plant based ground beef recipe filled with gut-healthy fiber

Though there are a lot of vegan meat substitutes available now, we appreciate when one can try meat substitutes made from fresh and healthy ingredients, such as mushrooms or jackfruit. 

 It is for this reason that this recipe for homemade, gluten-free, meatless ‘ground beef’ piqued our interest when it was featured in the book The Vegan Meat Cookbook by Miyoko Schinner. Composed of a combination of several vegan foods found in the pantry including mushrooms, walnuts, chickpeas and oats which have been processed to resemble a ground beef. It’s mostly to do with processing the food in a food processor which both blenders and food processors are capable of doing. 

 All these component parts add up to a mixture that's packed with fiber: Oats, for instance, provide up to 16 grams of fibre per cup, and mushrooms, walnuts and chickpeas are also fairly decent sources of fibre. Obviously, all that fiber may improve gut health and digestion, something that every modern person strives for. In addition, king trumpet mushrooms contain some antioxidants which are beneficial to health. However, as the case with almost every plant-based food, where there are a lot of foods getting combined to make the basic mix, there would be a good mix of vitamins and nutrients coming this way as well. 

 I love this mix apart from the fact that most of the ingredients used is generally found in most households, the good news is that it lasts in the fridge for a week. And so after preparing the crumbles, they are ready to be used for almost any culinary preparation ranging from tacos to vegan bolognese sauce.


Ground "Beef" Crumbles

Makes 12 ounces


Ingredients

  • Olive oil for oiling the sheet pan
  • 10 ounces king trumpet mushrooms
  • 1 cup raw walnuts
  • 1 cup cooked chickpeas, rinsed
  • ½ cup rolled oats or steel-cut oats
  • 2 tablespoons soy sauce, tamari, or Bragg Liquid Aminos
  • 1 tablespoon vegan beef base, such as Better Than Bouillon
  • 1 teaspoon garlic powder

Method

  • Place the mushrooms in a food processor and pulse until they are chopped into small pieces and don’t process too long because then they will turn into mush. Transfer to a large bowl and leave it aside for sometime. 
  •  After that, take the walnuts and place them into the food processor so that after pulsing, they become very fine. Put them in the bowl containing the mushrooms. 
  •  Third, pulsing the chickpeas in the food processor coarsely chop them but do not purée them then put them with the mushrooms and walnuts in the bowl. 
  •  Finally place the oats in the bowl and pulse until they are ground to required size and texture. Pour the soy sauce and vegan beef base into the bowl and sprinkle the garlic powder on top of it too; stir everything until it is well incorporated. 
  •  Place in the sheet pan and put it into the oven and bake for 20 minutes. Remove this pan from the oven and then use a wooden spoon or spatula to smash the mixture into crumble forms. Place it back in the over and bake for an additional 10-15 minutes or until it is chewy and not crunchy. This is foods that you could immediately consume, you could store in the fridge for about a week or you freeze it for about 3 months but should first defrost it.