T.V.P. or Textured Vegetable Protein Soya Chunks

I’ve been making more Vegetarian dishes recently and I am going back to what I cooked within the 1970s and ’80s which is Beans and Pulses and T.V.P.

T.V.P. is Textured Vegetable Protein and comes in many forms. Mostly today it is ready prepared and sold as Veggie mince. This is often frozen and can be used instead of minced beef.

Years ago this was not the case and the way you generally bought it was dried and unflavoured. Sometimes you could get a beef flavoured one. You can buy it either as chunks or as mince.

I found the mince was too fine and the chunks were too dense-too chunky and didn’t cook too well. I generally used the mince as a result.

Now thinking back, I don’t know why I didn’t think of cooking this in my pressure cooker. A general lack of knowledge back then is what it comes down to and not much information is easily obtained on cooking with TVP.

Fast forward

Fast forward to today! So many gadgets and improved appliances. I have now bought some more T.V.P. which I bought from Holland & Barrett.

I recently got an electric pressure cooker/multi-cooker which is often known by the brand name Pressure King Pro or P.K.P. Mine is an unbranded version of the P.K.P. so for ease of reference I will just call it a P.K.P. from now on.

I am still experimenting with it and it has not yet earned its keep. Tonight I decided to cook up some T.V.P .chunks which I recently bought from Holland and Barrett online.

No idea whatsoever of timings so what I’ve done is guesswork. I will talk you through my little experiment.

I weighed out 150g of soya chunks (TVP) just so I know how much I used for the future.

I soaked this in some boiling water along with 2 stock cubes for about 6 hours.

Tonight I added 2 chopped onions, 2 teaspoons of garlic granules and 2 teaspoons of all-purpose seasoning. The aim is to cook these with a little flavour so that I can then turn these TVP chunks into something. I did add some more water when I put them in the PKP to make sure there was adequate liquid.

Now after a few hours of soaking they had tripled their volume.

This is exactly why I weighed them tonight.

I cooked them on the steam function for 16 minutes. Then I let the pressure release naturally. (Next time, I will cook for 12 mins as I think it could be a little overcooked.)

They have cooked very well and are now as soft as Quorn chunks! This is a first because in the past they were slightly rubbery however much I cooked them.

I have just popped them in tubs, for now, to decide what I want to make with them. This amount is enough for 3 or 4 portions depending on your appetite.