Lately I've been creating Mediterranean inspired dishes like this homemade pasta and "Four seasons" pizza. But somehow I started craving old retro classics. Maybe our family favorite potato salad started this? In Estonia, breaded and marinated fish and meat are old and loved classics at the parties. When I was a meat eater, I never really liked these dishes. They were OK, but for me, they seemed like this food that only grown-ups can appreciate. I was more interested in boiled potatoes and gravy. I really don't know when the idea struck me to veganize this recipe. Maybe when I received a new batch of gluten flour? Or am I really grown up? Please, no! I hope I can blame my weird cravings on the colder weather instead.
At least right at this moment, I'm so stoked for the fall. I know it's technically still summer, but it sure doesn't feel like it anymore. And I'm weirdly happy with that! I love crispier air, juicy apples, the smell of fall and changing nature. I can't wait for these ultra colorful runs in the leaves and I love that I can now run with a jacket on. I love that there's no more mosquitoes. These kind of joys.
When the time starts to push towards the end of the year, I always want heartier food. Like yesterday I made mashed potatoes and baked cauliflower with sunflower seed gravy. So good! I also can't wait to make vegan black pudding sausages (recipe in my cookbook "Vegan Dinner Party") and eat sauerkraut like there's no tomorrow.
But let's get back to this recipe. When it comes to taste and texture, this version with seitan is a real deal! Super flavorful and perfect as a cold snack, on a bread or served with potato salad or boiled potatoes. I also ate all the carrots and onions, because they were so delicious when marinated. If I usually boil the seitan separately, then this time I wanted to make it extra easy and boiled everything in the same marinade. That way it was also more flavorful. The marinade is rather salty, but just the way I like it. Happy experimenting and let me know if you have any questions!
Preparation time: 35 - 40 minutes + marinating time
Serves: 12 pieces, 4 - 6 people
Seitan:
- 1 cup / 165 g vital wheat gluten flour
- 3 Tbsp nutritional yeast
- ½ tsp salt
- ¾ cup / 180 ml cold water
- 1 Tbsp soy sauce
Marinade:
- 5 cups / 1200 ml water
- 4 bay leaves
- 2 Tbsp sugar
- 1 - 2 Tbsp salt
- 2 bigger carrots
- 2 big onions
- + later add 2 ½ Tbsp apple cider vinegar
For breading:
- 2 ½ heaping Tbsp potato starch
- 2 ½ heaping Tbsp all-purpose flour
- pinch of salt
- pinch of ground black pepper
- ½ cup / 120 ml cold water
- + bread crumbs
Directions:
Mix gluten flour with nutritional yeast, salt, cold water and soy sauce. You will have an elastic dough ball. Knead it for a minute and set aside.
Take a larger pot and add water, bay leaves, sugar and salt. Bring to a boil. In the meantime, you can peel the carrots and onions. Cut the carrots into thicker coins, halve the onions and slice them. Add carrots and onions into the boiling water. Boil for 5 minutes. Taste and add some salt if needed, because the marinade has to be really flavorful.
Roll the seitan dough a bit thinner and cut it into 12 pieces. You can stretch each piece to make them a bit wider. Lower the heat for the marinade, so it only simmers a bit. Add seitan pieces to the marinade. Cover the pot with a lid and let the seitan simmer for 10 - 15 minutes, until it's firmer. You can taste a piece with a fork and see, if it's not that soft anymore. Remove the heat and then remove the seitan pieces from the marinade. Put them on a bigger plate, so they will cool down quicker. Mix the apple cider vinegar into the marinade and cool the marinade down.
When the seitan and marinade are cooled down, start breading the seitan. For the wet mixture, mix potato starch and flour with salt, pepper and water until you have a creamy mixture. In a separate bowl, add a pile of bread crumbs. First dip the seitan chunks into the wet mixture and then roll them in bread crumbs. Heat up a pan and add plenty of oil. Pan-fry the breaded seitan, until crispy on both sides. Now cool the seitan pieces down. Then stack them into a wider bowl and cover them with the marinade. Let it all set at least 12 fours in the fridge. Serve and enjoy!
