SEITAN SMOKED TURKEY LOG:
What is Seitan? It is a meat substitute used by vegetarians and vegans. My dog, Simba in the picture above is a big fan of it too, lol. It has the texture of meat. There is not much flavor on its own, so you add whatever flavor you like. It is very high in protein, and a really good meat substitute. Below you will find a basic Seitan recipe with more of a Smoked Turkey flavor. It is really good, it can be used sliced up thinly as a lunchmeat, thicker like a meatloaf, or shredded in food processor to use in stir frys, etc... Any way you make it, this stuff is amazing! Once you get the hang of making it, the possibilities are endless.
Ingredients:
Wet:
1 cup water
2 T apple cider vinegar
2 T soy sauce (do NOT use if you want a white turkey breast)
2 T Peanut Butter
1/2 Tablespoon Liquid Smoke
1/2 block (or approx 7 oz) of extra firm tofu (If *baking instead of simmering I recommend using the full block)
S&P to taste
PLEASE NOTE: You can also substitute all wet ingredients for a vegetable soup or stew blitzed smooth in the blender. It turns out with a slightly different flavor each time depending on the soup used.
Dry:
2 cups VITAL WHEAT GLUTEN (no substitutes for this, it is "vital" to the recipe)
1 cup finely ground Almond Flour
1 tsp smoked paprika (do not use if you want a really white turkey)
2 tsp onion powder or to taste
1-2 tsp garlic powder or to taste
2-3 Tablespoons Mrs. Dash Chicken Seasoning (I used 3)
1/2 tsp rubbed sage
1/2 cup nutritional yeast
1.5 tsp parsley
1/4 tsp turmeric (optional, but will give it a slightly golden color)
1/2 tsp Everglades seasoning, (or any all purpose seasoning)
S&P to taste
Simmer Sauce:
8-10 cups water
2 Bay Leaves
2 stalks of celery roughly chopped
1/2 white onion roughly chopped
2 T soy sauce (do NOT use for a white turkey)
Combine and whisk together dry ingredients. In food processor or nutribullet, blitz together your wet ingredients. (Drain excess water off tofu before using.) Pressing is not necessary... After both wet and dry ingredients are well mixed separately, combine together. Add the wet to the dry just a bit at a time, If it is too dry after adding all wet ingredients, add more water a tablespoon at a time. Stir with wood spoon, then use hands and knead for 3-5 minutes. (this is important) After well kneaded it should feel a bit like elastic. (yep, I said elastic, a bit of a stretchy rubbery feel) Put back in bowl, cover with damp towel for 5 minutes. *In the meantime, heat up your simmer sauce. The bay leaves are an important ingredient in the simmer sauce as it will give it a lovely flavor. Once it comes to a boil, lower temp to a slow simmer. Do NOT boil seitan. Roll up Seitan with your hands into a log shape. If you like to do a rub of spices on your seitan, this would be the time to do that, I like to rub on some additional poultry seasoning, thyme, and rosemary. Now you can wrap it in foil or cheesecloth so it will keep a perfectly round shape, wrap it loosely allowing some room for it to expand, and to allow some of the broth to seep inside. I have also found my personal preference is just putting the entire log directly in the broth. It gives it a great flavor, it just won't look as perfect. Make sure your pan is large enough, seitan expands as it cooks. Simmer for 1 hour, turning gently every 15 min.
When complete, I like to put it in the oven with a couple inches of the broth and bake for about 45 min, 375 degrees, basting occasionally. When browned to your taste, remove seitan from pan. You can do many different things with it at this point. I often let it cool, then slice it very thin for sandwich's, (electric knife works best to slice thinly) You can fry it, bake it, bbq it, use your imagination. You can really use seitan in whatever recipe you would that normally calls for turkey or poultry. Cut into chunks and add to your favorite vegetable stew. *You can even make it while you sleep! (In the crockpot, talk about easy!). This keeps in the refrigerator up to 5 days, (store with a little broth) or you can slice it up, and store some in the freezer, and use when you like. You may need to make it a few times to get the texture you personally prefer, a good rule of thumb is the more beans or tofu you add, the more of a meatloaf texture you will get, less beans (or tufu) the firmer the texture will be. With no added beans or tofu it will be more of a rubbery dense texture.. The one ingredient you cannot eliminate or substitute is Vital Wheat Gluten.
* Another optional way of cooking this seitan loaf is to make the loaf per instructions, then place in slow cooker/crockpot with your simmer sauce. Cook for approx 8 hrs.
P.S- Save that delicious veg broth it simmered in, it makes a great base for soups and gravies!
Optional Additions to consider:
- 1 cup diced mushrooms to wet ingredients
- 1/4 cup finely cooked diced celery to wet ingredients
- 2 T of tomato paste to wet ingredients
- You can substitute tofu with a can of garbanzo beans, drain and rinse.
- 1/2 of small fresh red pepper diced (looks pretty in a white turkey)
- 3 large jalapeno stuffed green olives (for a little extra kick)
- 1/2 tsp of fennel (will give it more of a turkey sausage flavor)
- Substitute all wet ingredients with leftover soup or stew blitzed creamy in a blender
I made this one by putting it directly in the broth on the stovetop in a Dutch oven pot. I simmered with lid on for 1 hour, then put inside 400 degree oven for 40-45 min without the lid, and just basted it a couple times. I did not use any soy sauce so it would stay a lighter color. I used a half block of tofu with this one, and added one red pepper in with my wet ingredients prior to blitzing in the mutribullet. It added nice little sweet specs of red pepper throughout. Very delicious and moist. I think it may be my favorite so far.
The one on the right was stuffed with rice and cranberries, very special for the holidays. |
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The one below was wrapped in foil before cooking in the crockpot for a more perfectly rounded shape.
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