Seitan

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lululapagaille
lululapagaille Posts: 84 Member
in Food and Nutrition
Hi all ! I made a batch of classic, simmered in a fragrant stock, seitan yesterday, after trying seitan «hot dogs» a week ago... I'm impressed ! For lunch today, it tasted even better, it's full of plant based protein, and it filled me up all afternoon ! There are so many things to do with it, I've bookmarked tons of recipes and I'm excited to sample them.
Who else digs Seitan ?
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Replies

  • janejellyroll
    janejellyroll Posts: 25,763 Member
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    I love seitan. I'm having some steak-style seitan in chili tonight. It's a fantastic source of protein and when you make it yourself you can do so many different things with the flavor.
  • lululapagaille
    lululapagaille Posts: 84 Member
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    Yes ! And although it's long to cook, it is super easy to make.
  • estherdragonbat
    estherdragonbat Posts: 5,283 Member
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    I've got 1.5 lbs in my freezer, atm... waiting for a good time to be used.
  • sarahshinks2233
    sarahshinks2233 Posts: 55 Member
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    I am getting better at making it - not sure what I am doing wrong. Sometimes maybe not enough liquid, but it disintegrates a little in the broth and then is not great texture wise. I love using it different ways and finding out new recipes!
  • estherdragonbat
    estherdragonbat Posts: 5,283 Member
    edited May 2017
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    Here's my recipe. It all comes together in the food processor.

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    1. Combine wheat gluten, nutritional yeast, salt, onion powder, and paprika in a food processor. Pulse to blend. Add olive oil, 3tbsp soy sauce, and cold water and process for a minute to form a dough. Turn mixture out onto a lightly-floured work surface and knead until smooth and elastic, about 2 minutes.
    2. In a large saucepan, combine remaining ingredients to make the simmering liquid.
    3. Divide seitan dough into 4 equal pieces and place in liquid. Bring just to a boil over medium-high heat, then reduce heat to medium-low, cover, and simmer gently, turning occasionally, for one hour. Turn off heat and let seitan cool in the simmering liquid. Once cool, it can be used right away, refrigerated for a week, or frozen for 3 months.

    Note: As far as the nutritional info, I'm really looking just at the calories for me personally. Since the ingredients of the simmering liquid contain negligible, I haven't calculated for how much, for example, sodium in the simmering liquid was actually absorbed by the seitan; I've just calculated the gross calories, micros, and macros. If you are watching your sodium (or whatever else the 1/2 cup of soy sauce and 2 cloves of garlic contain), sorry for the inaccuracy!

    ETA: Source—1,000 Vegan Recipes
  • lululapagaille
    lululapagaille Posts: 84 Member
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    https://richbitchcooking.wordpress.com/2017/03/28/4-vegan-sausage-recipes-seitan/
    I have made the sausages with bbq sauce.
    Very good taste but the texture was not amazing.
    Yesterday I mixed gluten flour with a little nutritional yeast and tomato paste, kneaded it for five minutes, cut into four pieces and simmered it in a worecester sauce, onion, lemon sauce, turmeric stock for 45 minutes. After that I cut into nuggets sized bites and grilled in a little oil. (Recipe was from a blog in French) It tasted even better reheated today. Yum !
    Didn't feel peckish in the afternoon. Success !
  • DiannaOnMaui
    DiannaOnMaui Posts: 27 Member
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    My new go-to is Tempeh. We have a local company that makes it. Not a huge fan of seitan - it always seems slimy to me.
  • amusedmonkey
    amusedmonkey Posts: 10,330 Member
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    DiannaOnMaui wrote: »
    My new go-to is Tempeh. We have a local company that makes it. Not a huge fan of seitan - it always seems slimy to me.

    You need to try it baked and you will have something that isn't as hard to mess up as simmered, no slime at all. I add a touch of liquid smoke for a smokey roast flavor, but not too much or turns bitter.
  • caitlinj406
    caitlinj406 Posts: 35 Member
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    I love seitan but rarely make it. Vital wheat gluten is a little hard to find here but maybe I just need to order a large bag off Amazon. Every time I make it I notice how much protein it has and how versatile it is. My favorite thing to make is a mock Mongolian beef stir fry.
  • lululapagaille
    lululapagaille Posts: 84 Member
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    caitlinj406 wrote: »
    I love seitan but rarely make it. Vital wheat gluten is a little hard to find here but maybe I just need to order a large bag off Amazon. Every time I make it I notice how much protein it has and how versatile it is. My favorite thing to make is a mock Mongolian beef stir fry.

    Do you have a recipe for the Mongolian «beef» ? I ate at a vegan vietnamese restaurant this weekend and the mock meat was unbelievable. They said it was soy protein.
  • lululapagaille
    lululapagaille Posts: 84 Member
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    DiannaOnMaui wrote: »
    My new go-to is Tempeh. We have a local company that makes it. Not a huge fan of seitan - it always seems slimy to me.

