I am not comfortable using those imitation meats available in the markets. Its not about the taste that worries me - but its the ingredients in the packet which raises concern. A lot of artificial ingredients go into these and calories don't look good too. With so many doubts lingering in the mind, its better to be safe than sorry. I like using tofu, soy chunks (for Indians) or TVP - Textured Vegetable Protein, Tempeh, Seitan, Paneer (Indian cottage cheese) and mushrooms as meat substitutes. They work just fine. For most chicken based dishes you can use Paneer - Many non-vegetarians have been cheated with this paneer in my household!

Quite a few don't seem to like the taste of tofu, tempeh or seitan - but the cooking process can usually make them taste better. Like for instance - Tofu needs lots of flavors which it needs to absorb. So marinading it for some time always helps to improve its taste. Seitan and Tempeh - broken down into smaller pieces and cooked in a gravy or with other strong seasonings absorb it very well and end up delicious without being bland. I like Seitan and don't find that much of a necessity to douse it with other ingredients. Like in this Sloppy Joe recipe - where I have substituted Seitan for Beef which is usually used in a regular Sloppy Joe (or turkey). The protein level of Seitan is humungous. About 85gms of Seitan consists of 18gms of Protein! In this dish as if this was not enough, I went ahead and added Kidney beans. So at the end after taking few bites of your sloppy joe, you end up feeling v. full - as if you just had the original with the meat. But the best part is it doesnt make you feel heavy - just full :) But imagine - how much of fat you cut out by omitting the meat. Cutting out the meat once in a while should not be problem. But you can of course go ahead and add lean beef instead of the seitan and make the same recipe. This recipe has been adapted from Ellie Krieger's version which I loved. I just made v few changes to incorporate my needs and also to accommodate for the ingredients I had on hand. Refer to the original version to make a meat based version. Her recipe is equally healthy and simple.