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You are here: Home / Gravy Vegetarian Side Dishes / Chilli Soya Chunks Recipe

Chilli Soya Chunks Recipe

November 7, 2022 82 Comments

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Chilli soya chunks is an Indian-Chinese vegetarian recipe with soya chunks which are also called meal maker, a great protein-source for vegetarians. Learn how to make chilli soya chunks using this easy recipe.

Chilli Soya Chunks RecipePin

The husband loves soya chunks. After paneer and mushrooms, this is probably his next favourite thing. Although I used to dislike the bland taste of soya chunks when I was younger, I have acquired a taste for it now. So I am always on the look out for new soy chunks recipes even though I tend to stick with my tried and tested soya chunks masala recipe most of the time.

Table of Contents

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  • Chilli Soya Chunks Recipe
    • Ingredients  
    • Instructions 
    • Notes
  • A couple of other recipes using soya chunks below:
  • Soya chunks biryani
  • Soya chunks cutlets
Chilli Soya Chunks RecipePin

The recipe for chilli soya chunks is similar to chilli paneer but I don’t do a marinade + frying method for this and instead, focus on making the gravy Indian-Chinese style and the rest just comes together. Served best with vegetable fried rice, but it went really well with roti too.

chilli soya chunks recipePin

Chilli Soya Chunks Recipe

nags
Chilli soya chunks recipe, an easy vegetarian Indian Chinese recipe using soya chunks or meal maker. Perfect with fried rice or noodles.
Print Recipe Pin Recipe
Prep Time 10 minutes mins
Cook Time 20 minutes mins
Total Time 30 minutes mins
Course Vegetarian Sides
Cuisine Indian Chinese
Servings 4

Ingredients
  

  • 1 cup uncooked dry soya chunks
  • 1 1 cup onion chopped into medium squares
  • 1 cup tomato puree
  • 2 green chillies adjust to taste
  • 1/2 cup green capsicum cut into squares
  • 1 tablespoon ginger garlic paste use freshly minced ginger and garlic for best taste
  • 3-4 dry red chillies adjust to taste
  • 2 tablespoons soya sauce
  • 1 tablespoons tomato sauce / ketchup or hot and sweet sauce
  • 2 tablespoons oil
  • 2 tablespoons spring onions or scallions for garnishing
  • Salt to taste

Instructions
 

  • Bring 4 cups of water to a rolling boil, add 1/2 tsp salt and the soya chunks to it. Keep covered and let it soak for 30 mins.
  • Heat the oil in a pan and add the dry red chillies.
  • To this, add the onions, capsicum, green chillies and ginger-garlic paste.
  • Fry for 2-3 minutes on medium heat until the red chillies turn brown and the onions get transparent. Take care not to burn the chillies. Turn off heat.
  • When ready, drain the soaked soya chunks in a colander and reserve the water.
  • Squeeze them gently to remove excess water and add to the pan. The soya chunks should be very soft at this stage.
  • Turn the heat back on. Add salt and toss well, letting everything cook together for about 5 minutes and until well combined.
  • Takes the reserved water from soaking the soya chunks and adjust it to get 1.5 cups water in total, adding more plain water if required
  • Add the soya sauce, pureed tomato and tomato sauce to this water and mix well.
  • Turn the heat to high and add this to the pan with the soya chunks.
  • Mix well on high heat for 30 seconds and then lower the heat to medium-low. Cook closed for 8-10 mins until the gravy cooks down and the soya chunks absorb some extra moisture.
  • When done, adjust salt. Garnish with the spring onions.

Notes

There are a few different ways to hydrate the soya chunks. I find soaking in boiled hot water to be the easiest and least hands-on method. Share in comments below if you have a better technique.
The quantity of sauce in this recipe can be varied according to personal choice. Since I served it with roti, I wanted more gravy than normal. Make sure you adjust water accordingly because as you keep this dish longer, the soya nuggets will absorb more and more water making the dish drier than you may wish it to be. If you find the gravy too watery, mix 1 teaspoon corn flour (corn starch) with some 2 teaspoons water and add to the dish, heat it through, and serve warm.
Soya chunks tend to have a distinct smell. If you are not a fan of that but love the texture and taste, add some minced garlic to the hot water while soaking them.
Another trick to remove the raw smell of soya chunks is to add 3-4 teaspoons of milk to the hot water they soak in. I personally haven’t tried this one so let me know if you do!
 
chilli soya chunks recipePin

You can make a similar recipe with mushrooms and potatoes too. Leave a comment if you try the recipe and have any notes to share, I’d love to hear from you.

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By nags Filed Under: Gravy Vegetarian Side Dishes, Indo-Chinese Recipes, Indo-Chinese Side Dishes, Soya Chunks Recipes

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Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Sanghamittra

    March 17, 2019 at 8:49 pm

    Tempting.I will definitely try this.

    Reply
  2. Dixya

    October 30, 2012 at 1:25 pm

    I am so glad to stumble into your blog. All your recipes are so tempting. I love soya chunks!! I have not had them for soooo long but now looking at it i am craving it so much. looking forward to read more of your posts!

    Reply
  3. Anonymous

    August 23, 2012 at 1:11 pm

    mujhe soya chilli recipe bahut pasand aayi hai kunki mera beta soya pasand nahi karta tha ab chinese ki tarah taste ane se wo soya pasand krne laga hai thanks

    Reply
  4. Devi Raman

    August 23, 2012 at 4:55 am

    Hello Nags, I had prepared this last night for dinner with roti. I also observed that the gravy was watery and not semi thick. As a side note probably, you can mention about adding corn flour. I usually do not go through the comments section, just now I saw the above post about the corn flour.

    Reply
    • Nagalakshmi V

      August 23, 2012 at 6:37 am

      i have updated the chilli soya chunks post. thanks for the suggestion devi

      Reply
  5. Anonymous

    July 19, 2012 at 4:12 pm

    Hi Nags, I tried this recipe and it turned out extremely tasty, although the gravy turned out watery and hence we ate it like a stew in a bowl…so I guess corn flour needs to be added to make it thick…I liked this recipe so much that I have decided to add noodles instead of the soya chunks next time…it tastes just like the Dragon Chowmein in Chung Wah restaurant…so thanks for letting me know their secret recipe :-)…Gayathri from Bangalore.

    Reply
    • Nagalakshmi V

      July 20, 2012 at 1:22 am

      good point gayathri. you can add cornflour to the gravy to make it thicker but as you can see in the pic, mine was semi thick and there wasn't much of it in fact. maybe your dish had more gravy? either ways, can't go wrong no? and chilli noodles sounds like a great idea!

      Reply
  6. Anonymous

    June 15, 2012 at 1:14 pm

    soo nice……

    Reply
  7. dilli

    May 28, 2012 at 8:13 am

    any more recipe using meal maker? i want to prepare something crispy out of it. can anybody help me?

    Reply
    • Nagalakshmi V

      May 28, 2012 at 8:41 am

      you can try soya chunks cutlets. https://www.cookingandme.com/2010/07/meal-maker-soya-chunks-cutlets-recipe.html

      Reply
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Hello!

I am Nags, the face behind Edible Garden, a food and recipes website for the busy (and sometimes lazy!) cook since 2007. My recipes are meant to be quick yet healthy and delicious - Nothing fancy, nothing too difficult. Follow Me On Instagram for real-time food and life updates.

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