Sweet and sour seitan with oranges and almonds

served with quinoa

Seitan is really easy to make, providing you have a bag of wheat gluten on hand. You can season it anyway you wish just make sure you cook it in a vegetable broth.

Basically you use 2 cups of gluten flour, add spices, 1 cup of cold water and a little oil, stir until its combined.(It reminds me of a heart or some kind of body part once its wet) Then I separate it into smaller pieces and tie it up in cheesecloth using twine. It looks like sausages. Submerge it in a pot of boiling stock and simmer for 1 1/2hours. Untie it and slice it as you need it. 

It can be eaten like that but its much better fried up again. I used broccoli and fresh cilantro in mine.

Seitan

2 cups gluten flour
1 tbsp oregano
1 tbsp garlic powder
2 tsp chili powder
1 tbsp fennel seeds
1 tsp sea salt

1 cup cold water
2 tbsp tomato paste
1 tbsp Dijon mustard
2 tbsp tamari or soy sauce
1/4 cup olive oil

10 cups of vegetable stock

Combine everything in a bowl. Mix until well combined (you might have to get your fingers dirty).
Separate into smaller pieces, using cheesecloth and twine tie it up to look like sausages.
Submerge into boiling stock and let simmer with lid on for 1 1/2 hours.
Keep in an airtight container in the fridge.


Sweet and sour sauce

1/4 cup white vinegar
1/4 cup ketchup
1/4 cup sugar
3 cloves garlic
1 tsp ground ginger
3 tbsp tamari or soy sauce
2 tbsp fresh orange juice
zest from 1 orange
2 tbsp cornstarch

combine everything and set aside.
Add sauce to wok once everything is cooked, allow to thicken.
Enjoy!

Hawaiian style Father's Day stir fry: Hau`oli La Makuakane

I made this for for father's day! My dad is on the other side of the country, but I like to think that I would have made this for him, had he been here. He loves tropical places...white sand beaches and turquoise water (perfect for scuba diving :).

I used some of the seitan in this recipe that I made on my last post. It worked well and the flavor of the sweet and sour sauce compliment it, and the fresh pineapple helped.

The thing about stir frying is that it is essential to have everything cut and chopped into separate bowls, so all you have to do is heat the pan, add oil, and start pouring in vegetables. Starting with the onions, garlic and ginger. I usually put the longest to cook vegetables in first, and finish with the ones that don't take long or I want to keep crisp.

For this stir fry I cut up 1 onion, minced a garlic clove, grated some fresh ginger. Cooked that together in a large wok, then added 1 green pepper chopped, 1/2 pineapple peeled cored and chopped, 2 cups worth of sliced seitan, and a handful of cherry tomatoes. Served with brown rice and garnished with green onions. 

Sweet & Sour Sauce

1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup white vinegar
1/4 cup ketchup
2 tbsp tamari
2 tbsp maple syrup
1 tsp sea salt
2 tbsp cornstarch

Mix everything in a bowl, set aside until veggies are almost cooked. Pour and let thicken in the wok with veggies.