Wednesday, January 27, 2010

Seitan Steaks

It was an unproductive day in the way of house work but that is not what many readers are here for anyway. Food - there was great production!

Ashley and I spent some time together today and had a plan to make some dinner. She said she has really liked the seitan that I have made and wanted to make some more. I told her that I had felt like I had been neglecting the readers of my blog who want recipes. I wanted something new to post. We compromised and decided we would have seitan but I would do something new with it. Introducing...




Seitan Steaks

The broth

4 cup of water
2/3 of cup of soy sauce
1/4 cup of sugar
2 tablespoon of garlic powder
2 tablespoon of onion powder
1 tablespoon of dried chipotle pepper
1 tablespoon of liquid smoke
1 tablespoon of hot sauce
2 teaspoon of thyme
2 teaspoon of oregano
2 teaspoon of parsley
2 teaspoon of sage

In a very large pot, bring the water to a boil while adding all other ingredients. The color should be a dark brown and should have a potent and strong smell. If the smell in not strong enough or not to your liking, adjust the spices.

Gluten

1 cup of vital wheat gluten
2 teaspoons of nutritional yeast
1 teaspoon of parsley
1 teaspoon of cumin
1 teaspoon of onion powder
1 teaspoon of garlic powder
1 teaspoon of ground black pepper
1 teaspoon of crushed red pepper
1/2 teaspoon of salt

In a bowl, mix all ingredients together well. Once the mixture is well blended, add slightly less than 1 cup of the above broth mixture. Mix well. The dough should be a light brown in color and somewhat tacky to the touch. If it is too moist, add some regular flour to the mixture. It should not be sticking to your hands or the sides of the bowl once it is fully mixed. Take a cutting board and sprinkle a bit of flour on the top. Place the seitan on the cutting board and begin to kneed the dough, slowly flattening it like a pizza dough. There is not need to use a rolling pin. Be gentle. If the dough begins to stick to the cutting board, add more flour. Do not let it stick. Once the gluten dough is about 1/4 inch thick, let it sit for about 5 minutes. Cut the dough into 5 pieces roughly the same size and place them into the remaining boiling water. Boil for 45 minutes.

Marinade

1/2 cup of chipotle bar b que sauce
1 tablespoon of water
1 tablespoon of ketchup
1/2 tablespoon of sugar
2 teaspoons of hot sauce
1 teaspoon of liquid smoke

Mix all ingredients together in a pan. Once the gluten has finished boiling, take out each piece and place it in the marinade. Let soak for at least 1 hour. The longer the better. Feel free to let it go overnight.

Frying

3 cloves of garlic (chopped)
1/2 cup of oil
2 tablespoons of onion (chopped)
1 teaspoon of turmeric
1 teaspoon of cumin
1 teaspoon of salt
1 teaspoon of ground black pepper

In a saute pan, heat the oil and cook the garlic and onion until the onion is translucent. This should take about 5 minutes on med-low heat. Add all other spices and stir well. Carefully remove the garlic and onions without removing the oil. You want to leave the flavors intact. Then gently set 2 pieces of seitan into the oil and fry for about 8 minutes until it begins to brown. Then flip and fry the other side for about the same time. Remove. Repeat until all piece of seitan are cooked. Serve the seitan topped with the garlic and onions that were removed from the oil and a spoonful of the marinade.


This may be one of the best seitan recipes I have made. If you only try seitan once, this is it. Try this out. No joke. This is extremely good. Juicy, succulent and savory. I made it tonight with mashed potatoes and brussel sprouts. All around, a great meal!

If you have questions about making seitan, please check the Seitan Tips post and feel free to ask.

27 comments:

Jes said...

Wow, those look authentic! I don't play around with seitan much, but I'm definitely going to bookmark the recipe for sometime soon!

kmouse said...

Wow that's impressive! I hardly ever make seitan because it never comes out as good but I'm tempted to try your recipe out!

Oraphan said...

That looks and sounds fantastic! I've tried making seitan twice but no one in my family liked them so I thought I gave up. But I changed my mind, I think I will give it another try by using your recipe, thanks!

two vegan boys said...

Wow! Seriously! This looks and sounds awesome. I will be making this in the near future. Thanks for the recipe. You rock!

Orlando personal injury lawyer said...

Really, that looks real! Definitely saving this. It just looks so nice and hearty.

Anonymous said...

yuuum! i hardly ever make seitan, it's not a regular thing in aus, for me anyway, but this looks so satisfying!

