Super rich in protein, this popular choice for vegetarians is amazingly similar to the look and texture of meat when cooked. Seitan (pronounced say-tahn) is made from gluten, the main protein of wheat, by washing wheat flour dough with water until all the starch melts. This leaves insoluble gluten that must be cooked before it can be eaten.
It's essentially very possible to make seitan yourself, though it's time consuming. By mixing flour and water you form dough, this dough is then kneaded and rinsed under running water for approximately 20 to 30 minutes. The gluten then needs to be broiled in broth for one to two hours before it can be eaten. The shortcut to this of course is to buy already separated wheat gluten instead of beginning from flour.
Seitan is a low sodium and very low-fat protein. It has around ten milligrams of sodium, zero grams of fat and 7 1/2 grams of protein in simply an oz. Protein sensible, it is calorie for calorie higher in protein than both tofu and tempeh.
The downside of seitan, is that lots of the time it is processed and extremely high in sodium. Additionally , any person with celiac illness, or a gluten allergy desires to keep away.
Below is a recipe I found for Buffalo Seitan (vegan buffalo wings). Done properly this may be 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
Mix these together in a bowl. It will get too thick to utilise a spoon, so dig right 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 many Asian markets for cheap)
1 tsp each: thyme, dried parsley, rosemary, oregano, onion powder
1 bay leaf
garlic powder to taste
ground pepper to taste
In an enormous saucepan, bring the broth ingredients to boiling point, and lower the heat. Pinch off little pieces of the gluten (slightly smaller than bite sized) and drop into the broth. Cover the pan, and cook. It is important to make certain the broth does not come to boiling point, so you'll have to keep a close eye. Boiling seitan makes it troublesome and chewy, which might be great for some things, though not these. You'll broil these for about 50 minutes, stirring a little each ten minutes or so while the broth reduced. If by the end of 50 minutes it seems like bite sized pieces of brain floating in a broth, you have done well. Remove from heat, but leave in the broth until ready. You may also put this in the refrigerator at this time if you're not prepared to turn them into spicy chunks of deliciousness.
Buffalo-ing them:
Preheat stove to 350 degrees
2 Tbs Vegan margarine (similar to Earth Balance)
2 Tbs Hot Sauce or Sriracha
Melt the above together in a tiny saucepan. Take away the seitan from the broth, and cover with the marg blend. Set the coated seitan chunks out on a baking sheet, and heat for ten minutes. Put them on a bowl or plate, and pour any extra marg mix over the seitan; toss to cover. Serve along with Vegan Ranch Dip, instructions to 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 stir. If lemon is very enormous or juicy, either consider yourself lucky or add the juice slowly until you create the consistency you would like. Less juice = more dip-like, more juice = more salad dressing-like.
*Powdered garlic works miles better than raw minced garlic here. If you happen to feel up to it, two roasted mashed garlic cloves work even better.
(Recipe from pickyvegan.com).
Cathy Roosa is a vegan, and is a contributing writer to several websites.