Homemade Seitan Recipe – Vegetarian Wheat Meat Recipe – Vegan Meat Substitute Recipe

This is very new to me, i have never heard about it unless i came across this recipe in pinterest. Even though i eat meat, i wanted to give this a try to see how it taste. So i made it immediately and was quite surprised by the process. 

For all those who are not familiar with this recipe, here is a head start from wiki

Wheat gluten, also called seitan (Japanese: セイタン), wheat meat, gluten meat, or simply gluten, is a food made from gluten, the main protein of wheat. It is made by washing wheat flour dough with water until all the starch granules have been removed, leaving the sticky insoluble gluten as an elastic mass which is then cooked before being eaten.[1]

Wheat gluten is an alternative to soybean-based foods such as tofu, which are sometimes used as meat substitutes. Some types of wheat gluten have a chewy or stringy texture that resembles meat more than other substitutes. Wheat gluten is often used instead of meat in Asian, vegetarian, Buddhist, and macrobiotic cuisines. Mock duck is a common use for wheat gluten.

Wheat gluten first appeared during the 6th century as an ingredient for Chinese noodles.[2] It has historically been popular in the cuisines of China, Japan and other East and Southeast Asian nations. In Asia, it is commonly found on the menus of restaurants catering primarily to Buddhist customers who do not eat meat.

You start with a large mass of wheat dough and wash it in water till all the starch is gone. Now what you are left with is a smaller portion of gluten alone. You can use all purpose flour for this as well, the more gluten in the flour the more seitan you will get. It is known that seitan is too good for you, it is high in protein and a great protein source for vegetarians. You can use this to make curries, stir fries and grill them as well, frankly the possiblities are endless. Hope you will give this a try and let me know how it turns out for you..

Preparation Time : 25 mins
Cooking Time : 20 mins
Resting Time : 1 hours
Serves: 2 to 3


Ingredients:

Wheat flour – 4 cups
Salt – 2 tsp
Water as needed

For Stock:
Water as needed
Salt to taste
Chilli Powder – 1 tsp
Fennel Seeds – 1 tsp
Cinnamon – 1 piece
Vegetable Stock Cube – 1

Method:

Take wheat flour, salt and water in a bowl and knead to a stiff dough. Now cover it with water and let it sit for 1 hour.

Now knead it well and get rid off all the starch. it will be easy if you do this under a sink. Keep straining the water and add fresh water and knead it well. The portion will get much smaller. But keep doing this till the water runs almost clear.

You can easily do this if you use a strainer and keep the water flowing.

Now what you will be left is the gluten. Now strain this and cut it into pieces.

Now take veg stock and all ingredients in a sauce pan and bring it to a boil. Once it boils, add seitan and cook for 20 mins or so.

Now drain this and store it in a air tight container.

You can use this in stir fries, curries and grill them. This stay good for a week in fridge.

Pictorial:

Take wheat flour in a bowl

add salt

add water

make a stiff dough

cover with water and let it sit for 1 hour

now lets make seitan

massage the dough inside the bowl and get rid of all the starch from it

keep kneading it

now throw away the liquid

now add some more water

and repeat the same massaging process

repeat this process

you will see that the dough gets smaller

it is just okay, you are getting the starch off from it, you have to continue this till the water runs almost clear

your will get kind of stringy dough

now drain this..this is puree gluten

use a knife or scissor to cut as per your required shape

like this

Now take veg stock or water in a sauce pan add whatever vegetables or spices you want

add salt and bring it to a boil

add seitan in this

cook for 20 mins or so

this is hot is looks

i let the water almost evaporate

drain it

Store this in a air tight container for a week. You can add this in curries, stirfries and grill them