Buffalo seitan

I have to admit, I have never actually had any of the more traditional buffalo sauce covered items, but when I tried the buffalo fries and onion ring from a local take-away place, I was totally sold in terms of this sauce. This has been in my repertoire for years, including being featured a my Patriots/Giants Super Bowl party. Omnivores and vegans alike love this recipe.

Vinegar and hot sauce have long been favorite condiments of mine, so it is only natural that I would love buffalo sauce. Therefore, how could I possibly not love buffalo seitan? I usually just use straight hot sauce, but, again, I’m nuts, so feel free to mellow it out with melted margarine or just buy a wing sauce. This is not the world’s most creative recipe, since it uses Sarah Kramer’s chicken flavored seitan, but I haven’t been able to create or find anything better than this, so why mess with greatness.

Ingredients:
*1/2 c gluten flour
*1/2 c water
*2 c water
*1/4 nutritional yeast
*2 TBSP soy sauce or tamari
*1 tsp onion powder
*1 tsp dried sage
*1/2 tsp dried thyme
*1/2 tsp salt
*1/4 tsp celery seed
*Hot sauce
*1 1/2 c crushed baked tortilla chips
*1 1/2 non dairy milk
*1 1/2 flour
*Vegetable oil
vegan mayo sauce
*1/2 c vegan mayo
*1/2 tsp onion powder
*1/2 tsp garlic powder
*1 tsp dried parsley
*1 TBSP white vinegar

Method
*Mix together vegan mayo sauce recipe and chill
*Stir together gluten flour an 1/2 water, then kneed for about 5 minutes
*Slice gluten chunks to about 1 inch by 1/2 inch
*Put water, nutritional yeast, soy or tamari, onion powder, sage, thyme, 1/2 tsp salt and celery seed in a stock pot
*Bring broth to a boil, add seitan and lower to a simmer
*Add seitan and simmer for about an hour, covered, until liquid is absorbed
*Heat oil in a fryer or stock pot (about 4 inches in a stock pot) to 373 F
*Place soy milk, flour and crushed chips each in their own bowls
*Dip seitan in flour, then soy milk, then chips, and fry until golden and crispy
*Toss in hot sauce and dip in vegan mayo mix and serve with oven fries

Here’s a close up of the seitan moments before it disappeared into my mouth:

And this is what the sauce should look like:

seitan n kraut

So my husband, being from a small town in Pa’s Lehigh Valley, is a big fan of many traditional Pa Dutch dishes. I guess one of their big ones is pork and sauerkraut for New Year’s Day. He has been vegetarian, and now vegan, for 6 years, so has obviously not had this favorite dish in many years. Being the main cook in the house and and not from a Pa Dutch area, this was never an issue, but my husband talk about it all the time. This year we decided to try to replicate this dish in the vegan format. As a base I used Sarah Kramer’s recipe for seitan ham, which I think actually tastes quite a bit more like pork than ham. It starts with making the basic seitan recipe of one half cup each of wheat gluten flour and water. Mix the dough and knead for 5 minutes. I cut the seitan into very small pieces to replicate the fall-appart-iness of real pork. For the broth mix 2 cups water, 1/4 cup tamari, 2 tsp vegan worcestershire, 1 tsp liquid smoke, 2 tbsp nutritional yeast, 1 tsp onion powder, 1 tsp garlic powder, 1 tsp salt, 1/2 tsp pepper, 1/2 tsp oregano, 2 tsp mustard seed and 1/4 tsp sage. This is Sarah Kramer’s seitan ham recipe. Bring the broth to a boil in a stock pot, then add the seitan. Reduce heat and simmer for about an hour, but stir every ten minutes. You know the seitan is ready when the broth is almost completely evaporated. At this point add the sauerkraut. I added a little less than a bag, but add what you think looks best. Next I simmered uncovered for about 30 minutes. I would say that on it’s own it can serve about 2 or three, so you might want to double, triple or otherwise multiply the recipe, depending on how many guests you are serving. You can also include applesauce, halushki or something involving hot fakin dressing. You could probably strech it a little further, but this recipe is good as it is, so expect to to serve plenty of seconds!

Seitan cutlet with sides

I love seitan and veggies a 1950s meal type thing.
Ingredients:
Cutlet main:
(from La Dolce Vegan)
-1/2 cup wheat gluten
-1/2 cup water
-2 cups water
-1/4 soy sauce or tamari
-2 tsp vegan worcestershire
-1 tsp liquid smoke
-2 TBSP nutritional yeast
-1 tsp onion powder
-1 tsp garlic powder
-1 tsp salt
-1/2 tsp pepper
-1/2 tsp oregano
-1/4 tsp sage
Cutlet Breading:
-1 cup of crushed cornflake cereal
-1 1/2 TBSP nutritional yeast
-Flour
-Non-dairy milk
-1 TBSP olive oil
Gravy:
-2 TBSP Earth Balance
-2 TBSP flour
-1 cup vegetable stock
-1 cup nondairy milk
-1 tsp rosemary
-1 tsp sage
-salt and pepper to taste
Lima Beans:
-1/2 box frozen lima beans
-1 TBSP Earth Balance
-Scant tsp white wine
-1 tsp dried dill
Mashed Potatoes:
-3 red-skinned potatoes
-1/3 cup nondairy milk
-1 TBSP Earth Balance
-1/2 TBSP garlic powder
-1/2 TBSP dried dill
-Salt and pepper to taste
Method:
Seitan:
Mix the wheat gluten and 1/2 cup water and knead for 5 minutes. Cut the mix in 1/2 and press into cutlet shapes. Mix the remaining cutlet ingredients, then bring to a boil. Drop in the cutlets, then simmer for about an hour, stirring and turning every 10ish minutes until the broth is evaporated.
Pour the non-dairy milk, flour and cereal + nutritional yeast mixture into three different bowls. Dredge each cutlet into flour, then “milk” then the cereal nooch mix. Then saute til each side is brown.
Gravy:
Melt the Earth Balance, then add the flour to make a roux. Next, add the stock and seasonings and reduce until thick. Add the “milk” and then reduce some more.
Lima Beans:
Heat the frozen beans according to the directions. Melt the Earth Balance with the wine and dill, then mix them all together.
Potatoes:
Dice the potatoes, then boil them for 20 minutes. Mash the potatoes with the remaining potato ingredients and serve.