I made it from a mix before and it turned out fine. I boiled it in the traditional broth that it suggested, then used it in a recipe where it was marinated, fried, and put in a stew. It tasted just like the stuff I buy from time to time.
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I made it from a mix before and it turned out fine. I boiled it in the traditional broth that it suggested, then used it in a recipe where it was marinated, fried, and put in a stew. It tasted just like the stuff I buy from time to time.
I'm a "seitan baker" myself. I've tried numerous boiling techniques and it was always somewhat , squishy and rubbery. I have the baked seitan down to a science.
So sponge, how long do you usually bake yours, and what is the recipe? Thanks!
I use:
2 cups gluten
1/4 cup nutritional yeast
1 T. onion powder
2 t. garlic powder
(other assorted spices depending on the flavor I'm imitating)
1 1/2 cups water
1/4 cup tahini or peanut butter
2 T. soy sauce
either a little liquid smoke or other flavorings, again for whatever mock meat I'm imitating. (stirfry seasonings or something similar)
I form it into a rectangle and cut into four pieces. It should fit into a 9X12 pan. (lightly oiled) Cover with foil. Bake at about 350 for about 20 minutes. Flip the pieces over. Cook for about another 15 minutes. Check for doneness. At this point, sometimes I will baste it with a sauce and put it back in the oven for another 10 minutes or so. This recipe has never really failed me. It's very forgiving, especially if you slice up the seitan afterwards and then stirfry it. Everyone loves it. Even the omnis I feed it to.
Thanks very much Sponge.. I'll have to be sure to find the yeast, appears to be a key ingredient :P
Thanks Sponge, that sounds awesome. Now a vote for *boiling* seitan does VERY well in the crock pot. Chunk that thing in there raw or break it into tiny pieces first. Grab yourself a crock pot mix from big lots or some sort of stir fry mix or General Tso's Sauce or whatever with vegetables. Always been the longest cooking items on the bottom and layer then to the top, finishing with water. Do not pre-mix any sauces. Pour that in and then pour the water on top. I love it.
I also had a little experiment where I just mixed the gluten straight into the sauce. It made a nice thick sauce and I liked it. I'm known for preferring weird textures though.
good idea! do u put the seitan in the bottom?
I tried the crock pot to cook seitan once and I want to experiment more with that. Also, I LOVE the bottled General Tso's Sauce. I like to baste that on my baked seitan halfway through its cooking time. Then when I slice and stirfry the seitan, I add more.
I put the seitan in the bottom or right above the beans.
Sponge you got me really wanting to use your recipe. Anything to make Mr. General Tso's (fiance) curious.
Guys -
I made the seitan in the Veganomicon cookbook and it would have been FABULOUS had it not tasted so "doughy/floury". What did I do wrong? :eek:
Did you use ordinary flour by mistake? i did that once and they were like dough balls.
Nope, I got the vital wheat gluten at Whole Foods. I kneaded the hell out of it for three minutes, shaped it into "cutlets" and barely simmered for the prescribed time. Do I need to do a strong simmer?
I know I simmered for at least an hour - the Veganomicon cookbook called for an hour or hour and a half - can't remember.
How bizarre. I've tried three diff recipes for seitan now, and Vcon's is not my favorite, but it did cook properly. I have no idea!
When I made seitan, it is always from regular wheat flour (can't get the pure gluten stuff here easily). What I do is that I add spices to it, right from the start. Sure, some of it will be washed away, but stuff like strong paprika powder will still give it a lot of taste. It really helps in reducing the "I'm eating a chunk of flour" feeling. ;)
What did you simmer it in? I simmer it in a lot of stock/broth and soy sauce. Also, try making a green pepper sauce and put your finished seitan in there... wonderful stuff, and it has plenty of flavour so your seitan will feel right at home.
I used the VCON recipe and it turned out great!! I did do a strong simmer and I did it for a hour...I did put it in the oven after with some bbq sauce...but it tasted great before I did it...so strange yours didn't turn out good..
I always use Harvest Direct Seitan Quick Mix which I assume is basically a gluten flour and it always turns out really well with a good firm texture and not at all doughy.
