Lemon Pepper Seitan

From ThisBlueWiki

This recipe is a vegan equivalent of lemon pepper chicken. It's pretty good, but it needs some tweaking. Notably, it was too oily. The recipe as listed here cuts down on the oil a great amount (especially as I needed more Earth Balance for frying the seitan) and I will update it again the next time I make the recipe. Adapted from http://eatingconsciously.blogspot.com/2009/02/lemon-pepper-chicken.html

There are directions for making seitan 'chicken breasts' below. I used Westsoy chicken-style seitan instead, 2 packages (about 14 oz), but it's not cheap.

Breading:

• 1 cup soymilk
• 1 Tbsp lemon juice
• 1 cup whole wheat pastry flour
• 4 Tbsp earth balance

Sauce:

• 3 Tbsp olive oil
• 1/4 cup lemon juice
• 1/2 cup white wine mixed with 1 tsp cornstarch
• 1 TBS nutritional yeast
• 4 cloves garlic (minced)
• lots (at least 1-2 tsp) of fresh cracked black pepper
• salt to taste (1/2 tsp or more)
• chopped fresh scallions

Mix together the soymilk and lemon juice to make a "buttermilk". Take each individual piece of seitan and dip it into the "buttermilk" and then dredge it in the flour. Heat up a saucepan with enough earth balance over medium-high heat and fry 3 "breasts" at a time for about 3-5 minutes on each side, or until slightly browned on each side. Once all the "breasts" are cooked, set them aside and we can being making the sauce.

In the same pan we fried the seitan in, add all of the above ingredients and cook on med-low heat until the sauce has thickened, which will be about 5 minutes. Then, put the breaded seitan "breasts" into the pan, making sure they get coated completely with the sauce. Put heat on low and cover. Allow to simmer for 5-10 minutes, tossing occasionally.

Garnish with scallions, toss and serve. Goes well with pasta and pesto, grilled mushrooms, etc. and a white wine.

Seitan chicken 'breasts'

(This portion of the recipe is unadapted, since I didn't use it yet.)

• 1 cup vital wheat gluten
• water

I like a really tender seitan, which is why I do not measure the water. I put the wheat gluten into a bowl and just cover it with water. You really can't add too much water, because it will all just drain out anyway. The trick is to massage the gluten gently with your finger tips until it has soaked up as much water as possible. I actually outlined the basic procedure in this video.

Once the gluten has soaked up as much water as possible, just scoop it all out and squeeze out as much water as possible. Break the seitan up into 6 equal pieces and just form them in your hands into mini "breasts". They will expand a lot when they cook, so you can do them a little on the small side. Place the little "breasts" into a pot of boiling water, cover, and simmer for about 45 minutes. You can add some tamari to the water for some extra flavor.

After they are cooked, remove them from the water and let them cool. Once cooled, squeeze out as much water as possible from each seitan "breast".