<insert long winded childhood foodie love / fantasy / crush / salivating food-porn story here>.
As stated within my manuscript (as of Version 1.4) I had to part away with Texture Vegetable Proteins / TVP. However, thanks to recent findings and experimentation (within budget allowance) with unflavoured Pea Proteins – there is still “hope” for those who are semi vegetarian-readers. “Semi” ~ meaning that we have to accept eggs here not only as wholefoods, but also as binders. Otherwise – be prepared to shell out many more $$$ into psyllium husk and/or xanthan gums – which presumably – may not be appetising, if at all.
Ingredients & Pricing
- Two whole eggs. (one 12x 600g carton of egg = $2.00 – $2.50). 38 cents used up.
- 60g of unflavoured pea protein. Instead of buying from Ebay® try looking at your nearest wholefoods store. Here in Perth, Western Australia we have Kakulas Sisters (at only $8.95 per KILOGRAM). 53 cents used up.
- 30 grams of sliced raw onion. ($1 for 1kg). 3 cents used up.
- 1 tablespoon of organic Apple Cider Vinegar ($3.50 per 375ML). 18 cents used up
- Pinch of both baking soda and cream of tartare / potassium bitartrate. ($4 for up to one months constant approx usages).
- 2-3 cloves of garlic or 3 grams of Garlic powder ($2.50 per 50 grams). 15 cents used up.
- 3 grams of Turmeric ($3 for 250 grams). 3 cents used up.
- Generous (approx 3.5g) spray of non-stick, non-gmo cooking canola spray. ($3 for a 400g can). About 3 cents used up. and;
- 250ML of water
Each batch serves up to 3 serves of protein meat loaf for each meal. Tallying up the price – it takes $28.37 AUD as RECIPE INITIAL INVESTMENT. And yet it takes $1.33 to make each BATCH. You could theoretically make up to 21 (TWENTY ONE) Batches out from this single initial investment alone.
Twenty one times three serves each = 63 serves. Not bad. …yet here in Australia ~ one in every five bag of groceries gets wasted.
The only possible obstacle here is how to get the best pricing on unflavoured pea protein isolates. Commercial packaging can cost a lot more which changes our Initial Investment costing to a whoppingly massive $38.37 (and $2 to make each batch). For those from eastern states, I may only suggest scouting every wholefood grocery stores there is for any odds of chances they do stock Pea proteins without heavy inflated price tags amidst Ebay® marketplace.
Execution.
Preheat the oven to 200 degree Celcius. The tomato paste in the background (use no more than 40 grams) is optional but certainly usable if you wanted to. Just factor in the additional carbs in the Myfitnesspal® recipe.
Mix all except the ACV in a blender. However this is important – be sure to add in water few globs (120ML) at a time just to start things up without jamming the machine. Then pour in another half (120ML) until you arrive at a somewhat thick but still runny paste like consistency.
Be sure to generously coat your pan with a non-stick spray (I am only using a non-GMO canola).
Then, it’s time to bake. Bake for 30 minutes at the preheated 200 degrees. If at any stage you find things look a bit “wobbly” OR that the puncturing-test did not come through clean yet – bake for a further 10 minutes and assess once again. Once it comes out “clean” without stickiness then it is sufficiently done.
Technically speaking it is possible to make this with only one egg. But I recommend chilling it in the fridge to help eliminate (still) some of the mushi-ness no matter how well done it is. This could take anywhere between 45 minutes to an hour. NOTE: IF USING tomato paste, definitely need to wait longer.
Then cut, gently re-heat and serve.
World Peace.
Macros
The entire loaf / one batch equates to 408 calories, 8g of carbs, 13g of fats, 65g of protein. If split into three (3) serves you will get 136 calories, 3 grams of carbs, 22g of protein, and 4g of fats.
…So how does it taste? If you do not like tofu, this is not for you.
Experiment with tomato paste in no more than 40 grams. Or add more garlic. Beware however that the tomato paste will add (say for worst-case-scenario approximation sake) up to three (3) grams of added sugar. If you put more beyond this number the resulting bake may turn to a complete mush. One way or trick you could do is to try adding in LESS water as you try blending them through.
Troubleshooting
Of course, not everything in a sharing of any “recipe” goes smoothly. If anything below happens:
- A sticky mess. The resulting bake even though when it passes the tooth pick test, still get stuck on pan. You will NOT be able to transfer the bake without scraping the entire bake off. This is despite very generous coating on the baking pan.
- Mushy mess. The resulting bake is still not “dry”. With sufficient or even without – baking soda + cream of tartare. With higher or lesser – baking temperature with timing to suit (higher temp? Shorter cooking time. Lower temp? needs longer time.)
- Strange black discolouration with overt metallic smell. Do not eat! This is likely due to the excessively added baking soda. Never add anything beyond two (or three) picked-pinch amounts with your fingers.
Similar to the workarounds with my last writeup (Whey / Pea Protein baked slice); try the following methods.
1/3 Line your parchment paper correctly.
My prior baking habits always dictate me to just simply tear a parchment paper and just jam it in roughly and be done with it. Try instead cutting the paper manually with scissors to match AS CLOSE as it comfortably fits onto the base of each pan. And then spray it generously with a non stick spray (I am using a non-gmo Canola).
2/3 Watch your water levels during blending.
When blending everything be sure that you add in water one pour (half of IKEA® glass) at a time; just enough allowing you to blend everything effectively for few seconds. Then pour some more water again (up to another half) before blending again; this slightly longer for about a full minute. Assess the overall consistency.
If it is too runny it is most likely be ending up too mushy. If it is too hard and resistant like-chunks – it may even cling and stuck to the sides of the pan.
3/3 For a bit of hack, try adding milk AND bit of a soda water
This obviously will not turn to low carb friendly meal. But when all else fails you could try adding up to 150ML milk with a bit of soda water whilst blending instead of just plain water.
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