Beef with Mi-Cha

Mi-Cha is some sort of large ball of vegetable protein that is commonly found in Chinese specialty groceries. Some are dried while some are frozen. I normally use the frozen for ease of cooking and lesser time needed for its preparation. Mi-Cha is a good source of protein. Incidentally, I remembered that TVP or textured vegetable protein was invented by some German chemist during world war I era when he was conducting research on how to produce fibres from other sources. Instead of having fibres from his soy protein liquor, he produced TVP instead. Many recipes have been created using this product. TVP being very versatile can be made to look almost any type of meat as well as have its consistency mimic some of the well loved meats of the world. An alternative source of protein without the cholesterol indeed.

Ingredients:

1 kg Beef cut into cubes

¼ kg Mi-Cha cut into halves

1 pc. Onion (medium, quartered)

6 cloves Garlic (crushed, skins removed)

3 slices Ginger (fresh, thin slices only, about 1 tsp.)

1 inch Cassia stick

1 pc. Star anise

5 tbsp. Premium dark soy sauce

1 tsp. Chiu Chow chilli oils

½ cup Water

1 tbsp. Sugar

1 tbsp. Mirin wine

Cooking Instruction:

Place everything inside a pressure cooker and pressure cook for about 30 minutes. After 30 minutes, turn off heat and allow to cool normally. Do not force cooling by venting steam as the additional time for normal cooling which will take about 15-20 minutes is used as additional cooking time to tenderize the meat. Open the pressure cooker once safe to open and skim off any excess fat to reduce fat content of the dish. The sauce should be about 1/4 cup, if it is still large, then, turn up the heat to concentrate the sauce to desired volume and taste. Enjoy with plain steamed buns or with rice.