Well, I didn't make the seitan entirely from scratch, but I did use vital wheat gluten, and then followed the recipe from Vegan with a Vengeance. It came out quite good - less dry than the commerical, pre-made brand. I will post later about the history of seitan, but here is a yummy dish from Vegan Planet, by Robin Robertson. In fact, here are two! The first was Seitan Beer Stew over soba noodles, then I made Sauteed Green Beans (with garlic and tomatoes) for a 'side.' The stew had a wonderfully thick sauce and the seitan (homemade, remember?!) was nice and juicy and not too tough. Great flavor and not too "beery" (I am not a big fan of beer flavor or scent). The green beans were only ok. Maybe they were overpowered by the great flavors in the stew! Overall, an easy recipe to make and enjoyed by my omnivore husband! Rating of stew: *** and a half (stars). Rating of beans: **
3 comments:
wow, i've never made seitan from scratch before.. did you find it difficult or time consuming?
your seitan looks great! I tried 2 times and failed both times. I need to be dilegent and try again. By the way I read on Michelle's blog that you were looking for Amaranth grains and such. I found mine at whole foods, but not bulk. It was in the prepackaged section. It might have been Bob's Red Mill brand. Hope this helps.
Michelle - thanks for the question. I actually found the process very easy! I used Vital Wheat Gluten (I think it was Bob's Red Mill Brand, but maybe it was Hodgson's?) and followed the recipe in the cookbook, Vegan with a Vengeance. In fact, the author has the recipe directly on her website (www.theppk.com). Search under her recipes link. If you have ever made fresh bread, or just simply know how to "knead," then that's all there is to it! I've used the Seitan Quick Mix before, but I don't think the recipe was as good as Isa's (V with a V). It has to simmer for almost an hour, but you can put it on the stove and basically forget about it! I froze half of it, covered with cooking liquid, and just thawed some out in the fridge this week to make a seitan stir-fry. Yum! I think it's better than store bought!
Veg-a-nut - What "failed" in your recipe? I am not an expert, but maybe I could give you some tips? I will try to make some more this weekend, and post photos to help out :) Thanks for the tip on the amaranth. I also looked at Bob's pre-packaged stuff at Whole Foods but no luck. Maybe I will just ask them to special order it!
Post a Comment