Vegan Air Fried Chicken with Penne Arrabbiata

A meaty seitan chicken fillet, with a crispy, crunchy seasoned breadcrumb coating. Along with penne, in a chilli and garlic tomato sauce. Top with your favourite dairy-free parmesan style cheese for a hearty, filling meal. Seitan is a brilliant mock meat, and source of plant based protein. I’ve mentioned previously how much I love seitan, it works really well in this dish but as already established I am horribly biased in its favour. This seitan is simple and easy to make, so if you’ve not tried making seitan before, don’t be put off. It’s easier to make than you might think

Yield: Four servings Cook time: One hour, plus an additional hour or so for the seitan to cool to room temperature

For the chicken fillets, you’ll need:

100g vital wheat gluten
20g chickpea flour
15g nutritional yeast
Half a tablespoon of the following; oregano, tarragon, parsley, garlic granules and onion granules
175ml hot plant based chicken stock, I used one chicken free Oxo cube dissolved in 175ml boiled water
Half a tablespoon of lemon juice

For the breadcrumb coating, you’ll need:

Five tablespoons of plain, all purpose flour
Seven tablespoons of breadcrumbs
85ml plant milk
Half a teaspoon of mixed herbs
A few sprays of cooking spray oil

For the penne arrabbiata you’ll need;

One tablespoon of oil
One small brown onion, diced
Two large cloves of garlic, minced
One red chilli pepper, minced
One tablespoon of tomato puree
One 400g tin of plum tomatoes, blended until smooth
Half a teaspoon of parsley
Salt to taste
300g (this is the dry, uncooked weight) penne

Method;

Start by making the chicken fillets. Add the vital wheat gluten, chickpea flour, nutritional yeast, herbs, garlic and onion into a large mixing bowl, and mix together until well combined
Next, add the chicken stock and lemon juice into a jug and whisk those together. Then pour the stock and lemon juice into the mixing bowl, that you just added the vital wheat gluten, chickpea flour, nutritional yeast, herbs, garlic and onion into. Then mix to form a dough
Knead the dough for a few minutes, you’ll be able to feel the gluten developing. Divide the dough into four equal pieces and form into fillet-style shapes
Wrap each piece in foil, and fold the edges of the foil to fully seal them, so water can’t get into the seitan
Bring a large pan of water to a boil and place the seitan inside, replace the lid of the pan, then reduce the heat to the lowest setting
Cook the seitan for 30 minutes, then remove the fillets from the water and leave them to cool to room temperature before unwrapping them. While the fillets are cooking and then cooling, you can make the arrabbiata sauce
Heat the oil in a saucepan over a medium heat. Once it’s heated up, add in the diced onion and cook for ten minutes, or until softened
Next, stir the garlic and the chilli through the onion, and give them four or five minutes to cook
Now add the tomato puree into the saucepan, and give it a good mix through to combine. Give the tomato puree two or three minutes to cook
Next, pour the blended tomatoes into the saucepan and season with the parsley and salt. Pop a lid on the saucepan, reduce the heat to low, then leave the sauce to simmer for around fifteen minutes
Put the flour, breadcrumbs and milk into three large, shallow bowls. Season the breadcrumbs with the mixed herbs, and a pinch of salt and black pepper
Firstly dredge the fillets in the flour, then the milk, then the breadcrumbs
Next, dip the fillets back into the milk, and then coat them in breadcrumbs once more
Now the fillets are ready to air-fry. Place them into an air fryer basket and spray them with a few sprays of spray cooking oil
Air-fry at 180°C for 12-15 minutes, or until golden and crispy
While the fillets bake, cook the penne as per the instructions on the packet. Once cooked, drain away the water and then add the penne into the saucepan. Fold the penne through the sauce, until the sauce coats the penne evenly
Spoon the penne into bowls, top it with the sliced fillets, then serve immediately