"Corned Beef" Seitan

Ingredients

Seitan

• 1 1/2 cups vital wheat gluten
• 1/4 cup chickpea flour
• 2 tablespoons nutritional yeast
• 1 1/2 teaspoon seasoning salt (I would recommend a different beef-like seasoning that does not include the salt!)
• 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1/2 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper
• 1 cup vegetable broth (or beef-like vegan broth)
• 1 teaspoon extra virgin olive oil
• 1 teaspoon blackstrap molasses
• 2 tablespoons soy sauce (suggest low sodium in future)

Cooking broth

• 3 cups water
• 3 cups vegetable broth
• 1/4 cup soy sauce (suggest low sodium in future)
• 1 tablespoon of mustard seeds
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
• 1 tablespoon minced ginger
• 1 tablespoons seasoning salt (I would recommend a different beef-like seasoning that does not include the salt!)

Instructions

1. In a large bowl, combine all of the dry ingredients for the seitan.
2. Combine all of the wet ingredients for seitan (not the cooking broth), and whisk them together with the dry ingredients. If you have a standmixer, use that. I tried using the bread hook, but it did not work well and turned to a different mixer attachment. Mix for about 5 minutes.
3. While waiting on the mixer, get a start on the Cooking broth by getting a large pot. Mix in all the ingredients and bring to a boil.
4. Separate the seitan dough into two loaves and place in the boiling broth and reduce heat to a simmer and cook for an hour. Occassionally, make sure the seitan is not sticking on the bottom of the pot.
5. If you are serving on the day of cooking, slice up and serve with your meal.
6. If you decide that you would like to marinate the seitan overnight in the fridge with broth you can do that as well.
7. When getting ready to prepare for a meal on the following day, slice up and place in a skillet on medium heat and placing just enough broth to prevent it from sticking to pan. Serve with meal when warmed.

Inspired by

Only a few adjustments, but I tried to keep pretty close to this, one.

Closing

I have never made seitan before, but I had it once in the past but it was store bought and I did not realize that it is relatively easy to prepare. I picked up a lot of new ingredients for the first time to make this, such as Vital Wheat Gluten, Nutritional Yeast, and Blackstrap Molasses. I also milled chickpeas for the first time, I would recommend crushing them first then milling (or you can just buy it pre-milled if you would like!). Generally, seitan is just wheat gluten, but if you add a lagume (in this case chickpea flour) you get yourself a full-protein.

My first rendition of this recipe was quite, quite salty. If I ever attempt to make it again, I will try to change this up so that it is not so salty, and that may have been because I misunderstood the original recipe with the beef seasoning (I used seasoning salt). I also did not have low-sodium soy sauce (they used tamari sauce). In addition, I might use a different recipe for the seitan itself and not cook it in boiling water. Supposedly, if you steam or bake it, it will not turn out quite as spungy.

Overall, it was a neat experience that I am happy to share.