El Camino Real

Can't decide if you want Mexican or Texas bbq? Do you like mounds of seitan? El Camino Real in Liberties Walk has you covered!

Endless chips and salsa are not complimentary at El Camino Real. They'll set you back $1 per person, which is a tad lame, but the chips do come dusted with a tasty mix of spices, if you're into that (I am). Smoked pico de gallo and salsa verde will be your chip dips.

Pitchers of margaritas are di rigueur, and our passion fruit margaritas, one of the fruit flavors of the day, did us just right. We did not measure the contents, but my gut feeling (and from experience) is that the pitchers at the popular and neighboring Cantina Dos Segundos are a tad larger, albeit $2 more expensive. El Camino Real lets you spice up your margaritas with cayenne and chili, though. But they don't do frozen margaritas, like Dos Segungo does. Ah, the margarita conundrum!
This crispy fried jalapeno popper (one of four) stuffed with cheese and topped with a sweet and tangy homemade apricot red onion marmalade, might be one of the best jalapeno poppers I've ever had. I have a thing for sweet and tangy onion marmalade, though.
That would be melted cheese in that there popper. (I keep typing "pooper.")
I blame the boy's expert enchilada-making family, but if there is an enchilada in sight, it's on his plate. Cheese, seitan, fried egg, and fried corn dough made soft with red chili sauce. What's not to like? Well, El Camino Real puts a crispy fried tortilla under all that mess adding an unexpected and desirable crunch. It's like a way, way, way better (and different) Taco Bell Double Decker.
This picture is a little deceiving, but there is a ton of locally made Ray's seitan bathed in bbq wing sauce on that plate of veggie wings. And it's not even the double order. At $7.50 for the normal order, I'd consider buying seitan from El Camino Real instead of the grocery store if I lived a bit closer. Tangy, mustardy, with a little heat, the only improvement to the wing sauce for my tastes would be to make it a tad sweeter . . . but not sickly sweet.

El Camino Real: a little bit Mexican, a little bit Texas bbq, and a whole lotta seitan.

El Camino Real
1040 N. 2nd St., Philadelphia, PA 19123
215-925-1110
Lunch: Mon-Fri, 11am-4pm
Dinner: 5pm-1am, bar til 2am
Brunch: Sat & Sun, 10am-4pm

Chicken Bog

Unless you live in or grew up in South Carolina, you're probably unaware of the state's prominent rice culture. And you've probably never heard of chicken bog, either.

The state's rice culture stems from the fact that state was once a large rice producer. The coastal region has ideal rice growing conditions, and slaves from West Africa were specifically sought out for their rice-growing knowledge and expertise.

Everyone eats rice...all the time. It's not uncommon to have rice at every supper. Plain rice, rice pilau, rice with hash, rice with stewed tomatoes and okra, rice with giblet gravy, and on and on. It's one of my favorite foods and I never tire of it.

So, what is chicken bog? It's nothing but a big ol' peppery pot of rice, chicken, and sausage cooked in chicken stock. Why is it called a bog? Because the rice is a bit wetter — boggy — than a pilau. This dish is great for gatherings because it feeds many. Sub turkey for chicken, and you've got a dish perfect for Thanksgiving leftovers. Chicken Bog
serves 4-6

To the ire of many (Hi, Dad!), I'm vegetarianizing the recipe. If you want to use meat, it's as simple as cooking chicken in water, saving the water to use as the stock, and deboning the chicken before throwing the chicken meat back in the pot. Also, use real sausage.

This recipe is based on my Granddad's recipe. Granddad was an avid beer drinker, so beer found it's way into many of his dishes. Beer is not a traditional ingredient in chicken bog, but I'm keeping the recipe true to my Granddad (well, except the whole meat thing).

1/2 stick butter
1 cup diced onion
1 pound seitan, chopped
1 pound link soy sausage, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon pepper
2 cups uncooked rice
5 cups water
1/2 can beer

• Saute diced onions in butter until onions are translucent. Then add seitan, sausage, salt and pepper and cook for a coupe minutes.
• Add rice, water, and beer to the pot. Cover pot and reduce heat to low. Cook until the rice is done, about 20-30 minutes. If mixture is too juicy, cook uncovered until reaches desired consistency. If mixture is too dry (rice absorbed all the water), add another cup of water.
  

Soy and Seitan Roast

All of the recipes on this blog are vegetarian (and sometimes vegan), but I try to post recipes that would appeal to eaters of all persuasions. This recipe, though, is a very vegetarian recipe, so look away meat-eaters and others who are appalled that people eat "meat substitutes." (Eat Me Daily reamed me a few years ago on this exact same recipe. It was hilarious.)

Instead of thinking of tofu or seitan as meat substitutes, it'd be much more open-minded of you to think of them as real food. Because that's what they are. If you can't, that's fine.

