All about seitan

[blondebunnies]

Hi everyone...
Since my last post, I've gone entirely totally vegan (yay!)... I buy and cook only vegan products.
My new love is seitan...soo yummy and you can do like a million things with it!

My questions is for people in the know.... How much seitan is appropriate in a vegan diet? I get the majority of my daily calories from the usual nuts, grains, fruits, veggies, etc... but I also try to throw in some seitan a couple of times a week. I'm just wondering how much is too much and how often is too often?

Like, I totally would love to do a seitan/spinach stir fry for breakfast, but am afraid if I wind up doing something else with seitan at dinner time would that be too much of a good thing? I'm trying to do my seitan protein thing in the morning when I really need the protein boost, but there are nights where I'm feeling lazy and tired and want something quick and easy--so seitan to the rescue...But is it a bad thing?

I use seitan in place of tofu and other soy products because of a soy sensitivity. I can't do anything soy-based, so I tend to replace it with seitan. Maybe another kind of replacement protein would be doable???

Thoughts, comments & suggestions welcome

[Robinwomb]

I do not have any experience with seitan as I have not used it in the 18 months I have been vegan. But I can relate to needing to avoid (or for me at least severely limiting) soy intake as I have thyroid issues. My protein sources come primarily from beans and legumes, nuts and seeds, higher protein whole grains (quinoa, buckwheat groats, brown or wild rice, whole millet, bulgur wheat, etc), and vegetables. Very occasionally I use hemp, pea, or rice protein powders for really hard workouts.

A few quick and easy morning breakfasts for me that are good sources of protein:


Beans on toast (I use Ezekiel sprouted bread or make my own bread). Sometimes I use a refried black bean spread and add a little salsa on top. Occasionally I might do beans and rice (leftover from the night before) with a tablespoon or two of molasses (excellent source of iron and calcium).

Tortilla (make my own or use specific brand) with sauted vegetables/leafy greens and mashed chickpeas or kidney beans

Bowl of fresh fruit sprinkled with almonds or walnuts and/or ground flax

Crockpot millet or steel cut oats with fruit and spices

very often I blend leafy greens, fresh fruit, sometimes pumpkin or carrot, maybe a protein powder or spirulina, and ice water for an energy boosting morning drink.

Chickpea flour (also called besan flour) omelette with vegetables and nutritional yeast/sauce.

Lentils are also an excellent source of protein and quite versatile. You can make lentil burgers, lentil soup, mock "meatloaf" and all sorts of other things with lentils. Red lentils cook faster and red lentil dahl over rice is a quick and excellent meal.

Hope this helps!

[Jekyll]

I only just heard about seitan the other day, and really want to give it a go! Do you make a big batch yourself and use it when you need it? I've seen lots of recipes on the internet, do you have a good one?Thanks

[Firestorm]

I tend to make seitan once or twice a month using different recipes, I can't really see eating a lot to be bad but what you could try is adding things to it to reduce the gluten content such as blended beans or chickpea flour.

[TarekF]

As long as you are not sensitive to gluten though i dont see why you couldn't eat it every meal! Just make sure you also have beans and lentils frequently too.

[Jekyll]

All the recipies I've seen have 'vital wheat gluten'? I've never heard of it, and looked in a couple of shops today with no luck?

[Firestorm]

All the recipies I've seen have 'vital wheat gluten'? I've never heard of it, and looked in a couple of shops today with no luck?

In the UK you can only buy it online most of the time, I get mine from here: http://www.honest-to-goodness.org.uk...?q=vital+wheat

Alternately apparently you can make it by rinsing flour but its much easier to buy it.