Okay, other than thinking it would be funny for a Christian to be eating something with a name like this... I am curious. What IS this? I've read that it's wheat-meat. Great. But what does that mean? What does it taste like, how do you prepare it, and what would you get out of it nutritionally? The concept of eating straight gluten sounds a bit scary to me... with my (LOOOONG) list of allergies, is there any history of people eating this & speeding their way to a gluten-free diet in the future? love, mom
Hahaha last night I was like "Dad! Guess what, it's the weirdest thing--there's a food called 'seitan'!" He goes, "WHAT? What is THAT?!" So I explained how it's spelt and he just went, "Oh ok. Weird!" (We're Mormons, btw)
MMMMmmmm. i love seitan, i just made some last night. Traditionally, seitan is made using whole wheat flour, and it's a rather long process. i recommend purchasing instant seitan/gluten mix from the health food store or vital wheat gluten. i get Vital wheat gluten from kroger, it's in a box next to the bread flours. Mix 1 part gluten flour with approx 3/4 cup broth or water. i prefer the Swanson organic vegetable broth. Stir till mixed. It'll be like stiff sticky bread dough. i let it rest about 5 min. then knead it about five minutes. You can add seasonings of your choice before mixing (onion/garlic powder, nutritional yeast etc) Then you can cut off or rip off chunks and place them in a pot with boiling broth. Simmer about 1 hour. This link shows the step by step process, it's really easy though. http://vegetarian.about.com/od/cookingtipstools/ss/HowToSeitan.htm You can do so much with seitan. i like making breaded nuggets, i dice it up in miso or noodle soup. It's great in pot pies, stirfries, fajitas. i use it as a replacement in almost any chicken recipes. Last night i made a seitan loaf, filled with wild rice bread stuffing. It was very similar to tofurky. Nutritionally, seitan is a nearly complete, high quality protein and provides a modest amount of B vitamins and iron and contains no saturated fat or cholesterol. Though you may have to watch the sodium levels in the broth you use. If you have wheat sensitivities i would avoid it. It can cause major gas if you eat too much, or are at all sensitive to wheat products. My family loves it. blessings, tree
