Thursday, August 30, 2012

Seitan: a quick and dirty how-to

By Cathy Roosa




Super rich in protein, this preferred choice for vegetarians is surprisingly like the look and texture of meat when cooked. Seitan (said say-tahn) is made of gluten, the key protein of wheat, by washing wheat flour dough with water until all the starch melts. This leaves insoluble gluten that really must be cooked before it is eaten.



It's really truly possible to make seitan yourself, though it is time consuming. By mixing flour and water you form dough, this dough is then kneaded and washed under running water for approximately 20 to 30 minutes. The gluten then must be boiled in broth for 1 to 2 hours before it can be eaten. The shortcut to this of course is to buy previously separated wheat gluten rather than beginning from flour.



Seitan is a low sodium and very low fat protein. It has about 10 milligrams of sodium, zero grams of fat and 7.5 grams of protein in merely one oz. Protein smart, it is calorie for calorie higher in protein than both tofu and tempeh.



The disadvantage of seitan, is that a large amount of the time it is processed and really high in sodium. Also , anyone with celiac illness, or a gluten allergy wishes to stay away.



Below is a recipe I found for Buffalo Seitan (vegan buffalo wings). Done correctly this is often a good break for the seitan-virgin.



Buffalo Seitan with Vegan Ranch Dip

To make the seitan:

1/2 Cup Vital Wheat Gluten

1/2 Cup water



Combine these together in a bowl. It will get too thick to utilise a spoon, so dig in with your hands. Kneed for 5 minutes and put aside.



Broth:

2 Cups of water

1 Cup vegan chick'n broth (sold in natural foods stores for plenty of money, or in a powder form in several Asian markets for inexpensive)

1 tsp each: thyme, dried parsley, rosemary, oregano, onion powder

1 bay leaf

garlic powder to taste

ground pepper to taste



In an enormous shallow pan, bring the broth ingredients to a boil, and reduce the heat. Pinch off small pieces of the gluten (rather smaller than bite sized) and drop into the broth. Cover the pan, and cook. It's very important to make sure the broth does not come to boiling point, so you must keep a tight eye. Boiling seitan makes it hard and chewy, which might be good for some things, although not these. You'll broil these for roughly 50 minutes, stirring once every 10 minutes or so while the broth reduces. If by the end of 50 minutes it looks like bite-sized pieces of brain floating in your broth, you have done good. Remove from heat, but leave in the broth until ready to be used. You may also set this in the fridge at that step if you are not prepared to turn them into spicy pieces of deliciousness.



Buffalo-ing them:

Preheat stove to 350 degrees Fahrenheit

2 Tbs Vegan marg (such as Earth Balance)

2 Tbs Hot Sauce or Sriracha



Melt the two together in a tiny pan. Take away the seitan from the broth, and cover with the margarine blend. Spread the coated seitan bites out on a baking sheet, and cook for 10 minutes. Place on a bowl or tray, and add any remaining margarine mix over the seitan; toss to coat. Serve alongside Vegan Ranch Dip, instructions follow.



Vegan Ranch Dip

1/2 cup Vegenaise

1/4 cup minced parsley

1 lemon, zested and juiced

salt, pepper and garlic powder* to taste



Add all ingredients to a little bowl and mix. If lemon is very large or juicy, either consider yourself lucky or add the juice slowly until you gain the consistency you want. Less juice = more dip-like, more juice = more salad dressing-like.



*Powdered garlic works much better than raw minced garlic here. If you should happen to feel up to it, a couple of roasted mashed garlic cloves work better.



(Recipe from pickyvegan.com).














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