You can get this from Veganstore which has its own website.
One thing I forgot to add is that you need some good recipes to use it in. There is a very good one in Joanne Stepaniak's book "Vegan Vittles" - Pot Roast. In this you add flavourings (only natural vegan ones of course) to the flour before making the pot roast, sear it on all sides in a frying pan with a little oil and then make a broth with carrots, onions and more flavourings. The seitan roast is then braised in this for 90 minutes. I promise you, it was delicious. Joanne also has other seitan recipes, yummy tofu, potato and bean recipes, so the book is well worth buying.
Ok, so I have eaten seitan in dishes that I have had out in veggie restaurants, but I have some and I really am not too sure what to do with it. Does anyone have any quick, easy ideas?
i usually just fry it in vegan butter, garlic, and soy sauce.
hmm, that sounds easy enough. have you ever tried to marinate it first? i was thinking of doing that and then just throwing it on a grill pan. i am always looking for the least fattening method to prepare foods.
You can come over to my house and share some. :)
I'll show you how to cook it.
(basically, if you ever cooked animal in your past life before veg*nism, it's the same process.)
Tasha, thank you so much for posting your seitan recipe. I made some this morning and OMG it was wonderful! I now know what I'm having for Thanksgiving Dinner. And I can't wait to have the left over broth as "French Onion Soup" with vegan mozarrella and croutons for lunch.
East Texas is pretty non-vegan-friendly. Out of the three health food stores in town, NONE of them even KNEW what Seitan was. I even went to a Whole Foods in the Dallas area (2 hours away) and was told that they no longer carried Seitan. So I really appreciate your recipe.
Namaste
I always wanted to know how the Asian restaurants like Vegi- Wokery and Au Lac in LA area make their amazing vegi meats, so I decided to do a Utube search to figure it out.
Wheat Gluten flower and boiling water. nice!
Dan
Couch Vegan Guitar Straps
http://www.couchguitarstraps.com
This is my favorite:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ovsp3926QXc
Also- “Saved By Seitan” this one comes with a great song:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f-XJj...eature=related
And then....Corned Beef I’m totally making this one:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UFW9turegxI&NR=1
it's a reallllly tricky process the first couple of times until you get the swing of it - sometimes the gluten might not come out right, other times it might be TOO spongey and chewey. It's definetely a finicky thing to make, but definetely worthwhile.
QFT!
I often get vegetarians sniffing at me when I talk about tofu recipes, as many of them are more used to Quorn, which I seem to remember is less easy to screw up. Last time my vegetarian sister and I were talking about my veganism, she was quite scathing towards Tofu and how it didn't taste of anything. Well, neither does water, sweetie, and you have that in coffee!
I currently have some seitan being kneaded in my breadmaker as I type. I shall be making seitan madras with in tomorrow. I don't eat it much as I prefer pulses etc, but it's a nice thing to have now and then.
No no, it's much easier than Quantum Field Theory.
Good to know I'm not the only one who uses kitchen appliances for things other than their intended purpose. I knead pasta dough in mine (have to turn it off after 15 mins and then on again to stop the heating element kicking in).Quote:
Ms_Derious
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x3O8LKmos8U
Has anyone seen this on youtube? Really good!
Oh hey, I've never heard of seitan before! I'm definitely going to look for it! Looks tasty!
Gah I made my first batch of seitan the other day. Wasn't nice at all. Too bready.
I got the recipe from a friend which may have been the Sarah Kramer one. I made it by rinsing out 2 cups wholemeal and 2 cups plain flour until clear. Then I shaped it into cutlets and boiled it for half an hour. I thought it would be OK in a strong curry sauce but I wasn't impressed
Yeah, I found the making it from regular flour root didn't work. It was a little better with 'very strong' bread flour, but really, at it's best with gluten powder (which I have to get mail order'
I find it's a bit better if I use the breadmaker to knead it to death as well. Kneading it by hand I found it didn't have the best texture.
I get mine from here - the postage is high so i get 4 bags at a time
http://www.lowcarbmegastore.com/