Back in the States I consumed a lot of TVP from Betta Foods, Inc. I miss Betta Foods. Chances are, I could do something to ship over here but I also need to find some local replacements for multiple reasons.
While I am at it: goodbye, Butler Foods Soy Curls, you are the real king bar none.
Doing some shop arounds, one of the first local-to-EU brands of “soy chunks” to come to my attention was KoRo’s Bio grove sojastukjes, grof [aka, soy chunks, the biggish ones].
At €13.95/kg, the price was reasonable1, but it was hard to tell how big it was at a glance online. You want chunks to be chunky, no? I decided to just order and put them through various tests and recipes.
First, the size test [versus a €.20 coin (I looked but didn’t have a Euro on hand and was already committed to the bit)]:
I did crank up the contrast and played with the brightness a little to try and make the texture pop out. Makes a couple look like they are floating in space [and thanks, phone, for focusing much harder on the coin than the product I’m showing and which is closer to you]. As you can see, average size is fair. Not as chunky as TRS Soya Chunks, which you can find in some local-to-Brussels Asian markets. A bit smaller than I like, but not terribly so.
The specks you see are from the “dust” in the bag. I’ve never minded a few random flakes of extra soya protein, but if you figure you might for whatever reason, just maybe toss them gently in a sieve or some such.
In order to give them a fair test across a few different cooking techniques. Each started with the basic prep: soaking them in water for 30 minutes prior to draining and squeezing out a bit but not too aggressively, then letting sit for a few minutes to reform and settle. I used some MSG, mushroom powder, and other seasonings but mix-and-matched that. And no, none of these have photos because you see how crappy I am taking food photos, above, at least with my cantankerous phone camera.
The four variations were:
- A…um, what’s wet-stir-fry called? Like a stir fry but with sauce? That. With some rice vermicelli, veggies, and brussels sprouts in a mushroom sauce.
- Deep fry after tossing them in a “Nashville Hot” blend of spices and a small amount of flour/starch on the outside.
- A “cream of mushroom” soup with some flat wheat noodles and maybe a too heavy helping of the chunks. The next day the noodles and chunks had absorbed enough of the left over liquid that it was effectively “TVP and Dumplings.”
- A soft- and hard-bake version (200C for 35 minutes and 50 minutes).
In all cases, the Taste was Very Fine. If you eat a lot of TVP [textured vegetable protein] and related protein products, you get a bit used to that shelf-stable soya flavor. Some brands embrace it. Some try to cover it up. With KoRo chunks, it is there but softer. These are very receptive to the flavors you add.
I would go so far as to say that if you are sensitive to that dried soya product flavor, these are the ones I’d put in your hands.
In the first three cases, the Texture was Lacking (a bit). This is not to say they had a bad texture, there just wasn’t much there. More akin to a thick noodle or tight dumpling than some of the other soy chunks. The bite was soft and missing that sense of internal fiber that I like by a hair. Compared to Plant Basics Soy Chunks, they have pretty much spot-on identical protein but PB’s has a tad more fiber. I think it might just be the processing.
With the fourth style, baking it it out, the soft-bake had a similar texture to the wet-prep and fried versions. The hard bake, getting them almost corn-nut-like in texture, is where I finally got the feel of the internal workings of the product.
As for Ease of Prep, I’d say they are Just Fine. No more or less harder than other similar sized soy/soya TVP. Well, maybe a little easier. A few, like the TRS mentioned above, are a lot stronger in flavor so you might need to soak those a bit longer than these from KoRo depending on the recipe. Since the KoRo ones respond more to added flavor, you don’t have to over-season to get the full effect.
To conclude, while I would like a slightly bigger “chunk” and a chunkier mouth-feel, these are Quite Good and might hit the spot for folks who have been a little reluctant to try such soy food options because of the flavor or preparation.
