A few years ago Fratelli ai Fornelli has attended a very interesting course on how to prepare seitan at home and today, in honour of the worldwide week of vegetarians, we’re proposing one of the best known dishes of vegan-vegetarian cuisine: the seitan roast.

Seitan was born in ancient times in China with the name of Mian jin and spread later in the surrounding areas. In particular, it became a good substitute of meat for Mahayana Buddhists, who were obliged to follow a vegetarian diet.

Some say that the seitan was born just as imitation meat for the ancient Chinese emperors who respected one week per year of vegetarianism.

The term seitan, however, derives from the Japanese –sei (made of) and –tan (proteins). This dish, in fact, although it does not contain any ingredients of animal origin, it has a high protein content (about 18%) and a low caloric value (120 calories per 100 g).

We recommend the use of Manitoba flour, because it contains a higher gluten value and, therefore, at the end of the preparation you should get more product 🙂 .

Well, just try it! 🙂

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Stampa

Seitan roast

Cuisine Egg free, Lactose free, Vegan, Vegetarian

Prep Time 1 hour

Cook Time 1 hour

Total Time 2 hours

Servings 3 people

Difficulty

Ingredients

For seitan

• 1400 g of Manitoba
• 850 g of water

For the broth

• 3 liters of water
• 2 carrots
• 1 onion
• 1 clove of garlic
• 4 tablespoons of soy sauce
• 1 bay leaf
• 4 cloves
• 2 tips of thyme

For the roast

• extra virgin olive oil
• vegetables of your choice
• 1 tablespoon cornstarch

Instructions

For seitan

1. Mix flour with water until dough is firm and elastic.
2. Let rest in a warm place and cover with a cloth for about an hour, the time required so the gluten forms.
3. After that, cut the dough into small pieces and repeatedly wash them under running tap water, up to finish the dough, alternating cold water and hot water. When you see the water rising on the dough, come out clear, you can stop. This operation allows you to split the starch from the gluten. From 1400 grams of flour, you should get about 650 grams of gluten ready to be used 🙂 .

For the broth

1. Prepare your vegan broth with carrots, onion and garlic.
2. Then add the spices and soy sauce.
3. Take your gluten, wrap it in a clean napkin and tie it with kitchen twine.
4. Dip it in the soup and let it boil for 50 minutes. Then, remove the cloth... And finally here is your seitan! 🙂

For the roast

1. In saucepan, delicatly fry our seitan loaf with a little extra virgin olive oil.
2. Add and saute the vegetables of your choice, such as carrots, onions, potatoes, etc.
3. Proceed with the cooking for an hour adding a ladle of broth at a time and cover with the lid.
4. Then, remove from the pan vegetables and seitan, and create a smooth sauce with the sauce, adding a little cornstarch.
5. Finally, slice ​​your roast, lay it on the vegetables and pour the sauce :).