Whether you are a newly converted vegetarian or born vegetarian looking for a great source for protein, Seitan (Say-tan) provides yet another option to your meal planning. Made from Vital Wheat Gluten, this completely vegetarian item has the texture, and depending on the flavoring, the taste of meat. Try this versatile Seitan recipe for curries, stir-frys, grilling…the options are endless.
Prep Time: 20 minutes
Cook Time: 30 minutes
Makes: 2 portions serving 4 to 6
Ingredients:
For Broth:
Water – 8 cups
Onion – 1 medium, chopped into big pieces
Garlic – 4 cloves, roughly smashed
Ginger – 1 inch, chopped
Carrots – 4 medium, chopped into big pieces
Celery – 4 stalks, chopped into big pieces
Cilantro – handful, chopped
Tandoori Masala – 2 tsp
Garam Masala – 1 tsp
Soy Sauce – 2 Tbsp
Tamarind Pulp – 1 Tbsp
For Seitan:
Vital Wheat Gluten – 2 cups
Garlic Powder – 1/2 tsp
Paprika – 1/2 tsp
Garam Masala – 1/2 tsp
Tandoori Masala – 1/2 tsp
Salt – 1/4 tsp
Sesame Oil – 1 tsp (any type of oil can be substituted)
Cold Water – 1 3/4 cups
Method:
1. In a large pot, add all ingredients for the Broth.
2. Cover and cook on high heat until broth comes to a rolling boil.
3. Uncover and continue to cook on medium heat while working on the Seitan.
4. In a mixing bowl, add all of the ingredients for the Seitan EXCEPT Oil and Water. Mix well.
5. Add Oil and mix through the flour.
6. Add all of the Water at once and mix to form a spongy dough.
7. Once all the Water is absorbed, continue to knead for 1 minute.
8. Form the dough into a square or rectangular shape and allow it to rest for 5 minutes.
9. Bring the Broth to a boil once again.
10. Cut Seitan to desired shape (small pieces for curries or stir-frys, long strips or fillets for grilling, etc).
11. As you cut, drop the pieces into the boiling broth.
12. Once all of the pieces are in the pot, mix well, cover and cook for 30 minutes. Do not uncover or stir in between.
13. Remove the Seitan pieces and keep aside to use as needed.
14. Strain the broth. Reserve the liquid for use in curries and discard the vegetables.
15. Seitan can be stored in the refrigerator for 1 week or frozen for later use.
Can you show us how to make soy chunks( soy meat ) from soya flour ? Thx.
am not getting vital wheat gluten anywhere. Please suggest where to get. am in winnipeg canada but here iam not getting
Try a bulk barn, or other bulk food stores. Maybe health food store would also carry it. Also try the flour section in walmart
Contact ‘Connie’s Rawsome Kitchen’ on you tube. She is in Canada and her address is there. And she will reply to you on comments. You can also order it on Amazon. This woman is the master chef of vegan cooking and the most educated chef of culinary veganism that I have ever seen??
Just wanted to know out of curiosity…when boiling the seitan with the veggies, why should we not open the lid and stir it? I am just curious to know the reason. Thanks!!
You don’t have to. None of the vegan cooks disturb it while it us cooking. Some cooks wrap the pieces in foul and put them in a steamer basket. Baking it is not as good. Wrapped and steamed or the boiling method is best.
That is foil not foul,sorry typo
What Brand of tamarind pulp were you using? It looked like it was a canned or bottled variety. Thanks so much for the great recipe!!!
Hi Hetal & Anuja,
I am cooking this receipe today but I have just realized that I am out of soy sauce and I cannot go to the supermarket right away as I am already half way through with this. Does that make any difference if I do not use Soy Sauce or it is just for seasoning. Please reply back asap.
Regards,
Aashi
Hi Aashi,
Soy sauce does add flavor and saltiness. If you absolutely don’t have it, you can just add regular salt.
Hi Hetal,
Thank you for your prompt reply. It came out delicious. Thanks for this great recepie. It was amazing to see first the dough rising and becoming spongy and then awesome while cooking.
You could have used Annie’s Worchesthire Sauce w is vegan??
Hi Hetal & Anuja,
You guys rock. Really !!