    I would love to try Tempeh. Do you make it yourself ? I never tried because it seems over complicated...
  • kavahni
    kavahni Posts: 313 Member
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    Started making that back in the 70's using The Farm Cookbook, back in the day before the fancy name. Used to be called "glutens."
    Now that I am gluten intolerant, I miss it so! Baked BBQ glutens....uh-huh.
  • kazminchu
    kazminchu Posts: 250 Member
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    I have a question about seitan! I have only tried it once, but I bought a jar of it pre-made to try, and it was so disgusting I had to throw it out after a couple of bites. It smelled and tasted very sulphuric, like rotten eggs. Did I just get a bad jar, or is that how it is supposed to taste?
  • amusedmonkey
    amusedmonkey Posts: 10,330 Member
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    kazminchu wrote: »
    I have a question about seitan! I have only tried it once, but I bought a jar of it pre-made to try, and it was so disgusting I had to throw it out after a couple of bites. It smelled and tasted very sulphuric, like rotten eggs. Did I just get a bad jar, or is that how it is supposed to taste?

    The smell and taste are more earthy, like a complex subtly yeasty grain-like aftertaste coming through whatever flavorings you added to the seitan, but I would not describe it as sulphuric or rotten. It may have been a bad jar or unsuccessful flavor profiles (seitan heavily depends on added flavorings).
  • kazminchu
    kazminchu Posts: 250 Member
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    amusedmonkey wrote: »
    kazminchu wrote: »
    I have a question about seitan! I have only tried it once, but I bought a jar of it pre-made to try, and it was so disgusting I had to throw it out after a couple of bites. It smelled and tasted very sulphuric, like rotten eggs. Did I just get a bad jar, or is that how it is supposed to taste?

    The smell and taste are more earthy, like a complex subtly yeasty grain-like aftertaste coming through whatever flavorings you added to the seitan, but I would not describe it as sulphuric or rotten. It may have been a bad jar or unsuccessful flavor profiles (seitan heavily depends on added flavorings).

    Ah, yes that's more like the flavour I was hoping/expecting to have. Must've been a dodgy jar, I will brave it again someday and hopefully be amazed!
  • lululapagaille
    lululapagaille Posts: 84 Member
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    kazminchu wrote: »
    I have a question about seitan! I have only tried it once, but I bought a jar of it pre-made to try, and it was so disgusting I had to throw it out after a couple of bites. It smelled and tasted very sulphuric, like rotten eggs. Did I just get a bad jar, or is that how it is supposed to taste?

    I heard and have read that store bought seitan is really not tasty. But your experience sounds particularly bad ! It's worth trying to make your own. Let us know how it goes if you do :)
  • lululapagaille
    lululapagaille Posts: 84 Member
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    kavahni wrote: »
    Started making that back in the 70's using The Farm Cookbook, back in the day before the fancy name. Used to be called "glutens."
    Now that I am gluten intolerant, I miss it so! Baked BBQ glutens....uh-huh.

    Oh no ! I have no problem with gluten, but I was a little weary the first time I made seitan just in case it turned out I had !!
  • caitlinj406
    caitlinj406 Posts: 35 Member
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    lululapagaille wrote: »
    Do you have a recipe for the Mongolian «beef» ? I ate at a vegan vietnamese restaurant this weekend and the mock meat was unbelievable. They said it was soy protein.
    I usually just google a sauce recipe but beware, it's delicious because it's mostly brown sugar, soy sauce, and garlic. Otherwise I just stir fry onion, broccoli, and seitan strips and then add the sauce. And the soy protein they mentioned might have been soy curls. They are amazing!
  • caitlinj406
    caitlinj406 Posts: 35 Member
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    kazminchu wrote: »
    I have a question about seitan! I have only tried it once, but I bought a jar of it pre-made to try, and it was so disgusting I had to throw it out after a couple of bites. It smelled and tasted very sulphuric, like rotten eggs. Did I just get a bad jar, or is that how it is supposed to taste?

    Are you sure it was seitan? I've never seen it in a jar and have never experienced it as sulphuric. I find that the seitan sausage style links are a really great introduction to it, I really love the tofurkey ones.
  • kavahni
    kavahni Posts: 313 Member
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    I can't imagine it coming in a jar. Vacuum packed, yes, but not in a jar. On the other hand I've never eaten commercially made.
    It should be chewy (and never slimey), and have little taste except for the flavors a you add--broths, oils, sauces, seasonings. It's a spectacular basis for any thing you might miss about meat. Well, unless you are fond of a bloody roast (ew).
    Making your own is a bit involved but can turn out a large quantity part of which can be frozen.

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