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Proya

Proya is tasty, textured soya chunks that are high in protein and rich in amino acids, making it an excellent choice for growing children and adults. We recommend you add Proya to any of your family meals, and then watch your family smile.

Ingredient information

Proya contains 80% textured soya protein and 20% Sossi Classic flavour seasoning powder.

Each Proya 90 gram packet contains 72 grams textured soya protein and 18 grams seasoning powder.

Proya’s textured soya protein is manufactured with natural soya beans.

Proya Classic flavour seasoning powder does not contain any meat products.

Proya is vegan friendly which means that it can be eaten by anyone including vegetarians.

How to prepare Proya

For your family to get the most enjoyment out of Proya , it is best prepared in their favourite stew or relish the first time you prepare it. Prepare their favourite meal exactly as you normally would, but simply replace the meat or beans that you would usually add to the meal with Proya soya chunks.

Proya is a dry product that will absorb a lot of liquid as soon as it is added to your family’s favourite sauce. The best way to prepare it is to add the Proya straight from the packet to the mchuzi sauce whilst it is still dry so that it absorbs as much liquid and flavour as it can for 2 minutes. After these 2 minutes the Proya will have soaked up the liquid from the mchuzi sauce and you will need to add at least one cup of water (350ml) or more to bring it back to life, depending on how liquid you would like your Mchuzi sauce. Allow the Mchuzi sauce and Sossi to simmer until it has regained its desired consistency before serving.

Never soften Proya tasty soya pieces in plain water before adding them to your Mchuzi sauce. Plain water is tasteless, and you want the dry tasty soya pieces to absorb a liquid with a flavour. Hence we always recommend that you soften the dry tasty soya chunks in the mchuzi sauce before adding any water to them.

The instructions on the Proya pack are just one example of how best to prepare Proya soya chunks. We have chosen a recipe for onion and tomato stew, which is a favourite amongst many East African families, but you can choose any of your other favourite recipes.

Cooking Tips

Never soak textured soya chunks in plain tasteless water. One of the secrets with dry textured soya pieces is to realize that in its dry form you have an ingredient that will naturally absorb any liquid that is added to it and so you have the opportunity to fill your textured soya pieces with whatever flavour you like.

Another important secret to preparing textured soya protein is to know how to alter the mouth feel. If you like the pieces to be firmer, you can achieve this by frying the soya pieces in vegetable oil. We suggest that when you fry your onions that you add the Proya soya chunks to the onions just as you are about to finish frying the onions. You will notice how the dry Proya pieces soak up all the excess vegetable oil. Allow the Proya pieces to fry for between 30 seconds and 3 minutes with the onions. You will notice that the longer the pieces are left to fry in the vegetable oil, the crispier the mouth feel of the pieces will be after they have been added to the Mchuzi Mix. Sometimes you will want to fry them for only 30 seconds and other times, when you want the pieces to be crispier, you will fry them for up to 3 minutes.

Using Proya results in less time required to cook your meal and lower cooking costs. A big advantage to every household is that Proya has already been cooked. Proya only needs to be rehydrated (softened by adding Mchuzi sauce, vegetable oil and flavoured water) as it has already been pre-cooked. It therefore requires no additional cooking and can be added during the cooking process without requiring any additional time to cook.

Other forms of protein such as meat (beef, chicken and pork) need to be cooked and are usually boiled for approximately 30 minutes. Beans, lentils and peas are usually soaked for 8 hours and then boiled for approximately 30 minutes. So Proya saves at least 30 minutes cooking time and cooking fuel with every meal!

Protein comparison with other Legumes (beans)

There are over 800 varieties of soya beans in the world. The protein per 100 grams varies for each variety and there will be small changes from one season to the other depending on factors such as numbers of light hours, rainfall and the quality of the soil in which the crop is grown. Our factory that supplies East Africa sources soya beans with an average protein content of 40 grams per 100 grams.

The table below lists the most common beans consumed in East Africa with their Latin names and their names in the most commonly spoken languages in the region.

