shigezo's soy meat

I wrote about Shigezo's inarizushi here...well, they also sell all sorts of soy products.

We recently tried their minced soy "meat"...which if I remember correctly cost 130 yen (tax included).

When we first moved to Japan, products were limited to accommodate vegan and vegetarian diets.

Nowadays, there are more products on the market.

I had to look online to see how to prepare this since the instructions on the back of the package were kind of vague.

I also didn't want to reconstitute the whole package, so I just measured out 1/2 a cup and added some warm water to cover and let it sit for 30 minutes.

After the 30 minutes, I gently squeezed the "meat" and set it aside.

It had a slight tofu smell but the texture felt like minced meat.

I cooked some diced eggplant (for texture) with some onions and then added the soy meat, and seasoned it with some taco seasoning.

The texture of the soy after cooking was a little softer than meat, but flavorwise you could not tell that there was no meat in it.

Shigezo also sells soy meat that is similar to sliced pork and chicken nuggets, so we'll give those a try after we eat this up.

Shigezo (UPDATE: 2022 out of business)

7-49-10 Nishikamata

Ota, Tokyo

Phone: 03.3733.2380

Open daily 10:00-19:00