I finally found a meat substitute my family is enthusiastic about (and by enthusiastic I mean they will actually eat it). Seitan is a high protein steamed dough product made from vital wheat gluten. I am so very glad nobody has discovered they are gluten intolerant, we would be hard put to find whole protein sources if we couldn’t eat whole grains.

Making seitan is one of those kitchen jobs that take a lot of time, most of it in the waiting, but it is worth the wait. My daughter requested some sausage rolls today and I am out of seitan (having used the last batch in a meatloaf last night), so I thought I would show you how I make it. I use this recipe from Chef Jana.

You don’t technically need a goose kitchen assistant for this recipe, but it does add a certain something to the process.

The ingredients are simple to find, except possibly the vital wheat gluten. I had to order the VWG (Vital Wheat Gluten) online from the cruelty free store. You can make seitan from whole wheat flour, but it involves a lot of washing of the dough to remove the starch component and I am trying to reduce water use (we are very low on water in early Spring before the rain comes). So I bought a kilo of VWG and decided to shortcut the process. At some point (when we are water rich) I would like to try making seitan from scratch using my ground whole wheat flour.

Ingredients

2 cups Vital Wheat Gluten

2 tsp paprika

1 tsp black pepper

2/3 tsp nutmeg

2 tsp onion powder

2 tsp garlic powder

1 cup of water with 10 Tsp soy sauce

2 TBSP lemon juice

Method

Mix the dry ingredients together well, then add small amounts of liquid at a time. Mix really well between additions of liquid and when you can form a dough ball, use hands to squish the mass together into whatever shape you choose. Simmer the mass in a pot of stock for about 35-45 minutes.

Ingredients for stock

4 cups water

2 vegetable stock cubes

1 onion

2 garlic cloves

1/2 cup soy sauce

Any herbs you choose (I didn’t use any in the mix today, I will add them to the sausage rolls)

The seitan can be stored in the stock in the fridge for a week or it can be frozen (without the stock) for up to 3 months (apparently, mine doesn’t last that long).

Seitan can be used in any recipe in place of meat. Today I am mincing it to use in sausage rolls. I have used it cubed in stir fry and casserole, minced in meat loaf and sliced in sandwiches. I also plan to use it as a steak one day, to see if I can wean my carnivorous partner off his occasional steak indulgence.

The sausage rolls where made by mixing chopped herbs (parsley, thyme, oregano and rosemary) with almond paste and minced seitan, they rolling the meat in puff pastry, brushing with soy milk and baking for 15 minutes in a medium oven.

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

I still prefer the cauliflower and mushroom mince for minced recipes with sauces as the texture is better, but seitan is great for recipes that need to stick together in any kind of shape (like sausage rolls and meat loaf). I also think that multiple sources of iron and protein (and all those other nutrients we need) is a better way to be sure we get what we need.