And it’s so good and ridiculously cheap considering what it costs in the grocery store! This is kind of a long project, somewhat similar to baking bread from scratch, but not at all difficult and well worth it. I totally ripped this off the VeganCore
http://vegancore.blogspot.com/ website, I hope she doesn’t mind much.
Changes: I kneaded the gluten mixture for twice as long as instructed (10 minutes instead of 5) because it just seemed to “knead” it (hahaha I so punny!); I let the dough rest for about 25 minutes to allow the gluten to develop a bit more, which results in a firmer seitan.
The recipe below is as it's written in the book, sans my alterations.
Seitan
Recipe from Vegan with a Vengeance by Isa Chandra Moskowitz
2 cups vital wheat gluten
1/4 cup nutritional yeast
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 cup cold water or vegetable stock
1/2 cup soy sauce
1 tablespoon tomato paste
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 cloves garlic, pressed or finely grated
1 teaspoon finely grated lemon zest
For the broth:
12 cups water or vegetable stock
1/2 cup soy sauce
Mix the dry ingredients in a large bowl; mix the wet stuff (including garlic and lemon zest) in a smaller bowl. Pour the wet into the dry and combine. Knead the dough for about 5 minutes until spongy and elastic. Let it rest for a few minutes while preparing the broth. Combine the stock and soy sauce in a large pot, but don't turn the heat on yet.
Roll the dough into a log about 10'' long; cut it into 6 equal pieces. Drop the pieces into the cold broth. Partially cover the pot and bring the broth to a boil. After it comes to a boil, reduce the heat to low and simmer for an hour. Gently turn the pieces every once in a while.
Turn off the heat and let everything cool for at least 30 minutes - letting it cool completely is better.
From this point, do with it what you will. It can be stored, covered with broth, in the fridge for 5 days or so. I think you can freeze it as well, but the book doesn't comment on that. I may report back on that at a later date.
Makes about 6 cups of seitan. I count 1/2 cup as a serving, so for me this recipe yields 12 servings.
Nutritional Information: 126 calories, 1.25 g fat (0.1 g saturated fat), 1 g fiber, 16 g protein @ 12 servings. Holy protein, Batman! Note that this does not include whatever calories, etc. may be absorbed from the cooking broth, but since that's just stock and soy sauce it shouldn't make that much of a difference.
Bonus: I used the leftover broth to save some pitiful falvorless miso soup I made. Broth and seitan chunks made the soup a hearty protein packed lunch.
I’ve also made the vegan corn chowder posted on VeganCore from Vegan with a Vengeance, it’s amazing and with all the raves I’m hearing about this book I think I had better go out and get it for myself instead of just ripping the recipes off the internet.
I made seitan from scratch!
