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This version of homemade seitan is extra hearty and filled with umami and flavor boosters. The bouncy strands of gluten in the mix cook to a chewy, porous texture that has been standing in for meat for hundreds of years in China.
Ingredients
- 12 large dried
- mushrooms, such as
- button or portobello
- 6 garlic cloves, halved
- 1 in/2.5 cm fresh ginger,
- chopped
- 4 black tea bags
- ¾ cup/180 ml shao xing
- rice wine
- 7 tbsp/105 ml dark miso
- ½ cup/150 g cooked
- chickpeas
- ¼ cup/60 ml tamari or
- soy sauce
- 2 tbsp tahini paste
- 2 tbsp tomato paste/puree
- 1 tbsp toasted sesame oil
- 2 tsp Kitchen Bouquet/
- Browning Sauce
- 2 cups/255 g gluten flour
- ½ tsp onion powder
- ½ tsp granulated garlic
Instructions
- In a 2-qt/2-L pot, combine 8 cups/2 L water, the mushrooms,
garlic cloves, and ginger. Bring to a simmer and cover; cook
on low heat for 20 minutes to make a stock. Uncover, remove
from the heat, add the tea bags, and let them steep for
4 minutes. Discard the tea bags. Measure out 1 cup/240 ml
of the liquid and set it aside to cool to room temperature.
Whisk the wine and 3 tbsp of the miso into the remaining
stock and mushrooms and cover to keep warm. - In a blender, pulse the chickpeas to mince them, then add
the remaining ¼ cup/60 ml miso, the tamari, tahini, tomato
paste/puree, sesame oil, and Kitchen Bouquet. Process until
smooth. Add the cup of cooled stock gradually to make a smooth
puree. In a large bowl, mix together the flour, onion powder,
and granulated garlic. Dump in the contents of the blender
and stir to mix. It will quickly become a dough; knead it for
about 5 minutes, until springy and spongy. - Divide the dough
into 16 pieces. Pull and flatten as much as you can to form
4-in-/10-cm-long pieces before dropping them into the warm
stock with the mushrooms. Bring to a very low simmer, preferably not bubbling except around the edges, watching carefully that it doesn’t boil. Cover and cook for 1 hour, until firm. - 3 Take the pot off the heat and let the contents cool
completely, then refrigerate the seitan in the cooking
liquid for up to 1 week. To use, wring out each piece
and slice or chop as needed
