Seitan and seitan recipes

[sponge]

It was much much better than my previous attempts.

not boiling it is the trick!

Homemade seitan does get better with practice. Plus, it beats the price of purchasing it ready-made.

[Haniska]

I fried some last night and it was reaaaaly good. I mixed it with vegetable broth and marmite, fried it on really low heat so it had a chance to cook, drained the oil and added sweet and sour sauce and boiled that up a little while. I was thinking of my favorite mock General Tso's from Nankings the whole time

It was rubbery in a somewhat pleasant way....I hate to compare to meat but it is like those preformed chicken "breasts" that you buy cheap that have the fake grill marks...that have a lot of gluten and soy to begin with.

[Soul Rebel]

Me make our own seitan and use the recipe in Vegan With a Vengance. It is delicious.

[missbettie]

How do you say Seitan?

[sponge]

Say Tan

[missbettie]

Thought so, I just didn't want to say it out loud and have people look at me funny.

[Yoggy]

I wanna buy a Praise Seitan t-shirt!

[Roxy]

Thought so, I just didn't want to say it out loud and have people look at me funny.

I quite often think that about some new words that I read. I remember calling Quinoa, "QUIN-O-A" lol.

[tipsy]

i say it see - ten

[Roxy]

Well then you're saying it wrong.

[missbettie]

I wanna buy a Praise Seitan t-shirt!

lol ya I have seen those thats why i figured it was pronounced that way, I just wanted to be certain.

I would so get one of those but I wouldn't want to offend the religious people in my office, they are just to sweet. lol

[auntierozzi]

Has anybody made the Veggeroni? I am going to have a go tomorrow.

[Roxy]

Ooops, I think you've got too many "http" 's at the beginning of your link there Auntie.

[sponge]

Has anybody made the Veggeroni? I am going to have a go tomorrow.

I've made the veggeroni and it's good. It is so strangely meat-like that my daughter won't touch it. I fed it to the neighbor boy and he said it reminded him of the little meatballs they put in canned spaghetti.

[ALexiconofLove]

I've made it once using the recipe from Vcon. It came out very tasty, though definitely with a spongy texture. Probably my fault.

I get really good seitan at a veg/vegan restaurant. When I asked them how they made it, they started saying things like "Well, in the sixth hour we blah blah blah" and "When you're using the dough paddle you blah blah blah."

Right.

[Roxy]

LOL

[treehugga]

I wanna buy a Praise Seitan t-shirt!

They look cool! I think I'll order the FBI one and support the activists.

[auntierozzi]

oops Roxy, sorry about my mixed up link thingy.
I made the veggeroni and ended up only baking it for 40 mins and leaving it over night. It wasn't at all sponge like. There is only one prob. with that recipe it's that they mean 2 thirds of a cup of water. I at first thought they meant 2 to 3 cups!!!!!! I then had to double all the other ingredients!! Luckily it tasted good especially thanks to the Spanish burnt paprika.

For lunch I'm going to make a dandelion leaf salad with some of this fried in oil and the burnt paprika which you tip on to wilt the leaves. I like it spicey and will increase the chilli content next time I make it....

I've cut the enormous sausage I made in half and am freezing half. Will let you know how it is from defrosted.

[Melsie]

Hello,

I made the recipe that Poison Ivy posted, which is:
------------------------------------------------
Ingredients:
1.5 cups vital wheat gluten
1/4 cup nutritional yeast
1 tsp salt
2 tsp paprika
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp cumin
1-2 tsp pepper (I use 2 tsp)
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper (you can use 1/8 tsp if you like it less spicy)
1/8 tsp allspice
2 tsp garlic powder


3/4 cups water
4 tbsp tomato paste
1 tbsp tamari
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
2 tbsp vegetarian Worcestershire sauce

Preheat oven to 325°.

In a large mixing bowl mix dry ingredients. Mix the rest of the ingredients (liquid ingredients) in a smaller mixing bowl. Whisk well until mixed.

Add the liquid ingredients to the dry ingredients. Mix well, then knead for a minute or two.. it doesn't need long.

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.

---------------------------------------------------

I wasn't able to find nutritional yeast at the local natural foods store (which sold tamari and vegan worsh. sauce..) anyone know whats up with this stuff, like what is it called and what other stuff might it be close to? i'm in the US.

Ok, anyways. I will change the spices next time - I think the cinnamon and the allspice made it taste like a weird cinnamon meaty-thing. And I think 90 minutes is too long to bake it - it ended up getting kind of .. dry? I may boil it next time, or just not bake it so long.

Other than that, it was really easy to put together (like 5 minutes)!

[RubyDuby]

i find boiling it makes it too rubbery. maybe boil, then bake?
I prefer just baking it though.

Nutritional yeast is with the flax meal, near all the vitamin stuff at my whole foods. When I went home it was only available in the bulk food bins at the local health food store. You should ask somebody who works there.

[fondducoeur]

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.

[sponge]

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.

[Melsie]

So sponge, how long do you usually bake yours, and what is the recipe? Thanks!

[sponge]

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.

[Melsie]

Thanks very much Sponge.. I'll have to be sure to find the yeast, appears to be a key ingredient :P

[Haniska]

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.

[RubyDuby]

good idea! do u put the seitan in the bottom?

[sponge]

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.

[Haniska]

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.

[voluptuous (NB: banned)]

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?

[Hemlock]

Did you use ordinary flour by mistake? i did that once and they were like dough balls.

[voluptuous (NB: banned)]

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?

[Hemlock]

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?

Can't help you there I'm afraid as I never made it again, I can't get vital gluten where we live!

[ALexiconofLove]

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 think I usually simmer for half an hour.

Edited to Add: I use a really weak simmer.

[voluptuous (NB: banned)]

I know I simmered for at least an hour - the Veganomicon cookbook called for an hour or hour and a half - can't remember.

[ALexiconofLove]

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!

[ynef]

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.

[missbettie]

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..

[Redveg993]

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.

[Redveg993]

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.

[veggiemaya]

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?

[cobweb]

i usually just fry it in vegan butter, garlic, and soy sauce.

[veggiemaya]

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.

[xrodolfox]

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.)

[Redveg993]

i say it see - ten

I call it 'sigh-tan'. I don't want people to think I'm a devil worshipper! And I definitely won't be buying a "Praise Seitan" t-shirt.

[vegan-yogini]

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

[DCouch]

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

[KrissStress]

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.

[RubyDuby]

And then....Corned Beef I’m totally making this one:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UFW9turegxI&NR=1

wow, yum! that looks great.
but he doesn't give any measurments.
(not that i measure much anyway but some guidelines would be nice)

[gogs67]

Good luck finding gluten flour in the UK

I just got 3 kilos of wheat gluten delivered today. Cost £11 but the postage was another £7 unfortunately.

Am gonna have fun trying out loads of different recipies though!