I first heard about seitan, gluten-free vegan meat the other day, when Youtube suggested I watch a video. Well, then, of course, one after another fell down: seitan cutlets, seitan skewers, various videos.
In general, I am skeptical about the very wording “vegetarian meat” or “vegetarian sausage”. But in principle, it is not necessary to put the question in such a way that seitan is a meat substitute and should be similar to it. No... just another vegan meal high in protein and another refutation of the misconception that you can't get enough protein without meat, and the vegetarian menu is limited.
They say that seitan and its dishes are popular in Southeast Asia.
For those who missed everything, I'll tell you briefly. Seitan is made from gluten, which you can buy in its pure form. It is kneaded like a dough, either simply with water or, depending on preferences, salt, pepper, spices, vegetable oil, tomato paste are immediately added to the dough. Then boil for an hour. And other dishes are prepared from the resulting product. The taste largely depends on the spices that you loaded into it before cooking, during cooking or after cooking and the method of preparation, seitan itself has a neutral bland taste.
If pure gluten is not available, there is an option to get seitan from ordinary wheat flour, which is known to contain gluten.
Another culinary experiment. Cooking seitan goulash
According to the recommendations of the experienced, I took about a kilogram of flour, added water, kneaded a homogeneous dough that can be gathered into a lump, but not too thick. By the way, experts advise using slightly warm water and kneading the dough for a long time, in cases where we are interested in the greatest release of gluten. Now is just such a case. The structure of the dough will be more fibrous.[/ Quote]
Left for half an hour, this is a mandatory part.
Then he washed the dough in a bowl of warm water to wash out the white starch substance from the dough. I changed the water several times and washed the dough like socks. Until the water stopped turning white and became almost transparent. The volume of the test has sharply decreased by about 70%. There are 300 grams left.
Because of this rinsing procedure, when making seitan from ordinary wheat flour, it obviously makes no sense to add salt and spices to the dough immediately at the initial kneading.
The resulting mass was cut into pieces and boiled for an hour in boiling water. By the way, during seitan significantly increases in volume. I added a couple of onions, bay leaf, salt, one cloves to the water.
After boiling, the pieces of seitan were cut into smaller pieces and fried, stewed in a pan with vegetable oil, onions, herbs, carrots, spices and tomato paste.
Spaghetti was cooked as a side dish.
In appearance, the pieces of seitan after cooking really resemble light meat.
Smaller pieces are better soaked in sauce and taste better. Large pieces are slightly watery after cooking. I think it will be necessary to experiment more with the marinade, spices, to find the optimal taste ... You need to try the seitan skewers as well.
Then it will be possible to add something to my special blog with vegetarian recipes. In the meantime, for the first time, as an introductory experiment - not bad. I recommend to try.
Left for half an hour, this is a mandatory part.
Then he washed the dough in a bowl of warm water to wash out the white starch substance from the dough. I changed the water several times and washed the dough like socks. Until the water stopped turning white and became almost transparent. The volume of the test has sharply decreased by about 70%. There are 300 grams left.
Because of this rinsing procedure, when making seitan from ordinary wheat flour, it obviously makes no sense to add salt and spices to the dough immediately at the initial kneading.
The resulting mass was cut into pieces and boiled for an hour in boiling water. By the way, during seitan significantly increases in volume. I added a couple of onions, bay leaf, salt, one cloves to the water.
After boiling, the pieces of seitan were cut into smaller pieces and fried, stewed in a pan with vegetable oil, onions, herbs, carrots, spices and tomato paste.
Here's what happened
Spaghetti was cooked as a side dish.
First impression
The first impression is that you can. I won’t say that it turned out delicious, but the products are definitely not spoiled, it’s definitely edible, it’s cool, it’s interesting to try at least once for a new experience.In appearance, the pieces of seitan after cooking really resemble light meat.
Smaller pieces are better soaked in sauce and taste better. Large pieces are slightly watery after cooking. I think it will be necessary to experiment more with the marinade, spices, to find the optimal taste ... You need to try the seitan skewers as well.
Then it will be possible to add something to my special blog with vegetarian recipes. In the meantime, for the first time, as an introductory experiment - not bad. I recommend to try.