Looking for a meat substitute that is easy, quick and tastes great? Seitan is a very versatile food and can be eaten in stir fries, sandwiches, stews etc. It tastes great with brown gravy and is even awesome cold! The only problem I can think of is that most people believe you have to boil it, and alot of times this method results in tough, chewy blobs or soggy unidentifiable crap-ola.
After searching teh interw3bs for better ways to cook wheat gluten (Seitan) I have found a few really good recipes and have reworked them to fit my own families tastes :D
Ingredients:
One and a half cups vital wheat gluten
1/4 cup nutritional yeast
1 tsp salt
2 tsp pepper
2 tsp onion powder
2 tsp garlic powder
3/4 cups water
4 tbsp tomato paste
3 tbsp tamari
2 tbsp oil
Preheat oven to 325°.
In a large bowl mix dry ingredients. Mix the liquid ingredients in another (smaller) bowl. Stir or whisk well until mixed.
Add the liquid ingredients to the dry ingredients. Mix well and add a bit more water if necessary to absorb all of the dry ingredients into your dough, then knead for about two minutes (you don't have to go crazy kneading--just make sure your everything is mixed together well).
Cooking:
I usually coat the bottom of a round cake pan with oil and add a bit of liquid (veggie broth, gravy etc.) just enough to cover the bottom of the Seitan blob. I then cover the pan and cook for about 60 minutes. (This is because I NEVER have tin foil around!) It turns out very good except the bottom gets a bit crispy.
I would much rather follow the method I found on the Post Punk Kitchen blog:
Form into a log (6-8" long), wrap tightly in foil, twisting ends. Bake for 90 minutes. When done baking, unwrap and leave out to cool all the way. Then wrap it foil or plastic and refrigerate. Slice to use as desired.
This tastes wonderful smothered in vegan brown gravy...
And there you have it! I guarantee that once you make Seitan this way you will never boil it again! Let me know how it turns out :)
We don't have this product in the U.K (though it can be ordered over the internet), so i was interested to see what a box of vital wheat gluten looked like. Thanks for sharing.
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