Our client is a vegetarian, her husband likes meat so we have been working on some seitan dishes that appeal to both of them. So far we have met with great success on the creativity side but the price of seitan was ridiculous.

It was costing over $12 in seitan at my favourite grocery store and I thought that this was an exorbitant price for gluten flour. Undaunted by the undeserved reputation that making seitan is difficult, I set out to make my own.

I did some research, mostly on the internet and would like to give credit to Ken for doing an amazing job at describing the process.

Here is the photo of our Ginger Seitan Sweet Potato Stir Fry and the recipe follows:

Ginger Seitan-Sweet Potato Stir Fry - Serves 4

Ingredients

2 tablespoons Sugar, Brown
1 tablespoon Cornstarch
3 tablespoons Soy Sauce
2 tablespoons Dry sherry
1 teaspoon Ginger Root, minced
2 cloves Garlic, minced
1/2 cup Pineapple Juice, Unsweetened, canned
1 pound Seitan, — julienne
Pepper — to taste
3 tablespoons Oil
2 Sweet Potato
1 Red pepper — julienne
1/4 pound Pea Pods — washed & trimmed
4 Scallions — sliced

Instructions

Sauce: Combine brown sugar, cornstarch, soy sauce, sherry, ginger, and pineapple juice. Stir well. Set aside.
Saute sweet potato and bell pepper for 2 to 3 minutes.
Add snow peas and garlic and cook one minute, and then pour in reserved sauce.
Add seitan, stir and cook until mixture thickens and ingredients are glazed. Add green onions and stir just to combine.
We will definitely be making many more seitan dishes as it has that ‘meat mouth feel’ that make the dish feel complete.

I should mention that being in Toronto with the city’s huge selection of ingredients it was not difficult to find gluten flour. I didn’t buy the brand name vital gluten flour I just picked some up at our local bulk barn, they even had organic gluten flour.

We also made Black Bean Chilaquile, Spinach Stuffed Lasagna Ruffles, Vegetable and Chickpea Stew and Ginger Peanut Tofu Stir Fry.

Tomorrow we’ll be deboning and stuffing a turkey in preparation for American Thanksgiving. We’ll also be making a Sweet Potato Bake, Green Beans Almondine, Stuffing, gravy and mmmmmm Caramel Sauce for the Bavarian Apple Torte.
See you back in the kitchen tomorrow.