soy mince - what can I d with it that's not awful?

[mousmous]

have bought some as want to use less meat but can't eat quorn.
had it in a pasta sauce, but it was quite disgusting.
now have a large amount left.
feed it to the birds?

Chilli is quite forgiving if you put other veg in it.

I agree, chilli can work. I think the trick is to not put too much in and flavour it well.

Did you cook it before you put it in a pasta sauce? It needs adding to the onions and peppers/veg whilst cooking, before the tomatoes go in.

I soaked it in oiling water then added it to the fried onion.
will try a chilli.

oiling? boiling!

I haven't ever soaked quorn in boiling water, I just fry it with the onions. maybe try it like that next time...

Soya mince? Can be delicious, honest. Cook up with onions, red pepper, celery, tin of tomatoes. Add the magic ingredient, a big slug of soy sauce and some red wine, and cook for 40 mins.

Why on earth would you soak it in boiling water???

it's not quorn, it's the dried stuff from the health food store.
and it says in the instruction to soak in boiled water and then to use as you would use mince.

Maybe try soaking it in stock rather than water?

If it's just to cut down on meat, rather than have meat free days, why don't you mix it with meat mince, maybe you wouldn't 'notice' it quite so much then? You could gradually increase the proportion of soya as you get used to it
But yes, the key is to add lots of flavours and cook it for quite a while to get the flavour to absorb....
Oh, and once soaked, before adding it to sauce, drain well, rinse well and squeeze as much water out as you can, so the sauce can soak in.

Please don't leave it out for the birds as it would be harmful for them.

Dried soya mince isn't the nicest veggie mince replacement but chilli or maybe a keema curry would be the most forgiving. If you can't eat Quorn (is it because of the egg?) then try supermarket own-brand frozen veggie mince. Asda's is very good, and their veggie frozen meatballs are excellent.

Tbh to cut down on meat, I find the best thing to do is not use fake meat but just use meat as a flavouring. You need far less of it if the meal is based around veggies, beans etc with just a little meat or fish for flavour. For example a veggie chilli with some smoked bacon is still eating a lot less meat than a meat chilli. Also things like pasta sauce with roasted veg, olives and anchovies instead of bolognese.

When I soak my soy mince I add some marmite but you could use soy sauce as this gives it more flavour. I do use it in most recipes that I'd use mince for.

I cut normal lean mince with soy mince either the dehydrated variety or frozen quorn : probably 60 % mince and 30 % soy and 10/15% veg - diced onions and finely diced carrot and courgette. Sometimes i add green lentils to further stretch it !
This makes the soy almost unnoticeable and makes the mince much lighter and less fatty.
Slow gentle cooking improves flavour
This of course is for batch cooking and freezing divided up into small/medium tupperware boxes that will defrost easily.
HTH

ouuuufff....no wonder it was disgusting.

For soya mince you need a really well flavoured stock, so sweat some celery, onion and carrots in a pan, plenty of S&P, if you are not veggie then a few bits of finely chopped bacon of ham. Maybe some dried herbs? Make sure it is all really soft and cooked before adding the soya mince.

Add your water and just bring that to the boil, maybe a stock cube if you use them, or a dod of marmite, shake of Lea and Perrins

then add your soya mince, let it sit at a gentle simmer and then use it.

And don't moan about not liking celery, chop it really small and cook it properly with the onions and you will never know it is in there, apart from the fact that your food will actually taste of something.

bin it - job done