Vegan Soy Ceviche On Tostadas

Ceviche is a fish salad where white fish or shrimp is chopped and marinated with lime juice, mixed with tomato, cucumber, cilantro, onion and mayonnaise and served on a tostada or with chips and ketchup. This recipe will substitute those cute sea animals for textured vegetable protein (tvp), also know as soya, textured soy protein or soy meat.

Ingredient Info

TVP is a biproduct of extracting oil from soybeans and it can be used as a substitute for meat in many dishes. It has 48 grams of protein in every cup (dry), zero grams of fat, 320 calories, 28 grams of carbohydrates, 16 grams of fiber and 12 grams of sugar.

It's sold dry, so it needs to be reconstituted with about 4 times the amount of water or broth.

TVP is bland and it will pick up whatever flavor you give it so we need to be sure to build a flavorful broth to reconstitute it.

Kombu is a dry edible kelp used in East Asia that we will add to the broth we use to rehydrate the TVP. This will help it taste more like the sea. Kelp Granules are just that, dry kelp that has been ground into salt-like granules that we will add to enhance the flavor of our ceviche. Vegan Worcester Sauce can be found at your local health food store or online. If you can't find it you can always omit it or look for a substitute or a recipe.

Tostadas are fried tortillas that are used to carry a variety of stews. They can be found in most supermarkets or made at home. Just put some oil on both sides of each tortilla and place them in the oven for 5 to 10 minutes or until they reach a chip-like crispness.

Options

In this recipe I reconstitute the soy with 4 cups or 32 ounces of vegetable broth, 4 cups of water and vegan veggie cubes among other things. Feel free to make it 8 cups of broth, add whatever you have in your kitchen that you think will add more flavor. I add vegan Worcestershire sauce, soy sauce, onion, garlic and kombu. I've heard that Maggi Sauce may be vegan but I'm not 100% sure of that, if it is it may be a great addition.

Overall this dish is refreshing, light, healthy and satisfying. You will need the following ingredients to make about 3 pounds of ceviche which is enough to fill an 8 quart pot.

Ingredients:

For Textured Vegetable Protein

-16 oz. textured vegetable protein (TVP) or textured soy

- 4 cups or 32 oz veggie broth

- 4 cups water

- 2 vegan bouillon cubes

- 4 tablespoons soy sauce

- 6 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce

- 1/2 onion

- 4 garlic cloves

- 1 kombu leaf

For Salad

- 6 limes (juice)

- 6 Persian cucumbers or 2 larger cucumbers

- 4 tomatoes

- 1 bundle of cilantro, chopped

- 1 onion, diced

- 1 heaping tablespoon salt

- 2 cups vegan mayo

- heaping 1/4 cup ketchup

-1 heaping teaspoon kelp granules

- Tapatío or Valentina Hot Sauce (optional)

- Avocados for garnish

Directions:

- Get an 8 quart pot and add the vegetable broth, water, veggie cubes, 1/2 onion, 4 lightly crushed garlic gloves, kombu, soy sauce and Worcestershire sauce. Bring it all to a boil then simmer for 30 minutes.

- Turn it off after simmering for 30 minutes and add the TVP. Move it around so that the TVP absorbs all the liquid. Let it absorb for about 20 minutes moving it around about every 5 minutes so that all the broth gets absorbed (or most of the broth).

- Meanwhile chop the cucumber, tomatoes, cilantro and 1 onion into small pieces.

- After 20 minutes, drain the excess liquid from the TVP and discard the onion, garlic clove, and kombu from the mixture.

- Bring all of the ingredients together (the TVP, onion, cilantro, tomatoes, cucumbers, and lime juice)

- Add mayo, ketchup, salt, kelp granules and mix.

- Let it sit in the fridge until it all cools.

- Serve cold in a bowl, with tortilla chips or serve on a tostada with sliced avocado and Tapatio for garnish.