Soyviche (Vegan Ceviche)

I’ve never really been a fan of fish and not only because I’m gay, if you catch my drift. I think the main reason why I didn’t like fish growing up is because my dad traumatized me. He used to love going fishing and take the whole family too, it was not a fun experience. Fishing is a very boring, messy, smelly sport. So he would take us and he would catch all this fish so when we got back home there was a ton of fish that needed to be eaten before it went bad. So for the next week we would have fried fish, fish stew, fish tacos and ceviche. I think out of all the dishes ceviche was probably the most tolerable but still not my favorite. I know, this is a terrible introduction to a dish I’m trying to sell you on, but I was never a good salesman I suppose. 

Anyway, fast forward a few years later I decided to become a vegetarian and to no one’s surprise I found it very easy to give up eating fish. But after a while eating just vegetables can get boring, ceviche without a protein is basically just pico de Gallo! So that’s when I started experimenting with different ingredients and one day while doing some shopping at Whole Foods I found Textured Vegetable Protein (TVP). Now what the heck is TVP? Well as the name implies it’s textured vegetable protein or sometimes also referred to as textured soy protein, basically what it is it’s dehydrated protein rich vegetables like soy. There’s like this whole process the soy goes through which you can read the science behind it somewhere on the internet but here’s the most important part. It is actually protein dense at about 50% when dry or 16% when rehydrated which is the equivalent of ground beef however it contains much less calories! A serving of it about 1/2cup rehydrated TVP has about 80 calories! Isn’t that amazing? 

As the thin queen that I am, I am always looking for ways to watch what I eat and cut calories where I can. 

And so I buy the stuff and give it a go. I soaked it in salted hot water and it doubled in size. It has a nice springy texture which could be used to substitute pretty much any flaky/ground meat. I decided to try and give ceviche a go again but this time it was “soyviche”. Probably the main reason I liked ceviche was because I could eat a bunch of tostada and hot sauce with it. I made it and I loved it. My family loves it and my men love it. It’s a winner in my book and the best part you can make it in probably like 15 minutes! 

To make this vegan ceviche it’s really easy. In a medium pot you heat up some water and bring it to a boil, it doesn’t really matter how much you just want to make sure you have at least double the amount of what you’ll be using seeing as TVP absorbs about 2 times it’s weight in liquid. To this boiling water add some salt probably about 1tsp just so that the TVP absorbs some flavor. You turn off the heat and add your textured vegetable protein. Let it rehydrate for probably like 10 minutes. 

As your TVP is rehydrating start dicing all your vegetables. I like to small dice them because then you get a good veggie to TVP ratio. Also be sure to remove the seeds from your cucumber so you don’t have any unnecessary crunchy bits.  

Once your TVP has absorbed all the liquid it can drain it out and give it a good squeeze to drain excess water. Mix in your spices like garlic powder and onion powder. Let it cool for like 5 minutes. 

Once your textured vegetable protein is cool add your veggies and give it a good stir. Then start chopping your cilantro. I like to use the stems because I find they have a lot of flavor to them. Squeeze in 3 limes and stir again. 

I like to add avocado to mine which you can either mix it into the soyviche or put it on top of it once you serve it. I like to eat it with tostadas or with some crunchy chips and my favorite salsa Valentina. Yum! 

Soyviche (Vegan Ceviche)

Serves 4-6

Ingredients:

1 cup Textured Vegetable Protein (TVP or TSP)

1/4 tsp garlic powder

1/4 tsp onion powder

2 roma tomatoes

1/2 white onions

1 medium cucumber

4 red radishes

2 jalapeño peppers

1/2 small bunch of cilantro (about 1/4 cup chopped)

1 avocado

3 limes

salt and black pepper

optional: tostadas, tortilla chips, hot sauce

In a medium pot bring to a boil a pot of salted water, about 4 cups.

Add 1 cup of textured vegetable protein and remove from heat. Allow to rehydrate for about 10 minutes.

Drain water and squeeze to remove excess water.

Place in large bowl and add spices, mix and allow to cool.

Using a sharp knife small dice tomatoes, radishes, and onions. Remove seeds from jalapeños and cucumbers and dice.

Finely chop cilantro including stems.

Add to bowl of TVP and juice 3 limes. Season with salt and fresh crushed black pepper.

Peel and pit avocado and gently fold into mixture or serve on top of soyviche.

Serve with your favorite tostadas or chips and drizzle hot sauce.