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Vegan Turkey Leg

While on a walk last night, my husband and I were discussing our plans to visit a Renaissance Faire over the weekend. I jokingly lamented the lack of a vegan turkey leg for us to eat there. “I could probably make one,” I said, and my husband replied “Yea, but it would have to be crunchy, like it had a skin.”

Later that night I was laying in bed thinking of how to make this happen. It has been years since either of us has had meat, but the idea of a crunchy, chewy protein on a stick still has its appeal. I’d made the turkey loaf recipe a few times and it had the same texture i wanted for my “turkey” leg. Using the basic technique for the loaf recipe, I played with different measurements and seasonings to better replicate the turkey flavor and create a denser structure. I then made fresh yuba to wrap around the turkey cutlets and give that satisfying crunch. Miyoko Schinner was the inspiration for the yuba as skin in her Unturkey recipe, available here.

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Tags: plant-based, seitan, tofu, vegan, vegetarian, yuba

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Categories meat alternative, vegan

Sweet and Sour Seitan

3 Jan

One of my favorite meal growing up was sweet and sour meatballs. My mom used a recipe from the original orange Betty Crocker (you know the one, your mom had it too.) I love adapting old recipes, so here’s my version.

I use seitan instead of meatballs, but you could easily substitute tofu. Feel free to add different veggies, but the pineapple is essential.

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Tags: chinese, dinner, food, recipe, seitan, sour, sweet, vegan, vegetarian

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Categories asian, chinese, grains, vegan

Ham Style Seitan

26 Nov

One of the things I miss most from my meat eating days is ham. Not the cruelty and death that comes with it, or even the texture, but the smokey, sweet flavor that’s perfect on pizzas, in salads, or with Sunday dinner. I’ve been on the lookout for a ham seitan recipe for a while, and this recipe seemed to combine all the good flavors of ham in one place.

We ate this sliced into rounds on pizza, but I think this would be a great alternative to Tofurky at a thanksgiving dinner. It would be perfect baked with a glaze and slices of pineapple. This seitan is a bit soft as is, but if you bake it in the foil for 30 minutes at 350° F it comes out perfect for snacking and slicing.

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Tags: dinner, food, ham, recipe, seitan, Thanksgiving, vegan, vegetarian

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Categories american, breakfast, meat alternative, pizza, vegan

Buffalo Seitan

26 Oct

Football on Sundays is a tradition in my house. I usually serve nachos, but some weeks I want something different. We love spicy foods and finger foods:buffalo wings are an easy answer. Obviously we don’t eat wings, but seitan is an easy substitute. I’d love to try wrapping the seitan around skewers so you get the “handle” for eating. Something like this from Meet the Shannons would work great.

I was curious as to why they are called buffalo wings, and Wikipedia gave me this answer “One of the more prevalent claims is that Buffalo wings were first prepared at the Anchor Bar in Buffalo, New York, by Teressa Bellissimo.” One more question I will no longer have to wonder about.

(Hopefully you think ahead before you make these and don’t run out of hot sauce like I did.)
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Tags: buffalo, finger food, food, ranch, recipe, seitan, vegan, vegetarian

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Categories american, dips, grains, meat alternative, vegan

White Seitan

20 Oct

I tried pre made seitan a number of times before I realized how easy it was to make myself. We’ve cut back on our soy consumption so seitan has been a good protein source for many of our favorite recipes. The first recipe I tried was chicken seitan by PPK, but despite following the instructions perfectly, I ended up with the dreaded “brain” texture. I made it multiple times, with only one success.

Then I learned about steaming seitan and I’ll never go back to boiling. I haven’t had one bad batch since! So if you’ve had terrible seitan before, there’s hope!

This seitan is a perfect stand in for chicken in most recipes and I’ve even ground it to use in chili and “meat” sauce. Always cook it before use in any recipe, otherwise you may end up with mush. I always season it during the second cook, so the seasoning you use before steaming isn’t hugely important.

I make using the dough hook on my Ninja blender, but if you don’t have that, just stir and knead by hand for 5 minutes. I also use my pressure cooker to steam this, so I only steam it for about 20 minutes.

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