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Chilli soya chunks recipe, chilli meal maker

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

chilli soya chunks recipe

TH 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. More Soya Chunks Recipes here.

chilli soya chunks recipe

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The moment I saw this chilli soy chunks recipe in Soma’s eCurry, I knew I’d be trying it very soon. The ingredients were mostly every-day stuff and I always have some soy chunks (or meal maker, as TH calls it) in the house.

It was really good, to say the least. We had it with chapatis but am sure it goes much better with veg fried rice.

Chilli soya chunks recipe
 
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Chilli soya chunks recipe, an easy vegetarian Indian Chinese recipe using soya chunks or meal maker. Perfect with fried rice or noodles.
Author:
Recipe type: Vegetarian Sides
Cuisine: Indian Chinese
Serves: 4
Ingredients
  • 1 cup uncooked Soya Chunks or Meal Maker
  • 1 onion, chopped into rough squares
  • 1 large tomato, pureed
  • 2 green chillies (I used Thai chilli padi)
  • 1 small capsicum, cut into squares
  • 2 tbsp ginger garlic paste (I used freshly minced ginger and garlic)
  • 6 dry red chillies (adjust to taste)
  • 2 tbsp soya sauce
  • 1 tbsp tomato sauce/ketchup/hot and sweet sauce
  • 2 tbsp oil
  • Spring onions or scallions for garnishing
  • Salt to taste
Instructions
  1. Boil about 4 cups of water and add about ½ tsp salt and the soya chunks to it. Keep closed and let it soak for 30 mins.
  2. Heat the oil in a pan and add the dry red chillies. To this, add the onions, capsicum, green chillies and ginger-garlic mixture. Fry for 2-3 mins on medium heat until the red chillies turn brown and the onions get transparent.
  3. Drain the soaked chunks and reserve the water. Squeeze them gently to remove excess water and add to the pan. Add salt and toss well, letting it cook for about 5 mins and until well combined.
  4. In the reserved water (adjust to get 1.5 cups water, adding more plain water if required), add the soya sauce, pureed tomato and tomato sauce. Mix well.
  5. Turn the heat to high and add this to the pan with the soya nuggets. Mix well on high for 30 seconds and then lower the heat to medium-low. Cook closed for 8-10 mins.
  6. Garnish with the spring onions and serve with fried rice or noodles. I served with rotis and that went pretty well too.

Note: The quantity of sauce in this recipe can be varied according to personal choice. Since I serve it with chapatis, 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 tsp corn flour with some water and add to the dish heating it through before removing it from fire.

chilli soya chunks recipe

 

Edited to add tips from Reema and Soma:
– To remove the ‘stink’ present in soya chunks which some of you may not like, add some minced garlic and boil in water for 5 mins. Cool, squeeze out extra water and use as above.
– Soak those nuggets in a bowl of hot water, along with 3-4 spoons of milk – that takes away the raw soya taste and leaves the soya nuggets creamy and smooth.
chilli soya chunks recipe
Please feel free to share how you go about preparing the soya chunks before cooking.
For chilli soya chunks recipe in Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Kannada, etc please use the Google translate button in the sidebar.
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  2. 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. 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. 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

  5. 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

    • 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

  10. Just found this recipe and tried it – it was simply phenomenal. Had no idea the typical indo-cinese "chilli" dish was so straightforward!!

    Reply

  11. tried it out but didnt taste good at all and it turned out black in color n it was too salty i think u made a mistake in the ingredients 2tbsp of soya sauce n 2tsp salt to soak the soya chunks is a bit too much…

    Reply

    • hi there. sorry to hear that it didn't turn out well. i used these proportions and it turned out well. i have heard from a few people who tried it and it turned out well for them too. it's possible that it's because of the type of soya sauce you used, since soya sauce has salt in it already.

      Reply

  12. First time I heard about Soya Chunks (Meal Maker). I tasted it in our Canteen which was really Yummy and wanted to try and got it here. Thanks for the recipe. Will try at home and will give the ranking. But am worried that it stinks, ofcourse will take the tips from the people who have commented on this. Thanks – Rekha

    Reply

  13. Was searching for a recipe and found it. The picture tempts us to taste it. Looking at the feedback of various people looks bit confused. People say it stinks which is fiery. Using the Soya chunks for the first time. Will try n let you know how it ranks. Thanks for the recipe – Rekha

    Reply

  15. I TRIED THE SOYA CHUNK RECIPE AND IT CAME OUT VERY WELL.MY MOM DOESN'T LIKE THE SMELL AND TASTE OF SOYA…BUT THIS PARTICULAR RECIPE SHE JUST LOVED IT!!!!!!!YUMM…SOY…

    Reply

  17. Hey .. Just happened to be looking for a different soya chunks recipe… than the usual soya chunks masala.

    I tried this, though would like the gravy to be a wee bit thicker… would you suggest adding some corn flour?

    Reply

  18. yeah, soya chunks are not everyone's favourite, although we like it a lot at home. glad you liked the chilli soya chunks recipe 🙂

    Reply

  19. tried this yday. It turned to be awesome. I've never had a liking for soya and yday was the first time I ate a good quantity of it happily ! Loved this dish.

