Homemade Seitan

Seitan (pronounced "say-tan", not "Satan") is an excellent source of vegan protein! One 3 ounce serving of this faux meat has 21 grams of protein, under 2 grams of fat, less than 4 grams of carbs and only 120 calories! If you've ever tried it, you may think it's texture and flavor is similar to chicken. When made properly, you can literally prepare it in any way you would prepare chicken and other meats. Tenders, nuggets, cutlets, boneless wings, fried, baked, marinated, "stuffed" in a loaf form--- you name it. I love this process of making it because the broth you cook it in literally ends up as a flavorful rich broth you can use again for another recipe!

Downside though? It's made from straight up gluten-- so not something to try for my gluten-free friends. A lot of people have no issues eating gluten, and if your body can handle it this wheat product is very protein rich, dense and filling. Do keep in mind seitan itself is NOT a "complete" protein containing all the essential amino acids, so for a healthy balanced meal it's a good idea to supplement with another healthy grain like quinoa (which DOES contain all your AA's), and/or a bunch of nutrient-rich veggies. Great in a stir-fry, curry, or in a salad there are endless ways to incorporate a variety of colorful vegetables into your meal. If you don't eat meat but are craving something meaty, seitan is definitely worth trying! A few servings of this will knock out most of your protein needs for the day, and is a great and easy addition to plant-based meals for those looking to up their protein to build muscle. This homemade recipe is much more flavorful, tender, fresh (and way cheaper!) than store bought seitan. It does take some time but I promise it's not as hard to make as it sounds! This recipe was taken from Isa's book "Vegan with a Vengeance", and this and many other great recipes can be found on her Post Punk Kitchen blog.


Ingredients:

2 cups vital wheat gluten flour (find this in a package with flours and baking ingredients in your supermarket or health food store)

¼ cup nutritional yeast

2 tablespoons all-purpose flour

1 cup cold water or vegetable broth

½ cup soy sauce (if you are trying to lower your sodium content use a low-sodium variety)

1 tablespoon tomato paste (optional- I didn't have any to use and mine came out delicious!)

1 tablespoon olive oil

2 cloves garlic, pressed or grated as small as possible

1 teaspoon lemon zest

BROTH- 12 cups water or vegetable broth + ½ cup soy sauce


Directions:

In a large bowl or mixer, combine wheat gluten flour, nutritional yeast and all-purpose flour. Separately, combine the remainder of your wet ingredients and lemon zest together.

Pour your combined wet ingredients into the dry and combine with a firm spatula or an electric mixer (the dough gets sticky so a touch dough hook for a food processor works great!) Knead that dough for a few minutes until it's spongey and elastic (sounds like a lot of work but I promise it's fun!).

Let your dough rest for a few minutes and combine your broth ingredients in a large pot but DO not heat or broil your broth yet. The colder it is the better.

Roll the dough into a log shape about 10 inches long and cut the dough into 6 equal chunks. Place each piece into the broth pot. Broth must be cold when the dough is added to keep it from falling apart and help create the perfect texture. Partially cover the pot leaving a gap for steam to escape, and bring the broth to a boil.

Once it's boiling, set heat to low and simmer for one hour, turning/stirring your seitan pieces every once and a while. After an hour turn off the heat and let the broth and seitan cool for 30 minutes to ensure a firm seitan before removing from the broth. If you want to experiment with the texture you can try taking some out early and it may be more tender and soft, but you want to cook it long enough to prevent chewy and sponginess.

From this point forward what you do with the seitan depends on the recipe you're using. You will treat each "chunk" like a piece of meat and cut it into smaller pieces, or you can marinate it as a whole. The seitan already has a subtle flavor and can be enjoyed plain and added into other dishes. To create different "shapes" of meat for recipes you can experiment with shaping it prior to boiling, but keep in mind that smaller chunks will take less time to cook. Seitan can also be baked, but will result in a different texture and different type of "meat". My favorite thing to do is roll it out into a flat piece of dough, cover with delicious stuffing and roll into a log and bake to create a stuffed "turkey" for holidays. When I attempt to do that again this year I'll share the recipe! The main things you need to know is how to make the seitan dough and how to cook it, (boiling is easiest!) and once it's cooked you can get creative and add it into anything that you would normally want to use meat for. Feel free to use the broth again in soups or served over the seitan in different recipes. You can store seitan in the fridge in its broth to keep it extra moist.

Enjoy, and remember this is a very dense and "heavy" food, so it won't take much to fill you up! Definitely combine with other plant-based elements like fresh veggies and grains to create a healthy balanced meal to prevent you from feeling too sluggish afterwards :) Refrigerate leftovers in an air tight container.