Tuesday, July 15, 2008

Mysterious Seitan


Good morning!
Well, I finally took the plunge and tried the crockpot seitan. It was not a success.
I used this recipe and was unsure how much water to add to the crockpot, so I just took a tip from some other recipes and put in enough to cover.
I think the taste was fine, actually. But I didn't knead the seitan or anything and I think I should have squashed it flatter into the crockpot instead of in a round loaf.
Doesn't that soup look seitanic, though? I put chard stalks in it so it turned red.
I didn't get the gravy I was hoping for, so I just used the broth for a soup and whatever bits and bobs of the seitan were floating were- tada! in the soup.
Now I've got a big blog of seitan in my fridge, just waiting for whatever I'm going to do to it... mwah-ha-ha -haaaa! Oh, and, I'm storing it not in the broth!! You're always supposed to keep the seitan in the broth, I wonder what will happen, will it develop consciousness and rise up and lead the condiments to justice?
So, maybe it was the conversions into cups from oz or something...

Crockpot Seitan ala Mystery

dry ingredients;
1 1/4 C vital wheat gluten
1/2 C + 2 T chickpea flour
3 T nutritional yeast
1 T brown sugar
1 T garlic granules
1 t salt
1 t oregano, crushed between fingers (I did remember this!)
1 t thyme, cbf
1/2 t tarragon, cbf
pinch celery powder

wet ingredients;
1 C water
1/2 C olive oil
3 T soy sauce
1 T liquid smoke (not three like in the original post)

For in the crockpot;
oil to grease crockpot
a few carrots, chopped
1 onion, chopped
bay leaf
6 C water or water to cover seitan


Mix dry together in mixer, then add wet. Freak out because dough is waaay wet. Go to chop onion and carrots. Come back and feel relieved that seitan is something I can actually put into a ball shape form now.
Grease crockpot.
Put seitan blob in, dump carrots and onions in, add bay leaf.
Cover with water.
Cook on high for 4 hours.

Well, I'm agonna take that seitan and slice it up reeeel thin like, and then I'm agonna bread it and fry it. Uh huh.

Still reading Jewel, got sucked in by interesting birthing stuff. If it turns out to be one of those dirty laundry/one woman's triumph over adversity books, I'm outtie.