I've been eating vegan for about 10 days, and until now my girlfriend, aDeana and I have kept it pretty safe and simple. Two weeks ago we made vegan chili and then last weekend we made an easy stew using navy beans, peas, corn, and packaged mixed seasoning. So far I'm loving the way animal-free eating is making my body feel. Since I'm making an effort to keep my diet balanced, drink a lot of water, and take my vitamins, I feel energized and upbeat. I'm prone to acne, and my skin has cleared up noticeably since I started eating vegan.
Anyway, this weekend, we were able to try out two restaurants in NYC,
Mana on Columbus between 91st and 92nd and
Blossom Cafe on Columbus between 81st and 82nd. (We tried these on different days despite their close proximity to one another.) The food at both places was delicious, although I should mention that Mana is not a 100% vegan restaurant. Their menu has a small seafood section, but they don't use eggs or dairy in any of their recipes. After eating at Blossom Cafe, I was inspired to try cooking Seitan for the first time.
Tonight we started with a vision but no recipe. Kickin' it freestyle. (Thanks, aDeana...) We used West Soy Chicken Style Seitan. We knew we wanted to try lightly frying the Seitan in vegetable oil, so we began by making a basic breading. We also wanted it a little bit spicy, so we cut up a canned jalapeno we had hanging out in the fridge from our chili adventure and sauteed it in the oil before we started frying the Seitan. I honestly don't think this made much of a difference in the end, but it was worth a shot.
When we first started dredging the Seitan pieces in the breading, aDeana pointed out that although the Seitan had been packed in water and therefore was wet, the breading was not adhering to the pieces once they were in the oil. I had read somewhere that cornstarch and water make a good vegan egg substitute, so I gave it a shot. I'm not sure exactly what the ratio was, since I didn't measure, but I would guess about 2:1 water to cornstarch. This made it a big difference in how the breading stuck to the Seitan. Good thinking, aDeana!
As far as we're concerned, this recipe was a huge success. The Seitan was delicious and could easily have been mistaken for a chicken tender, although that wasn't necessarily what we were going for. We served (and by served I mean ate, since we were the only ones there), the Seitan with Trader Joe's Whole Wheat Cous Cous (an extremely common staple in our meals) and Trader Joe's Frozen Sweet Corn (ditto). We topped it off with Trader Joe's Curry Simmer Sauce. Yeah. We love Trader Joe's.
Ingredients
- 3 Tablespoons Bread Crumbs
- 1 Tablespoon Flour
- 2 Teaspoon Garlic and Herb Seasoning (This is a pre-packaged seasoning from some random farm in VT or something, but I think it has garlic powder, lemon pepper, and vegetable flakes.)
- 2 Tablespoons Nutritional Yeast
- 1/4 teaspoon Salt
- 1/4 Black Pepper
- 1 Package West Soy Chicken Style Seitan
- 1 Canned Jalapeno, seeded and diced
- 1/4 Cup Vegetable Oil
Steps for Cooking:
- Mix the breading ingredients together and place the blend on a plate or another clean, flat surface.
- In a shallow bowl mix together water and cornstarch in a 2:1 ratio.
- In a frying pan, heat vegetable oil over medium heat until hot. (To see if oil is hot enough for cooking, try dropping a little bit of the breading into the pan. If it sizzles, it's ready.)
- Dredge seitan pieces in corn starch and water mixture, cover in breading and place in pan with hot oil and turn pieces making sure all sides of each piece is golden brown.
After Frying
Plated
Margaret's Lunch
Yay, Leftovers!
Today I ate the leftover seitan tenders for lunch in a sandwich and it was truly awesome. I used veganaise, an amazing new discovery of mine. In order to spice it up a little I added some of the aforementioned garlic and herb mixture along with some cayenne pepper to about 2 Tbsps of veganaise. I spread the herb "mayo" on vegan bread, added some baby spinach, shredded carrots, and the seitan tenders and thoroughly enjoyed last night's dinner all over again.