Praise seitan! No, seitan isn’t food of choice for satanic vegans. It’s actually a tasty meatless food made from wheat gluten. It’s pronounced the way it looks – say-tan.
As a meat substitute, seitan isn’t quite as popular in mainstream cuisine as tofu yet. Maybe it’s because of its name, or perhaps it’s because people are a little unsure of what to do with it. Seitan’s actually looks quite a bit like meat, and it can be used in recipes that might traditionally be made with beef or pork. It’s a good main dish option for those who might suffer from soy sensitivities, and it’s very high in protein, with 24 grams of it in just 4 ounces.
Seitan is sometimes called “wheat meat” and you may have even seen it on the menu in a Chinese restaurant listed simply as “gluten”. It’s can be served as veggie “beef” in vegan restaurants, and it’s the base of such meatless products as Gardien’s Chick’n or Tofurky’s Deli Slices. Seitan can be picked up next to the tofu in the refrigerated section of just about any grocery store, or you can make it easily at home with vital wheat gluten, vegetable stock, and spices.
It is believed that consuming wheat gluten originated in ancient China by strict vegetarian Buddhist monks. Gluten remains a staple in Asian cooking today, and different types of it are now consumed, such as baked spongy gluten in China, dry baked gluten in Japan, and deep-fried gluten in Vietnam. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, it is believed that the word “seitan” was coined by George Ohsawa in the early 1960s. Ohsawa created the Japenese macrobiotic food movement around the same time, and seitan was first brought to the US from Japan in 1969.
Seitan is a delicious multi-purpose food. It can be simmered in stews, ground up and made into burgers, sliced and made into “cheese steaks”, and even fashioned into meatless sausages. Of my favorite ways to serve seitan is in taco form, such as this taco recipe from my friend Jenna at Good-Good-Things.com. Jenna and demoed these tacos at the Bethlehem Veg Fest two years ago, and they were a huge hit with the crowd.
Jenna’s Soy Lime Seitan Tacos with Mango and Chipotle Aioli
Ingredients:
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 medium sized red onion, thinly sliced
- 5 cloves of garlic, minced
- 4 cups sliced seitan
- 2 tablespoons soy sauce
- Juice of 1 lime
- 1 cup vegan mayo
- 1 tablespoon chipotle powder
- Juice of 1/2 a lime
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 3 cups shredded romaine lettuce
- 1 cup small diced pineapple or mango
- 2 tomatoes, small diced
- 1/2 cup of cilantro leaves
- 1 package soft taco shells
Preparation:
- Heat oil in a large sauté pan over medium-high heat. Add the onions and garlic and sauté for 1 minute. Mix in the sliced seitan, lower the heat to medium and cook 5-7 minutes until the seitan starts to brown and the onions are mostly cooked. Pour in the soy sauce and lime juice and cook 1 minute to combine flavors.
- For the mayo combine the vegan mayo, chipotle powder, lime juice and salt in a bowl.
- To assemble lay out all the tortillas. Spread a heaping spoonful, of the chipotle aioli in the middle of the tortilla. Portion out the soy-lime seitan on top of the mayo then load on the lettuce, mango or pineapple, cilantro and tomatoes.
