Bethany's Vegan Kitchen

This smoked seitan is coated in a maple and mustard glaze, and studded with dried cloves. It would make for a lovely centre piece for any festive feast

You’ll need;

1. 200g vital wheat gluten
2. 40g chickpea flour
3. 30g nutritional yeast
4. One tablespoon of both onion powder and garlic powder
5. Half a tablespoon of both dried rosemary and dried thyme
6. Three tablespoons of smoked paprika
7. 350ml concentrated vegetable stock, use enough stock cubes to make 500ml of stock, but only add 350ml of hot water
8. One tablespoon of liquid smoke
9. One tablespoon of tomato puree

Method;

• Start by mixing together all the dry ingredients, these are in the first 6 points listed above, in a mixing bowl
• Next mix together the wet ingredients into a jug, use a whisk to thoroughly combine them
• Pour the wet ingredients into the dry, and mix until a dough forms
• Knead the dough for three or four minutes, this will activate the gluten
• Wrap the dough in non-pvc food safe cling film, foil or muslin, and tie off the ends
• Bring a saucepan half filled with water to a boil. Pop the wrapped seitan in the saucepan, reduce the heat to the lowest setting, then pop the lid back on. Give it an hour to cook, once cooked take the seitan out of the water and leave it to cool down (don’t unwrap it)

Now you’re ready to move onto the next step

You’ll need;

1. A couple of tablespoons of dried cloves
2. One tablespoon of maple syrup
3. One teaspoon of dijon mustard
4. Two teaspoons of liquid smoke
5. One teaspoon of smoked paprika
6. A good pinch of salt

Method;

• Start by scoring lines into the seitan, once you’ve scored the first set of lines, turn the seitan and score again diagonally
• Place a clove in each square, it should look like this
  
• Now whisk together the rest of the ingredients, this will be the glaze. Once you’ve whisked together the glaze, pop the seitan into a piece of baking paper, then onto some foil (make sure you use enough foil to loosely cover the seitan with). Using a pastry brush, apply roughly two thirds of the glaze to the top and sides of the seitan. Loosely cover the seitan with the foil, being careful to not let the foil touch the glaze. The remaining glaze will be applied half way through the cooking time
  
• Now it’s ready for the oven. Cook at 220°C/200°C fan assisted for 30 minutes or until it’s hot throughout. Half way through the cooking time, take the seitan out, coat it with the remaining glaze, then return the seitan uncovered back to the oven
  
• Once it’s done it’s ready to serve with vegetables, roast potatoes, stuffing and any other side dishes you like