What a great site is this for people who love to cook. I have a question for you two beautiful ladies. Where can we find Vital Wheat Gluten in India. Is this available in grocery stores over there, if yes, then what do they call and what brand is available.
Thank you in advance for your time and keep up the good work.
Hi Aashi,
We’re are not sure where exactly you’d find it, but here is the contact information for a company that supplies it. You might be able to contact them for a store close to you.
Parry Enterprises India Limited
Mr. R. N. Swamy (Manager)
Dare House, No. 2, N. S. C. Bose Road
Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India – 600 001
Telephone: +(91)-(44)-25306400
Can we use the readymade vegetable broth available in departmental stores? Just want to know although this home made one is very simple too.
Thank you
Kriti
Hi Kriti,
Yes, you can use ready made vegetable broth. It usually works out cheaper to use your own vegetables and especially for this recipe, you are already spending the time cooking the Seitan so might as well make the broth at the same time. You can save the ready made broth for times when you need it in a flash.
Hi girls:
I made this recipe today. Came out nice. Just wondering, when I went to cut it, it did not look firm like yours in the video. Also, can they be frozen for later use and if so, how long will they last. Have a dinner coming up, will see how people like it and post the results.
Hi Daisy,
The seitan looks firm but it was still pretty squishy. It does freeze well, for about 3-4 months if sealed properly in a freezer bag or airtight container.
Hi Anuja and Hetal,
Thanks for the nice recipe. I would suggest you not to throw the veggies in the end, instead can just pour some gravy on it and eat bcoz they are a good source of fiber
Hi Shobs,
The veggies are really bland but if you really wanted to use them, the gravy idea is good. Thanks!
Out of interest can you please say whether this dish has the meat taste & smell, I have not used this at all.
Hi Kurti,
It definitely has the texture of meat however, it is pretty much flavor-less and takes on the flavors of what you add to it.
Hi Anuja and Hetal,
Thanks for receipe and i am living in dubai i just want to know this Vital Wheat Gluten is available in super market or not???
Hi Janu,
We get it in our supermarkets but we are not sure about Dubai. Maybe one of our other viewers can help.
hi i am in India and we dont get vital wheat gluten. What is the indian name for it or where do we get vital wheat gluten,
Hi Bobby,
Apparently, it is available in India but we have no idea what it is called. If you do find out, please so let us know. The information will be useful to others…
Thank you soo much! Finally a substitution! I can definitely fool my family members now and become a lot more meat obsessed! Thank you 🙂
😉
Great idea tried it turned out perfect and surprised a few frieds. Can we mix soyflour with it to make it more nutritious or could we put celery, green peppers, and onions, salt, garlic and ginger in after processing it real fine in food processors and then mix it with the Gluten flour and make like meat balls or chunks of it as shown by you and both. Anuja and Heital could we put Knorr beef bullion in it instead of salt to make it more beefy. Please respond. Thanks
Hi Suleman,
We have not tried that process but don’t see any reason why it won’t work – the possibilities are endless.
Let us know if you do, it will be useful information for us and our viewers 🙂
Hi Anuja and Hetal,
Thanks so much for the seitan recipe. I love seitan and it can be bought “ready made”, but is very expensive. This will be a great inexpensive way to have it in my dishes. I have one question. Is the sesame oil you use the toasted sesame oil or standard sesame oil? There is a difference in the flavor and I wanted to make sure it turns out well.
Thanks again so much!
Hi Judy,
There us such a little amount of Sesame Oil – don’t think it will matter which one you use.
We have never tried Toasted Sesame Oil but are sure it’ll taste great 🙂
This whole wheat gluten is available in which section?
Iam waiting for ur reply……
It is available with the flours in a regular grocery store.
I have noticed that the very light cotton curtain near the cooking area still exist.
Unfortunately we humans like to copy our heroes & in this case it is best you use a roll up blind ot shutters.It is safer.
This is a genuine advice & no offence meant.
Thanks for your concern Kiki. We put a light curtain there to avoid the light from the window reflecting. If you notice we do not cook in the back burners 🙂 , they are there as a temporary fix for the light.
I love the window in my kitchen and no shutters or blinds for me 🙂
Thanks so much for this recipe! I am obsessed with seitan after having had a great seitan dish at a vegan restaurant called Candle 79 in NYC. Can’t wait to make my own now! I’m eagerly awaiting the recipes/videos for the dishes that you will be making with the seitan…the curry and the tandoori style one. Bring it on!
