Seitan…

It’s kinda like the friend you hang with when your other vegan friends tempeh and tofu are busy.

Don’t get me wrong, seitan is cool and all. We always have fun together. But I tend to only want its’ company when I grow tired and bored of the other vegan proteins in my meatless meathead circle.

Every time I experiment with seitan aka vital wheat gluten, I always think about my sister aka The Lowly Vegetarian who is convinced that seitan is not meant for human consumption.

I admit that this magical, oddly sticky flour made from PURE GLUTEN has the ability to make me bloated as f*&% (which is also the main reason I don’t consume it often.) But then the vegan meathead inside of me always justifies making it with the fact that just 1/4 of a cup contains a whopping 23 grams of protein. Yeahhhhhhh bruh! Feel the gains (amidst all that water retention)…. 😉

Nevertheless, this week I’ve been back on the seitan train. And because many of my clients request vegan meal plans that contain a minimal amount of soy, I like to give them a variety of protein options.

I’ve posted a few SWEET seitan recipes in the past– aka these chocolate protein pucks and these pleather muffins.

And whether I flavour my vital wheat gluten to be a savory or sweet concoction, one thing remains the same: they ALL look disgusting and have the consistency of rubber…

Well, now that I have you all salivating and excited for the recipe, here is my fave savory seitan mixture which originated from my fellow vegan bikini competitor pal and Plantbuilt Teammate Shani Vetter.

Here we are together at the 2015 Naturally Fit Games in Austin, Texas.

Do we not make the cutest blonde/brunette vegan duo ever?

And yes, my hair extensions were awful.

Anywho, I absolutely LOVE this chick! So it would only makes sense that I also love her low-carb, low-fat and high-protein savory seitan turd recipe! Shani is a babe both inside and out. Her seitan, however, is only good on the inside…

Mmmmmmmm!

Alright enough blabbering here’s her easy-peasy, ready-in-no-time recipe:

Shani’s Savory-Tasting & Unsavory-Looking Seitan

Ingredients:

2 cups vital wheat gluten flour
5 Tbsp. nutritional yeast
2 Tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil
1/4 cup Bragg liquid aminos or coconut aminos (soy sauce alternative – tamari works too)
1 + 1/4 cup water

Method:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Thoroughly mix ingredients together and knead into a dough. Roll and shape dough into a long cylinder then slice into thin-ish pieces depending on how thick you like ’em. 😉 Place onto lightly greased baking sheet and bake for 10 – 15 minutes.

I like to serve it with some kimchi (good for digestion) and steamed broccoli doused in nutritional yeast (high in B vitamins) and chili flakes (natural fat burner.)

Super healthy, very flavourful and a delicious way to enjoy rubber cakes.

Happy cooking, vegan meathead crew! 🙂

– Sam