Seitan Chop Suey

Seitan chop suey with snap peas, scallions, waterchestnuts, and sprouts.

This recipe is an original, and one of my favorite creations. It is my pleasure to share it with you!

This recipe goes great with the chickeny seitan recipe from yesterday, but feel free to use store bought. I bet you could even substitute tofu if you're anti-gluten, but can't say I've ever tried that. For the record, I am rabidly pro-gluten.

I recommend serving with brown rice or quinoa. Quinoa, for those who don't know, is an Andean wondergrain with loads of protein and fiber. Much better for you than rice... unfortunately, it is also much more expensive, to the tune of like 5 times as much. 

Also: the veggies are really your choice. Feel free to mix and match. I recommend always including waterchestnuts, but I also really love waterchestnuts and any excuse to use them. I also would include some kind of oniony vegetable, like scallions (pictured), leeks, or yellow/white onion.

Ingredients:

-1 C broth
-2 Tbs soy sauce
-2 Tbs hoisin sauce (or molasses)
-2 C seitan, chopped into cubes
-1 Tbs olive oil
-1½ C broccoli sliced thin (or snap peas, as pictured, or celery, sliced into angled chunks)
-1 C chopped scallions (or leeks, or yellow/white onion)
-½ C waterchestnuts, sliced into matchsticks
-3 Tbs flour
-3 Tbs cornstarch
-sprouts (broccoli pictured, but feel free to use the more traditional bean sprouts)

To make:

1. Mix broth, soy sauce, and hoisin in a medium bowl. Add cubed seitan, cover, and let marinate while you chop the veggies, at least 15 minutes

2. Mix flour and cornstarch. Toss seitan in the flour mixture, but save the marinade! You will need it later.

3. Sear the floured seitan cubes in a pan over medium heat in the oil. Save the extra flour! Set aside.

4. Coat a pan w/ a small amount of broth. Add vegetables (but not the sprouts) and cover to steam on medium/ medium low for about 2-3 minutes, until liquid is absorbed. Do not over cook, because you are going to cook a bit longer.

5. Pour in the marinade, and cook for about 2 or 3 minutes. Stir in the extra flour from the coating, and continue to cook and stir until sauce begins to thicken. Stir in seitan and sprouts. Serve!

Sauce thickening

Simple Seitan

Seitan chop suey with sprouts,  green peas,  scallions and water chestnuts.

Seitan is my favorite of the Vegan Meat Trifecta (tofu, tempeh, and seitan). It has a very meaty, chewy taste and can be substituted for meat in most omnivorous recipes. 

You can buy it pre-made in health food stores/ whole foods but it is also quite easy to make it yourself! 

Ingredients:
-1 C Vital Wheat Gluten
-3 Tbs nutritional yeast
-1/2 C veggie broth
-2 Tbs soy sauce
-2 Tbs lemon juice
-1 Tbs olive oil
-2 cloves (1 heaping tsp) garlic, minced

For the broth:
-4 C veggie broth
-4 C water
-2 Tbs soy sauce

Optional chicken seasoning:
-¼ tsp onion powder
-¼ tsp garlic powder
-¼ celery seed, ground between your hands
-1 tsp parsley, rubbed between your hands
-dash sage
-dash thyme
-dash marjoram
-dash mint

1. Mix broth ingredients in a large pot. Bring to boil, then drop to a simmer, as you complete the following steps.
2. Mix all dry seitan ingredients in a large bowl, and all wet/damp ingredients in a small bowl.

3. Pour wet into dry, stirring continuously, until well mixed and all moisture absorbed.

4. Knead pretty much until you can't anymore or 3 min, whichever comes first. Roll it into a bit of a log and slice into thirds. Press these chunks a little bit.

5. Place seitan chunks in simmering broth, and partially cover. Simmer for 45 minutes, turning every 15.
6. Remove from heat, let sit 15 minutes or so.

7. Move to strainer with a slotted spoon, and allow to dry for 10 min or so.

8. If I plan to use the seitan for sandwiches, at this point I also pan fry it as a final step in a little olive oil, just enough to firm up the outside a bit.

But what about the optional chicken seasoning?
Right! The other great thing about making your own seitan is you can flavor it however you like. The optional chicken seasoning can be added to the dry ingredients to give your seitan a "chickeny" flavor.