    Reply

  20. I now know what to do with the bag of soya chunks sitting in my kitchen,thanks for the tips!

    Ive only tried to cook with soya once before and they turned out a bit sloppy,im now ready for round two.Adding Vegeta to the water used to boil your soya can add a nice taste i hear!
    Best.

    Reply

  21. Hello Anon, thank you so much for the tips on how to remove the smell from soya chunks. will definitely try this out next time i cook it 🙂

    Reply

  22. hi,
    m a big fan of soy chunks and this recipe sounds good will try this one sometime soon.
    i usualy cook the soy chunks in salted water in a small (1.5 or 2 ltr) pressure cooker for about 10-12 mins (2-3 whistles).
    this way the chunks are cooked faster and are super soft and have no smell at all
    try it and lemme know if it was useful.

    tnxb

    Reply

  23. I'm making a list, checking it twice and making them one by one..LOL..

    So far I love the four items I made. Thanks Nags for being so kind and sharing your talents with us.

    Reply

  26. I am just like your TH and SJ…love soya chunks and it's one of my fave 4 o'clock snack which I make really spicy…will try out urs soon…

    Reply

  27. Mouth watering! I always hesitate to buy Soya nuggets whenever I visit to Indian store. Now will buy and try it soon. 🙂 Thanks to Soma & Nags. Lovely pics too.
    (sevenspice.wordpress.com)

    Reply

  37. It worked out well, taste is superb. Really enjoyed eating it.

    The only change I made is, at the end of cooking I sprinkled some Garam Masala in the preparation to avoid the smell. It worked out very good, no smell at all.

    But overall the recipe was easy to prepare and delicious to eat.

    Thanks once again Nag.

    BKRaj

    Reply

  38. This really looks gr8 in the pics. I am trying this now, will let u know the outcome.

    That was a simple process of explaining the procedure of cooking. Thanks for the Recipe Nags…

    BKRAJ

    Reply

  40. Hi!
    After reading about the "stink" in the soya nuggets, I HAD to write what I do, incidently it is one of the favourite dishes of my kids!I always buy at least 5 boxes at a time!
    Here is what I do:
    I put a teaspoon of ghee in a heated pan and then put the soya nuggets in it,lower the heat and keep stirring till they turn golden . Remove ,and soak them in hot salted water for a few mimutes,then squeeze out the water ,put in a plate,change the water,squeeze, do this 2 -3 times( normal,tap water will do ).No smell,tastes delicious…….use in pulao or potato curry with garlic/tomato gravy.
    Hope this helps!
    Meena Sarin

    Reply

  42. I purchased soya chunks for the first time last week and was looking for a recipe, your recipe looks really scrummy so i will give it a try,

    Thanks

    SL 🙂

    Reply

  46. I am the only one here who likes soya chunks, so I reserve it for days when I have to cook only for myself (very rare). 🙁

    My daughter loves Indian Chinese so maybe, just maybe she will like this too.

    Reply

  50. There's something about soya chunks which really makes it a love hate issue doesnt it?!! I always soak the chunks in boiling diluted milk….makes it much softer and palatable

    the capsicum combination sounds very interesting!

    Reply

  51. I'm not too fond of soya chunks or granules though I always have both in my pantry.
    No matter how long I cook it, it always ends up with a rubbery texture.

    You've made it look very good here.:D

    Reply

  57. Same here Nags, as a kid I used to hate those meal makers. But is something different for meal makers, my mom always made it with potato and onion-garlic-ginger paste. Will try this out.

    Reply

  59. Nags, just a tip from my mum – soak those nuggets in a bowl of hot water, along with 3-4 spoons of milk – that takes away the raw soya taste and leaves the soya nuggets creamy and smooth 🙂 n this stuff looks awesome. coming up this week on TH's plateful 😛

    Reply

  65. Mouth watering! I always hesitate to buy Soya nuggets whenever I visit to Indian store. Now will buy and try it soon. 🙂 Thanks to Soma & Nags. Lovely pics too.
    (sevenspice.wordpress.com)

    Reply

  69. I am just like your TH and SJ…love soya chunks and it's one of my fave 4 o'clock snack which I make really spicy…will try out urs soon…

    Reply

  70. 😉 Looks really good! any delicious bicolor picture. So glad you guys liked it & thanks for mentioning me.

    Regarding the issue about the "stink" in the first comment… It helps to boil the soy chunks with minced garlic.. i don't think I had mentioned that in my post.

    Reply

  74. Lovely pics, never been a fan of soy chunks, but it is a great way to add more protein to my diet. I've never known how long to soak it and get that briny soapy flavor out. Do you think it might be a good idea to soak the chunks in vegetable stock?

    Reply

  75. Nice interesting recipe..I once made a soya-peas kheema with soy flakes, turned out real nice…will put it up for you the next time I make it…

    Reply

  77. Aww!There is one big bag of soya chunks lying in my kitchen. I once made the plain onion-tomato thing. Don't ask. It stunk so bad. I couldn't quite get that washing thing I guess. Do put up pictorial for cleaning them in hot water or whatever next time or whenever possible or mail me. My friend was suggesting I should write about my kitchen disasters too 😀 Oh by the way, did you check my blog recently?
    That second pic looks bright and really good.

    Reply
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