food : seitan
Seitan is a vegan protein that can be easily made at home. There are a lot of ways to make it and even more ways to prepare it once it has been made. I have used this recipe a long time, but never thought to write it down here. However, I would like my family to be able to reference it if they need to cook it, so I am adding it now. This makes a pretty big batch. We keep it in some pyrex in the fridge and use it for lots of recipes over the course of a few days or a week.
It is possible to make seitan from wheat flour by separating out the vital wheat gluten. This recipe assumes you already have vital wheat gluten. It is available in many grocery stores.
Ingredients
| Amount | Measure | Ingredient |
|---|---|---|
| 6-8 | Cup | Water |
| 2 | Cube | Vegan bouillon |
| 2 | Cup | Vital wheat gluten |
| 1 | Tsp | Onion powder |
| 1 | Tsp | Garlic Powder |
| 4 | Tbsp | Nutritional yeast |
| 2 | C | Water for dough |
Instructions
- Add the 6-8 cup of water to a stock pot or other large pot with the bouillon cubes and bring to a boil
- Mix the vital wheat gluten, onion powder, garlic powder, and nutiritional yeast in a large mixing bowl until combined and evenly distributed
- Add in around 1.25 - 1.5 cups water and incorporate into a dough. The dough should not be sopping wet and I tend to keep it a little on the dry side so long as everything combines well and isnt crumbly
- Knead the dough for a minute or few. If it feels dry just run some water on your hands and then keep kneading, repeating as needed until the dough is elastic and tacky, but not sticky
- Cut the dough into roughly two inch pieces (feel free to be sloppy about this, but dont let them get too big as they are going to double in size when you cook them)
- Add the cut pieces of dough to the boiling pot of water/bouillon (stir first if it looks like the bouillon has not disolved/broken up)
- Lower the heat to a strong simmer and cook for cook with a lid on for 45 minutes, stirring occasionally. Expect the seitan to get enormous and for you to not really see the water after awhile
- At the end of the time dump into a colander and let cool for awhile
- Once cooled down I put it in a pyrex container, squeezing out a bit of excess liquid from the seitan before putting it in the container
- The resulting seitan can be kept in your fridge for a week or so (we usually get 3 - 5 meals for two adults and a toddler out of a batch following this recipe)
Notes
- If you keep it boiling rather than simmering you will get a denser texture, but be sure there is enough water