So this recipe works by making an emulsion so that the fat doesn't clog up the proteins of the seitan too badly and the seitan can still develop properly. The emulsion is made by copying a mayonnaise and mustard recipe, throwing out all the bits that make it taste like mayonnaise/mustard and keeping the bits that make it emulsify. Right now I'm still using egg as the emulsifier for the "mayonnaise", but I've seen recipes online that use silken tofu or even lecithin (the emulsifying agent in soy) extract directly to make their mayonnaise emulsify so I want to try that in the future to make this truly vegan.
- 10g mustard powder
- 25ml rich wine (e.g. red or shaoxing), dark beer or other rich liquid
- 10ml vinegar (e.g. red wine vinegar, chinese dark vinegar)
- 1 tbsp (around 15ml) molasses (Goldsaft might work too, haven't tried)
- 1 egg
- the "mustard"
- 100g oil (olive, sunflower, etc)
- 10ml vinegar (red wine vinegar, chinese dark vinegar, etc)
- 60ml light soy sauce
- 80ml veggie stock (or stock of choice)
- 40ml rich wine (e.g. shaoxing)
- 20ml chinese dark vinegar
- Tabasco to taste
- Liquid smoke to taste
- Salt to taste
- 250g wheat gluten (weizengluten/"seitan base"/"seitan mix")
- 4tsp paprika
- 4tsp onion powder
- 4tsp garlic powder
- 4tsp hefeflocken/other nutritional yeast-based thing like vegan gravy
- Mix all ingredients other than the vinegar together until smooth
- Leave to sit for minimum 10 minutes to let the flavours and spice level mellow. It will smell very strongly of mustard. When it stops smelling so strongly, add the vinegar and mix.
- Thoroughly whisk the egg and "mustard" together, ideally using an electric whisk. If you have a blender then use that. It should be completely smooth and homogenous.
- Heat the fat just enough to melt it.
- While whisking thoroughly, add the fat in very small amounts, waiting until the last drop is emulsified before adding another. Once the mixture thickens, add the rest of the fat.
- Mix all the broth ingredients together. When adding salt to taste, remember that it will be mixed with all the dry ingredients and so should be noticably salty.
- Roughly mix all the dry ingredients together in a bowl
- Pour a small amount of the broth into the seitan and mix, you should see some proteins forming
- Alternately pour the broth and around 1/3-1/2 of the mayonnaise into the dry mix, constantly mixing and kneading
- When all the broth is used up, continue kneading in the bowl for a couple of minutes
- Add the rest of the mayonnaise bit by bit. If the mixture starts to get too brittle then stop adding the mayonnaise. The mayonnaise should be almost all used up, but don't worry about having some left over
- Fill a bowl with lukewarm water. Knead the seitan on a smooth cutting board for several minutes, pouring some of the water over it to encourage proteins to form if there are still some parts that remain a paste. When you're finished, the whole mass should look proteinous. Any "paste" is just undeveloped seitan powder suspended in fat and will fall apart when steamed.
- Leave the mass to sit for around 10-15 minutes
- Cut the seitan into 3 or so equal-size pieces. If increasing or decreasing the amount of the recipe, adjust number of pieces (e.g. if doubling the recipe, make 6 pieces). Leave to rest for a further couple of minutes.
- Bring 2cm or so of water to a boil at the bottom of a pot
- Place the seitan pieces on a colander in the pot, replace the lid of the pot and steam the seitan pieces for around 15 minutes.
- Remove the seitan pieces and place between layers of paper towels
- Leave to dry for as long as you like, but at least 10 minutes. If you're cutting it for cooking, you should cut it now so it dries more evenly, and you can put it into the oven at a low heat to speed up the process.
- Now the seitan is ready to grill, roast, fry, etc.