 

English

Latin

Kikuyu

Luo

Kamba

Luhya
Black beans Lablab niger Njahe Rateng Nzavi Lipala
Rosecoco Phaseolus vulgaris Nyamaire Tonguire / nyayo Mwei umwe Alulu
Red Haricot Phaseolus vulgaris Wairimu Rakwar Wailimu Shichocho
Pinto Phaseolus vulgaris Mwitemania Mwitemania Mwitemania Mwitemania
Pigeon Peas Cajanus cajan Njugu Njugu Nzuu Okwoto˙
Split Peas Pisum Sativum Minji Mobar Njonzi Chimbande
Lentils Phasleolus aureus Ndengu Olayo Ndengu Olayo
Butter Bean P. Lunatus Noe Rachar Mbosolo Lwakhakha
Soya Glycine Max Soya Soya Soya Soya
Green Gram Vigna radiata Ndengu Olayo Ndengu Olayo

 

Bean

Protein %

Fat %

Carbohydrate %

Fibre %

Energy (Kcal)

  
Black beans 14 2 8 24 140
Rosecoco 28 2.7 51 3.2 168
Red Haricot 27 2.8 50 4.1 330
Pinto 30 1.9 49 3.7 347
Pigeon Peas 22 1.7 58 1.5 335
Split Peas 8.3 0.4 57.3 5.9 494
Dall 26 1 61 21 343
Butter Beans 14   60 13 216
Soya Beans 40 21 30 15 432
Green Gram 25 1.2 60 1 348
Textured Soya Protein 43 8 26 13 1469

 

Protein comparison with Cereals

The table below lists the most common cereals consumed in East Africa with their Latin names and their names in the most commonly spoken languages in the region.

English

Latin

Kikuyu

Luo

Kamba

Luhya
Wheat Triticum sativum Ngano Ngano Nganu Ingano
Maize Zea Mays Mbembe Oduma Mbemba Matuma
Rice Orya Sativa Muchere Mchele Musele Omuchere
Amaranth Amaranthus spp. Terere Omboga Telele Litoto

 

The following table illustrates the Nutritional Values for the different types of meats listed above compared to textured soya protein (TSP) per 100 grams:

Cereal

Protein %

Fat %

Carbohydrate %

Fibre %

Energy (Kcal)
Wheat 12 1.7 69.4 1.9 341
Maize 10 4 72 11 177
Rice 6 0.8 82 0.6 361
Amaranth 14 6.5 66 15.2 374
Textured Soya Protein 43 26 8 13 1469

 

Protein comparison with Meats

The table below lists the most common meats consumed in East Africa with their Latin names and their names in the most commonly spoken languages in the region.

English

Latin

Kikuyu

Luo

Kamba

Luhya
Silver Cyprinid Triticum sativum Omena Omena Omena Obuduba
Beef Bos taurus Nyama Ringo Nyama Inyama
Chicken Pullus Nguku Anguro Nguku Engoko
Tilapia Oreochromis nilotieus Thamaki Ngege Ikuyu Isuzi
Nile Perch Lates Niloticus Thamaki Mbuta Ikuyu Engeni

 

The following table illustrates the Nutritional Values for the different types of meats listed above compared to textured soya protein (TSP) per 100 grams:

Cereal

Protein %

Fat %

Carbohydrate %

Fibre %

Energy (Kcal)
Silver Cyprinid 63 16 0 1 183
Beef 36 2.8 0 0 498
Chicken 28 15.9 0 0 257
Tilapia 23 13 4 2 93
Nile Perch 19 1 0 0 98
Textured Soya Protein 43 26 8 13 1469

Amino Acids as building blocks of proteins.

The list and the graph below provide a comparison of the level of the Amino acids in Soy compared with whey and casein, which are two other excellent sources of protein for humans. Soy, casein and whey are considered as “Complete Protein Sources” as they contain significant amounts of all 10 of the essential amino acids our bodies cannot produce.

Casein is the predominant phosphoprotein (αS1, αS2, β, κ) that accounts for nearly 80% of proteins in cow milk and cheese.

Whey or milk plasma is the liquid remaining after milk has been curdled and strained; it is a by-product of the manufacture of cheese or casein and has several commercial uses.

Did you know?

Soya Beans are recognised as an ideal rotational crop to be grown with maize and wheat. This is because the root system of the Soya bean is extremely efficient in replenishing nitrogen in the soil. The nitrogen is found in the roots of the soya bean, so it is important that, after the soya bean crop has been reaped, the roots must not be removed from the ground. They should be ploughed back into the soil to achieve maximum regeneration.

Did you know that Soya Beans typically produce 150 times more protein per hectare of arable land compared to cattle production of beef protein per hectare?

Raw Soya beans contain trypsin inhibitors which stop the enzymes in the digestive system operating so you do not digest your food. Soya beans also contain lipoxygeneases which are classified as growth inhibitors which cause oxidation of the soy oil which change the taste. Soya beans must be cooked to remove these trypsin inhibitors and lipoxygenases thereby making them digestible. The best method is to soak the Soya Beans for 8 hours and then boil them for 25 minutes. If you don’t soak the dry soya beans first, they require 3 hours of boiling due to the slow rate of hydration which is an inefficient use of energy. Sossi textured soya protein has been precooked and does not require further cooking to be eaten.

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