I made seitan twice – on the stove top and in my Instant Pot. Both times I used a basic recipe of vital wheat gluten and spices. I wasn’t entirely thrilled with the results. However, despite the amount of spices or marinate that I used, I was left with an overpowering gluten taste. Not nice.
Clearly I was missing something in the puzzle. So I began scouring the web for ideas. Soon enough I noticed a common ingredient – chickpeas or chickpea flour.
I followed a recipe from Avocados and Ales then I found this video (see below) on YouTube from East Meets Kitchen which explains the process more clearly. Basically instead of using plain water, you make a chickpea broth and mix with the vital wheat gluten. The kneading, resting and cooking is the same. Yup that easy.
The key is to be organized and to clean as you go. That way you do not get overwhelmed or annoyed with the stack of dishes and multiple appliances. I don’t have a dough hook for my food processor so I just used the metal blade. It seemed to have worked fine but I think I should have processed it for a few more minutes for longer strips.
I used my Instant Pot so I could get on to other things while I waited for it to cook. The recipe called for two hours in the Instant Pot. I was pleasantly surprised that my Instant Pot didn’t blow up with the foil inside it. (The longest I had my Instant Pot on was 12 hours when I made soy yogurt and I was couldn’t sleep because I was worried it would blow. But that’s another story.)
The results
The overpowering gluten taste was gone. Even the plain seitan had a nice flavour to it. The recipe called for onion powder, which I didn’t use, so I used garlic and paprika. I think the miso also added to the flavour.
I would describe the texture as chewy and almost flaky. It was easy to tear apart unlike my previous two attempts. I would definitely make seitan again using chickpeas. In fact, I have seen recipes with all sorts of beans or even kombu are added to the broth to give the seitan more flavour.
I didn’t use many spices because I wanted to create a basic seitan that I could use in other recipes. So many options. Many people use seitan to create faux chicken, beef or pork. It’s not my thing because I don’t crave or miss the taste of meat but if it will get people eating less meat, I am all for it. I just really like the texture, and like tofu it can soak up just about any flavour.
Have you ever made or tried seitan? What are your favourite alternatives to meat?