It’s no secret that I love seitan. It’s an incredibly versatile mock meat that you can flavour in many different ways. I already have quite a few recipes either for seitan or utilising it as a key ingredient. When I was a child, before I went vegetarian when I was 12 years old, I had a bit of a fad on garlic sausage sandwiches. As I really like to create vegan versions of foods I ate as a child, I thought I’d have a try at making a garlic sausage flavoured seitan. So this is my recipe for just that. It’s lovely cold as a sandwich filler, but it’s also lovely if you lightly fry thinly sliced pieces of it for a hot sandwich too
Roasting the Vegetables
When it comes to the beetroot and garlic, I like to roast them in the air fryer. I like to keep roasted beetroot on hand as I use it to make corned beef seitan, smokey ham seitan and for this recipe too. To do this I quarter a small beetroot, drizzle it with a little oil and pinch of salt, then loosely wrap it in foil. Then I simply pop it in the air fryer at 200°C for 15-20 minutes or until tender. Then leave the beetroot to cool, peel and discard the skin and use, or store it in the freezer. I do something similar with the garlic, I slice it in half horizontally, then drizzle with a little oil and a pinch of salt and black pepper. Then loosely wrap in foil and pop it in the air fryer and roast at 200°C for 30-35 minutes. Once it’s roasted, leave it to cool to room temperature before removing the garlic from the skins
Yield; Roughly 700g of seitan Cook time; One hour for the seitan, plus half an hour or so for roasting the vegetables
You’ll need;
- Two whole bulbs of garlic, roasted
- 60g roasted beetroot
- 100g smoked tofu
- 200ml hot water
- One tablespoon of liquid smoke
- One and half teaspoons of smoked paprika
- Two vegetable Oxo cubes
- 200g vital wheat gluten
- 40g chickpea flour
- 30g nutritional yeast
- One tablespoon of garlic granules
- One tablespoon of dried sage
- Half a teaspoon of salt
- Half a teaspoon of black pepper
Method;
- Start by adding the roasted garlic, roasted beetroot, tofu, hot water, liquid smoke, smoked paprika and Oxo cubes into a jug or high speed blender. Blend the mixture until it’s completely smooth
- Add the remaining ingredients into a mixing bowl and mix them together. Then pour the wet ingredients into the dry and mix until a dough forms
- Knead the dough for a few minutes, you should be able to feel the gluten developing as you knead it
- Once you’re ready to cook the dough, lay out some PVC-free cling film, baking paper, foil or muslin. Place the dough on top then wrap it securely and tie off the ends
- Bring a saucepan partially filled with water to a boil, place the seitan inside, then pop the lid back on. Reduce the heat to the lowest setting and simmer for one hour
- Once the seitan is cooked, leave it to cool to room temperature before refrigerating. Once it’s chilled it’s ready to unwrap and thinly slice
Bethany's Vegan Kitchen 