Thank you SO much for this video ladies!! I have vital wheat gluten in my fridge and it’s been there for quite some time because although I want to make seitan very much, I was always daunted by what I thought would be a long and complicated process. You have shown me that it can be easy so I think I’m going to try my hand at it very soon! Anuja and Hetal, you’re the best!
Time to air it out 🙂
Enjoy!
hi anuja and hetal
nice recipe .
it looks like soy nuggets.
i dont know how it tastes,but it looks very tempting.
urs mango lassi is awesome.
Hi Sivaranjani,
It does look like soy nuggets but the taste (in our opinion) is better 🙂
Veggies still have fibre. May be use it in some other dish with more spices?
Nice tops! Both your video and you guys are treat to watch 🙂
Thanks for the recipes ladies, I have been thinking of making this from long but was hesitant. Now that it is coming from ur site I can blindly try it…
You guys rock…thanks so much
Thank you for your support, Reena 🙂
I know they have “no nutritional value”, but knowing that there is a hungry child out there going to bed without having had a meal I just could not throw them away. What I would do is add about am inch more of the veggies a pinch more of herbs cook down with a plantain. It thickens up pretty good after blended some added shrimp over some white rice would be good. I just can’t seem to find myself throwing out food that I can add a bit more to for nutrition value to use for a different dish. I think of the many of hungry kids out there starving and throwing away food for ME is just NOT an option. But of course it’s only MY opinion. Have a Blessed day.
Like Anuja and Hetal mentioned, the veggies have no nutritional value left, it’s all in the stock, so discard the veggies.
Will try out this recipe, since I’ve turned vegetarian since 4 years.
Anuja, pretty top. Hetal, love your new hair style-the soft waves look good!
Why throw away the veggies? They can be put into a blender puree fine and used as a gravy base or thin into a thinks sauce. Just a thought.
I agree. I usually just puree and knead them in to any dough I am making. They just need a little help with flavor. I like your idea as well, of using them as a gravy thickener. But on their own, I agree with H&A, these veggies have no flavor. I won’t feel too bad discarding these.
I’m another who can’t bear to throw anything away – would add a stock cube or two, additional seasoning, some cooked red lentils and blitz to a thick vegetable soup. If eating it fresh isn’t possible, portion up and freeze (0.6L containers serve 2).
It’s an individual choice but, according to my trainer, “Seitan is the worst thing you can eat” It’s heavily processed and is nothing but Gluten.
Tempeh (fermented soy) is a much better source of protein.
In india u could buy it in dried up chunks like the nutri nuggets made with soy. I remember my neighbor making the stuff from the scratch. She simply kneaded the whole wheat flour into a dough. I’m not sure of exactly what she did after that, but she would rest the dough for 30 minutes, & then begin to scrub it in water, going through several changes of water, till the water was clear & she had a rubbery mass left, which, I now understand, was saitan. I don’t know if she boiled it, but I know they broke it into pieces & dried it up in the sun just as we dry papads & vadis. They called it “mukand vadi” I guess this would be much less processed than the one made from the vital gluten as the ladies just showed. But this is what we can do today, or buy th canned one from the store.
Hi Plato,
You are right – that is the original way of making it.
Enjoy some modern conveniences 😉
Where do we get Tempeh from ?
Well done ladies, I’d heard that making seitan was hard work – much like the method that Plato described – so was surprised that you made it so easy! And also grateful for your warning about it tasting like meat, Anuja, will give this one a miss myself but I’m sure I’ll get a chance to make it for anyone else that happens to be desperate for meat in my strictly vegetarian household. Keep up the good work 🙂
Milady
I advise anyone who suspects they are gluten intolerant to stay away from seitan. A few years ago when I was vegan, I was eating seitan as a meat alternative and was loving it. Turns out it’s been killing me all this while – I learned that I’m gluten intolerant. The main symptom I faced was extreme fatigue. It’s estimated that 30-40 percent of the population has the same affliction, but only 1% know about it. Just beware – seitan might be satan for many.
WOW! This is an incredible idea! Thanks for sharing, ladies!!