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.