Vegan Recipe for Homemade Seitan
So here’s a recipe for homemade seitan I came up with based on a few I found on some cooking sites. Seitan is one of the highest if not the highest in protein out of any vegan foods. We’re talking like 21 grams per serving here, no joke. It’s also dirt cheap to make, so for a vegan on a budget homemade seitan is super economical. Which is saying something, given that seitan is super expensive at the grocery store. And this recipe makes a lot. I mean a lot. Plus, you can store seitan in the refrigerator or even the freezer, and because doing it at home means it’s made fresh, it lasts quite a while.
Ingredients
- Vital weat gluten flour
- Soy sauce
- Baking powder
- Onion powder
- Chopped garlic
- Paprika
- Ground ginger
- Sesame seeds
Equipment
- 1 small bowls
- 1 large mixing bowl
- 1 large soup pot
- 1 teaspoon
- 1 tablespoon
- 1 cup measuring cup
- 1/2 cup measuring cup
- 1/3 cup measuring cup
- 1 wooden spoon
- 1 breadboard
Method
1. Add the following liquid ingredients to the small bowl.
- 1 1/3 cup water
- 2 tablespoons soy sauce
2. Add the following dry ingredients to the large mixing bowl.
- 2 1/2 cups vital wheat gluten
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
3. Combine the liquid and dry in gredients in the large mixing bowl.
- Stir with a spoon first, then with your hands.
- Work into a stiff dough, not a wet dough
- Add more water if necessary, but make sure the dough is stiff.
4. Knead the dough on a floured breadboard.
- Use some of the vital weat gluten to flour the board.
- Knead vigorously for 2 - 3 minutes, until textured consistently.
5. Leave the dough to set.
- Place a little bit of vial wheat gluten in the mixing bowl.
- Put the dough in the mixing bowl.
- Put a tea towel over the top.
- Start a timer for 15 minutes.
6. Add the following broth ingredients to the small bowl.
- 2 tablespoons soy sauce
- 1 tablespoon chopped garlic
- 1 tablespoon onion powder
- 1 tablespoon ground ginger
- 1 teaspoon paprika
7. Boil water and the broth ingredients in the large soup pot.
- Fill the pot about 2/3 full with water.
- Use a kettle to boil the water first to save time.
- Mix the broth ingredients in as much as possible.
- Bring to a slow boil
8. Once the dough is ready, prepare the uncooked seitan.
- Divide the dough into two parts.
- The two parts should not be flat, but be mini loaves.
- For each mini loaf, cut the dough into thin slices at most 1/2 inch thick.
9. Cook the seitan for 30 minutes.
- Set a timer for 30 minutes.
- Slowly and gently add the seitan to the pot of slow boiling water.
- Once all the seitan has been added, bring back to a gentle simmer.
- The dough will puff up, keep pushing the pieces down with the wooden spoon.
10. Prepare the cooked seitan.
- Scoop the seitan out of the cooking pot onto the bread board.
- Wait for it to cool enough to handle.
- Cut into strips or small chunks.
11. Fry the cooked seitan.
- Store the cooking broth for later use in an airtight container in the refrigerator.
- Store any of the seitan you don’t want to eat now with a bit of broth in an airtight container in the refrigerator (or with no broth in the freezer).
- Squeeze any remaining broth out of the seitan you want to use.
- Fry in a pan with a dash of oil and a little soy or teriyaki sauce.
- You can either season in the pan with sesame seeds or do it after plating.