vinegars are white vinegar (you know, the kind made from wood chips) with food coloring.  I kid you not, check out the ingredients.  Traditional Mexican markets (the mercaditos) have fabulous homemade apple cider vinegar!  You'll find them at a lot of vegetable stands.  They'll be in plastic water bottles with the labels peeled off.  They'll look a lot like honey, and maybe you always thought they were honey, but they're not!  If you haven't seen what I'm talking about, go to your local mercadito and ask any vendor where they sell vinagre de manzana casero.  Store-bought vinegar will do in a pinch, but, again, the real thing is really worth the effort.  And it's just better for you.

So, without further ado, here is Joanne Stepaniak's Messy Mikes:

INGREDIENTS

• 1 TB olive oil
• 1 medium onion, diced
• 1 c. TVP rehydrated with 7/8 c. water
• 2 TB soy sauce
• 1/2 c. ketchup
• 1 tsp sweetener of your choice (I use sugar)
• 1 tsp prepared yellow mustard
• 1 tsp apple cider vinegar
• Bread rolls (try bolillos or hamburger buns)

PREPARTION

1. Soak the TVP in the water while you dice the onions (it should soak at least 5 minutes).
2. Place the oil in a 2-quart saucepan, and heat it over medium-high.  When the oil is hot, add the diced onion, TVP, and soy sauce, and sauté them until the onion is tender and lightly browned, about ten minutes.
3. Add the remaining ingredients except the bread, and mix well.  Reduce heat to medium, and simmer the mixture, uncovered, for 10 minutes, stirring often and making sure to scrape the bottom of the pan.  
4. Open the rolls as if you were to make a sandwich and stuff them with the TVP mixture.  Serve and enjoy!

Vegan Squash Blossom Soup (Sopa de Flor de Calabaza)

This isn't necessarily the traditional way of making sopa de flor de calabaza. I've never really had the traditional version. But I do tend to have a lot of squash blossoms on hand, and I was tired of squash blossom quesadillas and tlacoyos. So I threw this together, and it was delicious.

This is a soup for gardeners, because you won't find squash blossoms (flores de calabaza) in your local gringo grocery store. Just wait until the flowers on your summer squash vines are in bloom or just opening, and snip them. I promise more will grow back and you'll still have more summer squash than you know what to do with.

Summer squash, by the way, is any squash that has a soft, edible skin. Zucchini is a summer squash, for example. Pumpkin and butternut are not.

INGREDIENTS:

• 20 squash blossoms with stems removed, divided
• 3 plum or roma tomatoes
• 3/4 small white onion, chopped and divided
• 1 chile (Your choice based on your heat preferences.  I used a serrano and it was perfect for me.)
• 2 cloves garlic
• 2 cups cubed summer squash
• 6 tablespoons olive oil, divided
• salt to taste
• 6 cups water
• 2 teaspoons MSG (optional)
• 1 sprig fresh epazote or 1 teaspoon dried epazote or 1 sprig fresh parsley
• 1/4 cup texturized vegetable protein (TVP, optional)

PREPARATION:

1. Quarter the tomatoes and put them in the blender.  Add chile, the equivalent of 1/2 a small onion (leaving the other 1/4 aside for now), 10 squash blossoms, garlic, and blend until liquified.  Add a small amount of water to facilitate blending, if necessary.
2. Heat 3 tablespoons olive oil in a clay pot or large pot.  Add the puree from the blender and simmer until the tomatoes are cooked (the puree will turn a darker red).
3. While the tomato puree is cooking, heat the other 3 tablespoons olive oil in a cast iron pan.  Add remaining onion and squash blossoms and all the cubed squash.  Saute until squash is just cooked.
4. Add the squash/onion/blossom saute to the pot with the tomato puree.  Add water, epazote, and TVP and MSG, if using.  
5. Salt to taste and simmer ten minutes to let flavors blend.

Serve with crusty bread or warm corn tortillas.  Serves 2-3.

Vegan Un-Chicken Barley Soup

I knew this soup was a winner when my husband tasted it and exclaimed, "Wow! This really does taste like chicken."  You see, my husband is a meat-eater.  But not just any old meat-eater.  He was raised in a town where the only meat you can find is fresh, never frozen.  So when he thought my Un-Chicken Barley Soup actually tasted like chicken soup, well, I think that says something.

Most un-chicken soups I've seen assume that cooks have access to fancy condiments like vegetarian chicken-flavored bouillon.  Not in Mexico.  

However, in Mexico we do sometimes have access to this soup's secret ingredient: MSG.  I found some in a little stand that was part of a Chinese food restaurant in a tiny mountain town where I used to live.  If you are lucky enough to come across MSG, buy a bag.  You can also purchase MSG online.  It's cheap and lasts forever because you use so little in every recipe.

Scared by the anti-MSG hype?  I can't find evidence that a little MSG every now and then causes health problems in adults.  However, feel free to use the comments section to argue otherwise.

INGREDIENTS:

• 3 liters water
• 1/2 cup onion, chopped
• 2 medium carrots, chopped
• 2 stalks celery, chopped
• 1 chile, chopped
• 3 cloves garlic, chopped
• 1 handful (about 1/3 cup) texturized vegetable protein (TVP)
• 1/2 cup pearl barley
• 2 TB dry parsley or 2 stalks fresh parsley
• 1 1/2 tsp poultry seasoning (sold as hierbas finas in Mexico)
• 1 TB soy sauce
• 3 tsp MSG
• 1 bay leaf
• salt and pepper to taste

PREPARATION:

1. Put water in a large pot to boil.
2. Add remaining ingredients.
3. Simmer until vegetables are soft and barley is cooked (about 30-45 minutes).
4. Adjust salt to taste and serve.

Serves 4-6.

Mexican Noodle Soup (Sopa de Fideo)

This soup is generally served as part of a multi-course meal.  Traditionally, it is simply pasta in tomato broth, no vegetables added.  However, last night we found some vegetables in the fridge and texturized vegetable protein in the cabinet, and we turned this soup into a meal.

Texturized vegetable protein (also known as TVP) is surprisingly easy to find in Mexico--more so than in the United States.  It's sold as "soya" in natural food stores in the Mexico City metro or in the bulk foods section of your local grocery store.

INGREDIENTS:

• 5 plum tomatoes
• 1/4  medium onion, roughly chopped
• 2-3 cloves garlic
• 1-2 dried chile de arbol OR 1-2 jalepeños
• 3 cups water plus more for blending
• 1 200-gram bag small pasta, uncooked
• 1/8 cup canola or vegetable oil
• 1-2 stalks fresh epazote (1 teaspoon dried) OR 2 stalks fresh parsely
• 1 medium carrot, chopped (optional)
• 1 stalk celery, chopped (optional)
• 1/3 cup texturized vegetable protein (TVP)

PREPARATION:

1. Quarter tomatoes and put them in a blender with the onion, chile, and garlic.  Add enough water to cover the tomatoes.  Blend until liquified.
2. In a large pot, heat the oil.  Add the pasta and fry, stirring constantly until it begins to brown.  As soon as it begins to brown, add 3 cups water and contents of blender.  Stir to make sure no pasta is sticking to the pot.
3. Add epazote or parsely.  Add vegetables and TVP, if using.
4. Cook until pasta and vegetables are thoroughly cooked and TVP is re-hydrated.
5. Serve with warm corn tortillas.

Serves 4.