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How
to
Prepare
Seitan "Cutlets" Seitan (or
Seitain) is a wonderful meat replacement that you
make out
of vital wheat gluten. (Vital wheat gluten is the protein
portion
of flour, with the bran and fiber removed. Gluten flour is
used
to help make bread rise quicker and higher and it can be found in most
grocery stores, including Walmart.) It has a great texture
and
taste and is easy to make, although it does take a little extra time
than other dishes I prepare. Nothing beats Seitan when it
comes
to making recipes that use cutlets. Many a people have been
fooled by these cutlets!
Start
with 1
1/4 cup gluten flour. Add seasonings like sage,
pepper, poultry seasoning or whatever you want. The flour has
almost no taste, so add whatever you like. You will get the
flavor you want by the sauce, gravy or toppings you add to
the
cutlets at the end.
Add
3/4 cup water....
....
and
stir until a ball of glutenous mass is formed. Sounds
delicious doesn't it!
You'll
only have to stir for about 30 seconds to get the right consistency!
Yummy!
Looks like a potato, but it's really just gluten flour and
water.
The raw ingredients for a delicious meal. Just
don't let
anyone who isn't committed to trying a vegetarian meal watch you make
this.
With
a serrated knife or a really shape knife, slice the "lump" of gluten
into thin slices.
Kind
of looks
like cookies, but it's not. The dark spots you see are just a
beef-style flavoring I added.
Make sure your slices are only about 1/4 inch thick - the cutlets "plump" when you cook them. If
you want something to simulate strips of steak or chicken, then slice
into strips instead of small slabs.
Now,
this is a
really important step. If you skip these next few steps, you
will
end up with a type of
chewing gum rather than a nice tender cutlet. Bring
about 4-6 cups of water to a rolling boil in a medium-large
saucepan.
I get the pot of water hot while I am making the seitan. Add
some soy sauce directly to the water. No, I don't measure it,
probably about 2-3 tablespoons.
Just make the water brownish color. Any
type of soy sauce will do. Feel free to use tamari or Bragg's
amino acids.
I just use what I have on hand. Add
about 1-2 teaspoons of ground, dried ginger. Fresh ginger
would work too,
but today I only had dried on hand. As
the water and
spices are boiling, slowly add the seitan cutlets.
Before going in the water, the cutlets are like wet, gooey dough - although the do hold their shape pretty well. I add one slice at a time. Stir
the mixture gently after each addition. This just makes sure
they don't all stick together.
Keep
the water
and cutlets at a rolling boil for approximately 15 minutes. No
need to be exact.
Anywhere between 12 and 18 minutes should work just fine. ft Looks
really
yummy now doesn't it! It smells great even if it doesn't look
like dinner.
But, close-up pictures of meat don't look very appetizing either! After
approximately 15 minutes, turn off the burner and this is what they
look like.
Remove
the pan from heat, and with a slotted spoon or fork,
carefully remove the cutlets and let them drain. Let
the cutlets
drain for a little while. Often, I fix the seitan up to this
point early in the day
and then finish them right before dinner. Once
the seitan
cutlets are drained, place them in a frying pan with just a tiny bit of
oil.
Remember, the seitan is already cooked, now we are just trying to slightly brown both sides. This helps both the appearance and texture and doesn't take very long at all. I've
used my
electric skillet here so you can see all of the cutlets cooking at
once.
This is a pretty big skillet and the cutlets are more than enough to feed our family of 5 hearty diners.
It
only takes
about 5 minutes to lightly brown the cutlets on one side.
Once
browned nicely,
simply flip the cutlets over for another 5 minutes or so. Now,
we're talking good looking main dish!
Once
browned on
both sides, remove the cutlets from heat. Now is when your
imagination can go wild.
There are so many wonderfully delicious gravies and sauces to top these with. We love to use them in Marsala dishes or top them with a nice brown gravy. Click here for step-by-step "beef" gravy. For more picture recipes, click here. |
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