Soya Chaap Recipe

This Soya Chaap Roast is easy to make, requires only basic ingredients & is full-flavored. Bookmark this for a meal when you want to eat something meaty but vegetarian or plant based. It is packed with South Indian flavors and is made by pan roasting marinated chaap. It can be eaten on its own or with roti, bhakri, flavored rice or even with plain rice & rasam.

About Soya Chaap

Soya Chaap is a modern day Indian food made primarily with soya flour. Strips of soya dough are rolled on to wooden sticks before being cooked, later they are dehydrated or canned. The strips along with the stick is known as Soya Chaap.

They are used in various Indian dishes like snacks & curries, commonly found on the Indian restaurant menus. Tandoori soya chaap, malai chaap and chaap masala are some of the dishes. Whether soya chaap is healthy or not remains a highly debated topic but many Indians love them.

Since soya is naturally gluten-free, chaap cannot be made with 100% soya flour. It needs the help of a grain flour that contains gluten. In the past, brands would use a small amount of soya and higher amount of refined flour to make the chaap elastic, spongy and chewy, so it could resemble the texture of meat.

But in the recent years, several brands have switched over to higher amount of soya, making them protein-rich. They also moved from refined flour to wheat flour. So while buying soya chaap look for brands using higher amount (at least 60%) soya flour and wheat flour (not maida/ all-purpose flour).

Soya Chaap vs Soya Chunks

If you are new to Indian cuisine, you may be wondering if there is a difference between chaap and soya chunks. Both are different and vary in the nutritional values. Soya chunks are made with defatted soya protein after the extraction of fats like oil and milk from soya beans. But Soya Chaap is believed to be made with soya bean flour and wheat or all-purpose flour.

Photo Guide

How to make Soya Chaap Roast(Stepwise photos)

Preparation

1. Drain out the liquid from soya chaap container and pull them out one by one. Squeeze gently to get rid of the brine and add them to a bowl of fresh water. Let them sit for 10 mins. Later remove them from water and pull out the stick, squeeze out and cut to 1 inch portions. Add them to a pot along with the following ingredients:

• 2 tablespoons lemon juice or sour curd/yogurt
• 1 tablespoon ginger garlic paste (or use ½ tbsp each)
• ¼ teaspoon turmeric powder
• ¾ tablespoon Kashmiri red chili powder (reduce for low heat)
• 1½ tablespoon coriander powder
• 1 teaspoon cumin powder
• 1 teaspoon garam masala
• I used ½ teaspoon sea salt (caution: use only if required)

Cook the soya chaap marinade

2. Add 2 tablespoon ghee or any oil of choice. Peel 1 medium (100 grams) yellow onion (or shallots or Indian red onions). Dice and pulse only 2 to 3 times in a grinder/ food processor or chopper, to get a coarse mixture. Make sure you don’t make it a puree and also the crushed onion should go right away to cook else it can make your dish bitter and watery.

3. Pour half cup water and begin to cook covered for 8 to 9 mins. Avoid stirring a lot else the chaaps can break down.

4. This is how it should look after cooking. Turn off and cool down for 5 mins. If you want you may refrigerate overnight (or up to 2 days) for better absorption of flavors. Roast whenever you want, in batches.

5. Meanwhile prep up the following to roast:

• 4 large garlic cloves – slice thinly
• 2 sprigs or 20 fresh curry leaves (pat dry if wet)
• slit 2 to 3 green chilies / serrano peppers (deseed for low heat, use more for high heat)
• 2 tablespoons coriander leaves chopped finely
• 12 whole cashew nuts powdered in a small grinder (or 3 tbsps. almond flour)
• ½ to ¾ teaspoon ground fennel seeds (omit if you don’t have)
• ½ teaspoon ground black pepper (adjust to taste)
• ½ teaspoon garam masala (adjust to taste) + salt to adjust

Roasting

6. Heat 2 tablespoons ghee or oil in a wide pan (I use a 24 to 26 cm pan). Add the garlic, chilies and curry leaves. Fry them for 2 to 3 mins until blistered.

7. Spread the cooked soya chaap in a single layer.

8. Sprinkle cashew/almond flour all over. Mix and roast on a medium heat for 5 mins, stirring occasionally but not vigorously.

9. Add black pepper, fennel, garam masala and salt (if needed, taste first)

10. Roast for another 4 to 5 mins until you see fats releasing at the bottom. The dish looks dry despite adding plenty of fats, so cover with a lid when it’s done. This traps the steam and keeps the dish look moist.

Lastly squeeze some lemon juice if you want. Garnish with coriander leaves and sliced or chopped fresh onions. Serve soya chaap as a appetizer or with roti, flavored rice or plain rice and rasam.

Expert Tips

• Do not cut down the amount of ghee/ oil else your chaap will turn out dry and chewy.
• Avoid using large red onion. Use yellow onion, shallots or Indian red onions. Do not use more onions.
• You need to roast the cooked soya chaap well else the masala won’t taste good.

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