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).