Mihl said...

I've been on a real seitan kick lately and boy do these look good!

miss v said...

i'm totally excited about this recipe. those seitan strips i commented about reminded me a lot of steak! i have no doubt this recipe will knock my socks off!

♥Sugar♥Plum♥Fairy♥ said...

Woowowwaaa...over the top steak...that too with so detailed a recipe....
fantastic....

LOVE IS IN THE AIR ,SO IS ROMANCE N WISH U GUYS LOAD OF IT @ 365

Maija Haavisto said...

Mmm, chipotle. It's interesting you only use gluten here - most seitan steaks/cutlets/etc also feature tofu, beans, chickpea flour or other stuff like that.

Don't Get Mad, Get Vegan! said...

these are currently boiling on my stove right now, and I plan to coat them with a bbq sauce and grill them for dinner tonight.

they smell amazing. I love the ease of ingredient quantities (because I'm already sure this is one I'll want to commit to memory). Will report back later!

sweetie said...

chef, i'm on it. what brand of chip BBQ sauce do you use?

Vic Robinson said...

I use any brand that i can find that is vegan. :)

dirtyduck said...

my husband really likes seiten(although he isnt vegan) and this recipe sounds like something he might really like. i was glad you took step by step pictures and your instructions are excellent.

dirtyduck said...

hey! just got done making this. maybe i had my skillet too hot but by the time i had fried each side for eight min, it looked pretty but was really really tough. i thought maybe i made then too flat but i was close to 1/4 inch.maybe it was too hot? i had it on 2. i did two in a marinade(one bbq and one out of a bottle) but both my husband and i preferred the plain ones heated up on a skillet for just a few moments. i really liked the flavor, although i could see them being a little hot for some people. i was looking at your recipe for pineapple seiten, that looks really good too! i took pictures so i will do a post soon and link back to you!if you have any ideas on what i did wrong lemme know.

adriennefriend said...

I am TOTALLY MAKING THESE this week. Will let you know how it turns out!!!

Vegan Fazool said...

Vic, can the recipe for the seitan safely be doubled?

I wouldn't see why not...

<3 Dawn
Vegan Fazool blog

Unknown said...

I made this recipe last night for the first time. It's delicious and looks delicious. I am keeping it, so far is my favorite of seitan.

Anonymous said...

Bought seitan gluten flour a few days ago, this was the first recipe i've used it in - it was so much better than expected. Loved it! For the marinated, i used a premade (Dr. Pepper something..)
The only bad thing i can say about this, is that it requires a lot of spices - you'll run out quick if you make this often - which you will, because it is soo goood :)

Unknown said...

Okay, I'm in the process of making these and have run into some problems already. First off when I was kneading the dough, it was way too elastic and would just keep bouncing back to its original size when I tried to flatten it out like a pizza. Then I went to boil it (on medium heat) and the broth boiled away after 15 minutes. Any idea as to what I'm doing wrong?? Thanks in advance!!!

Vic Robinson said...

It can take some elbow grease an persistence to get it flattened out at times. The broth should not boil off. In fact, it should really simmer for most of the cooking process.

Brenda said...

Made these for dinner tonight and they turned out AMAZING. My husband and I are big Seitan fans an have been experimenting with several homemade Seitan recipes. This goes into our book as one of our favorites. Thank you for yet another fantastic recipe!

Anonymous said...

Wondering whether you could make these more like a half inch thick. If I'm going to make a vegan steak I want it to be pretty "steaky." I remember Candle Cafe having a super thick one about 10 or more years ago.

Unknown said...

This is a fantastic recipe!!! I made it for Fathers Day and it was loved by all! I kept the broth to a VERY gentle simmer--which is one of the best tips for any great seating recipe. We had this with over fried taters, vegan biscuits, and corn...I used the left over broth to make a gravy for the biscuits. DIVINE.

X said...

I have made this several times and it is just fantastic. My boyfriend didn’t like it because it tastes TOO MUCH LIKE REAL STEAK more for me I figure. This recipe is truly exceptional make it asap

Deb Z said...

ow many servings, steaks does this make?

Deb Z said...

I made these and they were the best vegan steaks I have ever made. Thank you! Just for a heads up, I thought the steaks were a bit small. I got 4 out of this batch. Next time I will double the recipe. And I did not marinate it as the steaks soaked up all of the broth. Very flavorful. Almost bordering too salty. So, if you do marinade, skip the extra salt. 2/3 C soy sauce is plenty of sodium.