Seitan's Sausage: Vegan Chorizo

I've been experimenting with making seitan and thought I'd try something based on this recipe - a vegetarian chorizo equivalent packed with flavourings. Seitan really sucks up flavours so the more you can put in at the start, the better!

This "chorizo" recipe can take as much chilli as you dare. It's great with lentils, with eggs, in tomato sauce, with pasta; just about anything you'd otherwise use chorizo with. It's cute to bend this sausage in half and attach string at the end, just like real chorizo!

Perhaps it's my gluten but I always seem to need less liquid than recipes require, so I recommend adding about two-thirds of the liquid and see how you get on.

• 1¾ cups wheat gluten
• ¼ cup gram/chickpea flour
• 1½ vegetable stock
• 3 tsp cumin seeds, crushed
• 2 tsp whole peppercorns, crushed
• 5 dried chillis (to taste), chopped
• 4 tsp smoked paprika
• 2 garlic cloves, chopped rather than minced
• 2 tbsp soy sauce
• 3 tbsp olive/sundried tomato oil
• 2 tbsp tomato ketchup
• 2 tbsp smoky barbecue sauce
• 1 tsp sesame oil
• 6 sundried tomatoes, chopped
• 5 tbsp toasted ground rice powder & 2 tsp chilli powder (optional, for outer coating)

1. First combine the dry ingredients in a bowl, the gluten, gram flour, cumin, pepper, chilli, paprika.
2. Combine the remaining wet ingredients in a jug and stir into the flour, bringing together into a dough.
3. Knead for about five minutes so the dough gets soft and elastic.
4. Rest (both yourself and the dough!) for ten minutes while preheating the oven to 170C.
5. Divide the dough into four equal balls, then roll each into a chorizo-like long sausage shape.
6. If using, dust the outside with the rice powder mixture.
7. Roll each sausage in foil, twisting the ends to seal. Bake at 170C for an hour.
8. Leave to cool in their foil and store in the fridge (or freezer) until ready to use.

Variations

Seriously add as much flavouring as you like like, smoked peppers are great. Chorizo is meant to be strong tasting so more chillis, more garlic, however much you can stand!

Beetroot juice or powder adds a deeper red colouring, as does adding tomato puree (I've run out).

Heil Seitan!

I've recently discovered how easy it is to make seitan, the deliciously chewy and protein-packed wheat-meat made from gluten. There's a lot of unfounded hysteria about gluten, but seitan is healthy, low fat, 80% protein, and making it yourself allows you to flavour it however you like and have the reassurance it has no nasty additives.

My first encounter with seitan was at a local Chinese restaurant when I was still living with my parents. I ordered "gluten crispy duck" out of curiosity, and was amazed to be presented with a dish of alarmingly meaty texture, with a stippled duck-like skin, that the waiter pulled apart just like real crispy duck! The chewy texture was delicious. I was always afraid it was terribly complicated to make.

These days it's simple courtesy of vital wheat gluten powder, which you can buy online from healthfood suppliers.

Use seitan like meat in any kind of recipes - stir fries, stews, curries, casseroles, pies, sandwiches. Just make sure you add plenty of flavour!

This is the basic recipe, halve or double the quantities for larger or smaller amounts:

• 2 cups vital wheat gluten
• 1 cup cold water
• 2 tsp garlic or onion powder
• 4 tbsp nutritional yeast
• Flavourings (see below)

1. Add flavouring ingredients to the water, then stir into the gluten flour.
2. Bring together to a dough, and knead like bread for 3-5 minutes until the gluten shows proteinous strands. The longer you knead, the chewier the end product.
3. Form into whatever shapes you like, either long "sticks" for skewers, cut into chunks or fillets, or roll up into a single "roast" shape.
4. To cook, either
1. Boil: make a lightly flavoured stock in saucepan, deep enough to cover your dough. Bring to a boil then to a simmer. Add your seitan and cook gently for 30 minutes. Make sure it doesn't rise above a gentle simmer.
2. Bake: roll into a "roast" shape and wrap tightly in foil. Bake at 170C for 90 minutes.

Variations

Flavouring is the key to good seitan, it's essentially tasteless by itself so good flavours are essential. If you're boiling it, make sure the broth is flavoursome.

For "bacon" flavour: 2 tbsp barbecue sauce, 2 tbsp tomato ketchup & 2 tsp smoked paprika

For a "beef" flavour: 2 tsp Marmite

For a "chicken" flavour: 2 tsp vegetable (or vegan chicken) stock powder

Also consider: Sesame oil for a nuttier flavour, soy sauce, chilli, herbs, cumin.

To lighten the texture, knead for less time, while for a beefier texture, knead for 4 minutes, leave to rest for 10, then knead again. Baking creates a more chewy texture, boiling more moist and lighter.

Adding chickpea flour also lightens the dough, use 1¾ gluten with ¼ cup of flour.