Did you know this month is Men’s Health Month? So I thought I’d share a recipe from my Rouxbe online plant based cooking class. If you’ve got a meat eating man that you’d love to prepare a plant based meal for, this is it. One taste and he will not only not even realize there’s no meat, but he will LOVE IT. This Seitan Glazed Brisket was not a simple dish to make, so give yourself some time. Unfortunately it does contain, or is mainly made of gluten. So I couldn’t indulge. 🙁 But I did take a taste and believe me, it’s awesome.
In a bowl, mix together the Base Seitan Dry mix, mushroom powder and chipotle powder, then set aside while you prepare the liquid mixture.
In separate bowl, mix the liquid ingredients, reserving 1 cup of the vegetable stock and whisk well to ensure all is mixed thoroughly. Add the rest of the vegetable stock and thoroughly combine.
To make the seitan dough, create a well in the dry mixture and gradually add a little less than HALF of the wet mixture. Stir and continue to add very small amounts of liquid until you reach a very elastic doughlike consistency. If your raw dough tears apart easily, this means too much liquid has been added. The raw dough should be very tough to pull apart. Reserve the remaining half of the wet mixture, which will be used later for the braising liquid and glaze.
Next sprinkle the counter-top with some of the dry seitan mix. Place the dough onto the countertop and liberally sprinkle with a bit more dry mix. In the case of seitan, kneading is done to help shape and create texture in the dough and not to develop gluten. If you have the right ratio of wet to dry, you should be able to stretch the dough, without it tearing too easily.
Step 1: Preparing the Seitan Dough
2 3/4 cups Base Seitan Dry Mix
1/4 cup dried mushroom powder (dried mushrooms ground in a spice grinder)
2 tsp chipotle powder
3/4 cup tomato paste
1/3 cup maple syrup
1 1/2 cup marsala wine
2 tsp vegan worcestershire sauce
1 tsp liquid smoke
2 1/2 tbsp apple cider vinegar
1/2 cup tamari
3 1/2 cups vegetable stock
To prepare the seitan for braising, lightly coat a casserole dish with oil or spray oil. Begin to stretch and flatten the dough until it is about an inch thick. Place the seitan into the casserole dish and then flip, to lightly coat it in the oil. Pour most of the remaining liquid into the casserole dish and then flip the seitan, to coat it in the liquid. Bake in the preheated oven for 30 minutes, or until the seitan has started to brown. Carefully, flip the seitan and baste with some of the surrounding liquid. Place back into the oven and continue to cook for another hour or so. Continue to flip and baste the seitan every 15 minutes. As the dish cooks, the sauce will reduce and thicken into a nice glaze. When done, the seitan should be firm to the touch. 
Remove from the oven and allow to firm up for a few minutes. To serve the seitan, slice into thin pieces. The seitan will be slippery from the glaze, so be careful as you cut. Serve with sides such as mashed potatoes or greens.
Seitan Base Mix
- 2 1/2 cups vita wheat gluten flour
- 1/3 cup nutritional yeast
- 2 tbsp onion granules
- 1 1/2 tbsp garlic granules
In mixing bowl, mix all ingredients thoroughly.
Use as a base for many seitan recipes.
Powder will keep well in a sealed container in a cool and dry place.
Happy Father’s Day to all the wonderful father’s out there. Hopefully someone will make this special dinner just for you.
Have you worked with seitan before? Let me know in the comments below.
