h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

He'd been doing that once a week. Now he's limiting himself to junk food once a month, with chicken or fish once a week.

Right, my "meatball" recipe - can also be used for burgers.

I usually make flat patties and eat them in bread with feta and salad and peppers or sometimes hummus and raw spinach. They freeze well, too, and keep reasonably well in the fridge. (I always make too many!)

Not sure about the proportions - I never really measure - but this should work:

1/2 cup dried shredded soybeans (Sojaschrot here, dunno what it is in English)

1/2 cup lentils (brown, red, mung dal, whatever you have on hand!)

1/2-1/4 cup ground nuts (I usually grind my own - tastes better! Walnuts or hazelnuts are nice. Or skip them and just add some tahin to the finished mix. Peanuts make it taste odd.)

1 cup porridge oats (rolled oats) plus more as needed

1 onion (this is essential for the "meatball" flavour)

1/2 cup shredded veggies of your choice - carrots work well. You can leave them out. Or add sweetcorn to the mix later.

1 egg (for binding - dunno whether it works well without)

spicy stuff - mine usually have some garam masala, tomato paste, mustard, powdered vegetable broth and possibly a bit of sambal oelek

breadcrumbs


Grind the lentils and soybeans in a blender until they're like flour. Pour about 1.5 cups (could be less, though) of *boiling* water over them in a mixing bowl and let it sit for 10-15 minutes.

Chop up the onion, or grind that too. Add the oats and the onion to the lentil mixture and *then* the egg, so the egg won't set. Add the rest of the ingredients and mix, then put in as many breadcrumbs as you need to make a mixture you can shape. Then fry and drain on paper towels.

You can roll the finished meatballs in more breadcrumbs before frying if you like, to make them crispier.

I have Ener-G egg replacer to use for binding, so no probs there, and everything sounds good. But I can't have nuts (which can suck as a veggie) so I may use the tahini. Do you think sunflower seeds might work?

Do you cook the lentils before grinding, or grind them dry? I assume dry, since you say to grind like flour and then add boiling water. But better safe than sorry.

No, grind them dry. The boiling water + frying later cooks them through. Good thing to make when you forgot to soak the lentils

Any kind of nuts or seeds will work, really. You can even leave them out entirely. It's different every time I make it

oh I'm going to give those a go - they sound quite similar to a sort of falafal thingy. Or not.

Yes, quite a bit like falafel, really.

I'm one of those omnivores who prefers not to eat meat-substitutes when I'm having vegetarian food. I don't mind the taste so much, though I've never acquired the taste for tofu, it's just I don't see the point: meat substitutes are never going to be as satisfying as real meat, but well done, proper vegetarian food in itself can be amazing.

Why try to be something else when what you are is fantastic already?

As for the restaurant issue, I tend to go to places that have good vegetarian options anyway - I like to have a lot of choice - so I don't have a problem if someone wants to go to a specifically veggie place, so long as they don't want to go there all the time.

> Why try to be something else when what you are is fantastic already?

Fair enough! I can appreciate that, HI. When I was a kid and my parents fed us meat, I wasn't at all interested in tofu or any other mock products.

I'm sure a good part of the reason K eats mock meats is because he'd rather eat my cooking than have to prepare a separate entrée for himself.

It does seem that many non-vegetarian people appreciate that while the flavors and textures we grew up with can be very pleasurable, for many vegetarians (myself included) it's the idea of eating other animals that bothers us.

I've eaten tofu a lot longer than other products because tofu can be used in such ways that it's not really a meat substitute. But I've definitely learned to like well-prepared mock stuff. Beef never tasted as good as well-prepared seitan does, and I never cared for poultry at all but I love Quorn chick'n.

Hi all ,I felt that I had to come here and post,

I am a meat eater, We don't eat a lot of it in fact my wife prefers to go without it but she will eat pork or chicken , what brought me here was the idea that Tofu is a substitute for meat, I don't think it is, I know many people use it that way but there are so many types of Tofu out there and I would guess those that don't like it have only tried the standard piece of factory made soft stuff , If that is what your after I much prefer the taste and texture of hand made Tofu (it's not difficult to make) especially in the middle of summer when I am to hot to want to eat , cold Tofu with grated ginger, finely chopped spring onion and a little soy sauce usually keeps me happy , I also like it on a pizza with the other usual stuff , also Tofu is very good natural food .

Sorry about that little rant

Hi Arnold! If I remember correctly you live in Japan, right? You probably have access to much better and a wider variety of Tofu than I do. In fact, since i started eating a lot of Korean food I'm finding that I like it a lot better - especially in things like kimchi soup.

