Seitan
Seitan is a vegetarian preparation of wheat that is shaped and seasoned in such a way as to hint at duck. It’s all over the place this time of year in Thailand and can make a surprisingly harmonious and delicious addition to your favorite stir fried dishes. The texture once prepared is remarkably similar to a traditional Chinese roast duck and the flavor, while not overpowering, is spot on too. Most of the ingredients are easy to find except wheat gluten which shouldn’t be too hard to find either (try health food stores if you’re grocer fails you there) and the preparation could be effectively carried out by drunken monkey, so it’s a great way to get your feet wet in the world of Thai vegetarian cuisine.
Braised wheat gluten (Photo credit: Kent Wang)
Here’s what you’ll need:
- 2 cups wheat gluten
- 1 tsp garlic salt
- ¼ tsp dried marjoram
- ¼ tsp dried sage
- 3 tbsp soy sauce
- 3 tbsp molasses or honey
- 3 or 4 hearty slices of fresh ginger
Ok, here’s how it goes down: get about 2 liters of water and your soy sauce, molasses, and ginger going at a nice simmer. Then get out a big mixing bowl and stir 500 ml. boiling water into the wheat gluten. Stir it together until you end up with a springy wet blob. Leave it alone for a while so it can cool off then get kneady with it for about 10 minutes or so. Divide your blob into manageable pieces and then cut little slices of it – remembering that they will swell up in the broth. Drop it into your simmering broth and let it hang out for about an hour, giving it the occasional jostling with a spoon/spatula.
Divide the dough in smaller pieces, and cut into slices. Drop into the simmering liquid. Stir and simmer for an hour. Drain the broth off and lay the pieces out on a strainer and use a grill press or any hard, heavy thing you have in the kitchen to press as much of the soaked up broth as possible out of your seitan. And that, almost, is that.
