Be my guest Dixya: ~ Soy Tacos - Vegan Mexican treat

This month UK Rasoi's guest of honour is Dixya from Food, Pleasure and Health. This Nepali lass is a total health freak and that’s what her blog is about. Posting healthy and nutritious recipes, her run marathons and challenges, and advising on certain food is all she does. And she does it brilliantly!! Her degree in Nutrition sciences absolutely compliments her passion for health blogging and her profession as a clinical/outpatient dietician in the USA. As you could have easily guessed, her hobbies are running and reading.. 

Her blog - Food, Pleasure, and Health are three words that defines her passion and motto in life. When I asked her when and how she started this blog, her answer was – “Well, this blog was born on a cold dreary evening when I was very bored, lonely and had a strong urge to share nutrition related everything I was learning during my internship with the rest of the world on November 20, 2010.

The blog started as place to jot down cookie cutter nutrition information on calories, sodium, fibre etc then I got tired of it. I had no motivation and the blog got neglected for a year or so. My enthusiasm towards blogging slowly returned as I was around my friends and families, cooking and baking more. Along the way I also started reading other food blogs and understood the etiquette of blogging community. So, essentially, my motivation comes from my love for food and awesome blogging community I have discovered.” Quite interesting, hmm!

Dixya’s favourite Cuisine is Japanese, and some of her personal favourites from her own blog are these  No Bake Cheesecake with Blueberries, Mom’s Savory Pancakes and  Chocolate Chip Cookie Bread. 

Her organisation skills are so evident from her way of posting. As she says “I usually post on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday but I try to write and schedule posts ahead of time. On average I would say each post takes 3-5 hours (cook, photo shoot/ edit, and write). Then I spend about two hours reading, commenting on others blogs most weekdays.  I try to take rest from the blogging world on weekends.”

Honestly Dixya, I would love to be that organised honey. Not even in my dreams I could do something ahead of time. Is this a natural for dieticians? :)

Check out her "Fitness Friday" post for regular updates on health, nutrition and general fitness from Bloggers across the World.  And her post regarding "Weight maintenance"  is a real eye-opener I tell you. Ohh, and while you are on it, do not forget to peep into rest of her fantastic recipes 

Message for the readers: "Thank you so much everyone for your constant inspiration & support. Without readers, Food, Pleasure, and Health would have been dead a long time ago. Also, if you are new to the blogging world – be true to your style and continue writing/sharing."

Off to Dixya now.. Thanks again sweets for this wonderful post.. :)

I am honored and excited to be a guest on Nupur’s space today. She is one of the first few bloggers I started following back in 2011 and ever since I have always been intrigued by her talent in the kitchen with Indian-inspired vegetarian recipes. Thank you not only for this opportunity but also being a constant source of motivation and a good friend.

Knowing Nupur and her blog (a vegetarian with a liking for Mexican food), I am sharing a recipe for soy tacos on corn tortillas with simple homemade pico de gallo. Since I had major success with soy nuggets, potatoes and peas curry, I had been itching to use them differently. The idea of mincing them was born out of sheer curiosity. Once they were minced into a ground meat like texture, I could not think of a better way to use them into anything else other than tacos.

This is the kind of recipe you need to add on to your weeknight meals, taco Tuesday or when feeding a large crowd.  The recipe is naturally vegan, gluten-free, and low in fat/cholesterol, and full of flavor with very minimal effort in the kitchen.

Five simple steps : cook soy meat, make pico, heat up tortillas, layer meat + pico then devour.

Ingredients

10-12 corn tortillas

1 cup soy nuggets (soak few hours or overnight)

½ onion, chopped (I used a large white onion)

1 tomato, chopped

1.5 tablespoon taco seasoning (divided)

1 teaspoon red chili powder (use less or omit if you prefer less spice)

1 tablespoon oil

¼ cup water

Salt and pepper, to taste

Directions

-Rinse and squeeze as much liquid as possible from soy nuggets.

-In a food chopper or using a knife, chop them into very fine pieces until it resembles ground meat texture.

- Heat oil in a pan and sauté onion for few minutes. Then add ground soy.

- Add 1 tablespoon taco seasoning stirring them together.

- Add tomatoes and remaining taco seasoning, red chili powder, salt, and pepper.

- Lower the heat, add about ¼ cup water to the mixture and allow it to cook for 6-8 minutes or until tomatoes and onions are soft.

- Taste and adjust seasonings as necessary.

- Remove from heat and keep it aside.

- In another pan heat corn tortillas until slightly charred.

- Assemble tacos with soy meat and top with pico de gallo (below) or use store bought salsa.

Pico de Gallo

fresh, uncooked condiment in Mexican cuisine is made from chopped tomatoes, onions, and freshly squeezed lemon juice. I used 1 tomato, ½ onion remaining from the recipe above, and 1 lemon with salt and pepper but feel free to adjust as needed. Cilantro and chili pepper such as jalapenos or Serrano would be a great addition to this.

This is a guest post by Dixya for my event - Be my guest.  If you wish to do a guest post for this space, please email me at nupurs.kitchen@gmail.com. For more guest posts from the past, visit this link here. 

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