Yep I'm in Nara , but I first made Tofu when I lived in Santa Cruz
We do have many kinds of Tofu here but I could never name them, another one I like is deep fried Tofu balls with vegetables inside , peas and bits of carrot etc .

I'm in Germany - up until recently Tofu was just for vegetarians. And vegetarians are still considered not quite right in the head in a country were most people I know eat meat of some description at every single meal.

My current favourite is little tofu cubes, marinaded in who knows what and fried. Then served as part of the great side-dishes that you get in Korean restaurants. mmm

Not sure about korean food but here Mirin cooking Saki and Soy sauce is used a lot for marinades and I guess Tofu would be covered in corn starch before deep frying. My wife likes Kimchee very much but I'm not into really.

I did figure you were in Germany

Sorry that marinade would need water too or it would be a bit strong

>>My current favourite is little tofu cubes, marinaded in who knows what and fried.<<

That's the way I usually make it - marinade it for a week first. But the marinade always changes, I can never get it the same way twice.

I'll have to remember the cornstarch trick, Arnold!

Hiya Anold! I don't think that was a rant at all, and appreciate your stopping by to add to the discussion.

I'm lucky that the Korean grocer not far from home has many varieties of tofu as well. There's one soft one in a tube that I like cold, with a bit of fruit compote on it.

I don't really think of tofu as a meat substitute. Most recipes I have that call for it, where it's not being used in place of egg or cheese, actually call for using it in *addition* to meat. Like sukiyaki. Where I wind up using seitan or tempeh *and* tofu in the same dish.

One recipe I love involves cutting tofu into cubes, marinating (ginger, garlic, tamari, brown rice syrup or honey, and splash of lime juice), then baking till crispy. Then I simmer diced tomatoes in the marinade and use it to top the tofu. It's fab. Really good on top of potato pancakes, too.

I use mirin (or sake) and liquid aminos (instead of soy sauce) to marinate lots of things, as well as for a cooking sauce.

Never used cornstarch to coat the tofu before frying- I'll try using that or arrowroot next time. I always get such good tips from people on these threads of mine!

You know, the more I think about it, not counting egg/cheese substitutions, I tend to think of tofu almost like an additional veggie rather than a meat substitute, if that makes any sense.

I have a question for Anold, if he's still subscribed to this. I abolutely love miso soup. I usually have lots of miso paste on hand, and tofu, and scallions, and our Whole Foods has tons of wakame and nori. But the miso soup they do at our favorite Japanese restaurant has little bits of fermented soy in it that I can't quite identify. It doesn't seem like tempeh, as it's got a spongier texture. I wonder if you might know what it is, and if so, what it's called in Japanese. That should help me find it. I want to start making it at home, as a daily cup of miso accompanied by a dollop of brown rice is recommended for me, and I'd like to start making a batch a week from scratch.

As I'm no longer able to eat nut burgers, which was our replacement of choice for beef burgers, we tried Quorn burgers (at least, I think it was, this was a while ago). It freaked us out. It tasted entirely too like beef, which made us wonder what had been added to it to make the taste like that, and the texture was really really odd.

So that's what I've got against the taste of that particular quorn product - which oddly enough is what I've got against beef in the first place...

We haven't experimented a lot with substitutes other than soy mince or quorn mince, although DT has tried some of the sandwich fillers and said they were OK.

I like tofu when I"m out, but have never tried tempeh or seitan.

I guess people's short-sighted point is that if you are a vegetarian, let alone a vegan, then clearly you mustn't like meat and would never hanker for a bit of bacon (or in Sho's case, filet steak). Maybe people don't realise that it isn't about being holier than thou - often it's a personal / health choice that has become a way of life and one can miss the things that one has sacrificed for a healthier being / world.

And I don't think I'll ever become properly vegetarian even if I already worry about my lack of protein intake. I know I'll never manage veganism.

ismarah

I understand the worry about protein intake. I've always managed somehow to do all right. It doesn't hurt that I like beans and peanut butter.

Your point about people who like a bit of bacon or steak (or in my case, corn dogs- those are what got me to try the mock meats, those and the barbecued "riblets") but wanting a healthier lifestyle enjoying mock meats is spot on. Maybe what people (in general) don't understand about ethical vegetarians and vegans is that it's the death or treatment of the animal that puts us off, and not always necessarily the taste or the texture. Giving up meat might be a bit of a scarifice, if you really love a nice steak or a rib or two, or a corn dog now and then. If you can have something that satisfies that taste/craving, and still live with yourself, whether for health concerns or ethics, then why not?

I hope I don't ever come across as holier-than-thou. I feel very strongly about my principles, but I don't think I give other people a hard time on a personal level. At least I hope not.