This post is more of a reference for me, because I plan on making this roast frequently. This year, I'd like to get away from buying Tofurky slices and make my own soy-seitan roasts. I managed to bake my own bread last year (except maybe three store-bought loaves), which is quite a feat considering I go through a loaf a week packing sandwiches for work every day. Now I just need to make my own sandwich innards.

This really is my favorite homemade seitan, partly because it's not really seitan. Seitan I make at home is a bit too chewy and dense (I've tried many recipes), but this recipe combines tofu, wheat gluten, and chickpea flour to make a loaf that is somewhere between the dense texture of seitan and the squishy texture of tofu.

The original recipe from Bryanna is a jumbled mess on her website, and the notes I took and posted a few years ago about my experience and alterations didn't include a written recipe, so I'm constantly clicking between the two pages in frustration. No more!

Update 11/17/10: I was recently contacted by Bryanna Clark Grogen, who requested I reiterate that the recipe posted here is an adaptation of the original recipe she had posted on her site, specifically, that my cooking directions and techniques are different than hers. If you are curious as how I came about my cooking procedure, you can check out my previous post where I discuss my experiences with the recipe.

Soy and Seitan Roast
makes 1 big honkin' loaf or 2 bread-pan-sized loaves

The recipe is as simple as mixing dry ingredients with wet ingredients to make a dough, then baking the dough in a basting liquid.

Seasonings can be adjusted to preferences, or switched out for others. Maybe maple syrup, sage, and liquid smoke for something breakfast-y next time? These freeze well, too.
Dry Ingredients

2 cups gluten flour
1/2 cup chickpea flour
1/2 cup nutritional yeast
2 teaspoons onion powder
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1/4 teaspoon black pepper

- Mix all dry ingredients in a large bowl.Wet Ingredients

15 ounces firm tofu, broken into smaller pieces
1 1/4 cup water
3 tablespoons soy sauce
1 tablespoon olive oil

- Place all wet ingredients in a blender and blend until smooth.
- Pour wet ingredients into bowl with dry ingredients and stir until incorporated.
- Turn dough out onto a clean surface and knead for 10 minutes.
- Let dough rest for 1 hour.
- Shape dough into a loaf (one large flat-ish loaf or multiple smaller loaves), and place loaf in a baking dish with plenty of room to accommodate basting liquid.
Basting Broth

2 cups vegetable broth
2 tablespoons olive oil
4 cloves crushed garlic
1-2 tablespoons fresh rosemary
1 bay leaf

- Combine all ingredients for the basting broth in a bowl.Baking Instructions

- Line a baking pan with parchment paper, than place shaped loaf in pan. Pour basting liquid over the dough in the baking dish.
- Bake in a pre-heated 350 degree oven for 1 hour 15 minutes.
- Remove dish from oven, and if there is still a lot of basting liquid left in the pan, dump out all but just a little bit of the liquid.
- Carefully flip the roast with the help of a spatula or two. Flipping the roast allows what was once the bottom of the roast to brown.
- Place the roast back in the oven, and bake for an additional 30 minutes.
- Serve immediately, or let roast cool. When roast is completely cooled, it can be wrapped in foil and frozen for later use.

Sketch

It took a little less than a year after the grand opening of Sketch, Fishtown's beloved vegan friendly burger joint, for me to get there, but I finally did. The limited hours of operation initially kept me away, but now open seven days a week for lunch through dinner, it's much easier to stop by.

The brightly colored Girard St. store front holds an equally colorful and funky interior with a long bar and stools along the wall and front window, and three large booths with church pew seats to dine at. Bored? Scrawl on the chalkboards on the wall with chalk or the construction paper on the tables with crayons. Cute, but I was not moved to artistry.

Up the ramp from the main dining room, you'll pass a chalkboard of menu items, and a chalkboard of daily special like antelope burgers, birch beer pulled pork sandwiches, and sesame noodles.

Sketch's mainstay are their sirloin beef, Kobe, turkey, vegan, chicken, and smashed onion beef burgers, but you can also grab a salad, burrito, or fries (yeah, they got rid of the cheese puffs after so many people bitched about the absence of fries). Oh, regular and vegan milkshakes are also a specialty of Sketch, and I hear they are the bomb, but I had to skip. Just don't know how anyone has room for a burger and a shake!

Mosy a few more steps, and place your order at the register, take a seat, and your order will be brought out to you. Do you tip for this service? With signs at the register and on every table suggesting you tip your server (a bit much, but I guess they've had misunderstandings), you best tip, you ingrate.I went with the vegan burger with the included toppings of tomato, lettuce, and choice of sauce -- cheese and fancier toppings cost $1 each. The falafel-like vegan burger was fine, but had an overriding Mediterranean spice (neither of us could name it, and I forgot to ask) that put me off. I was fond of the soft, toasted, challah-like onion roll and generous vegan harissa aioli (love sauce, and Sketch is the first place in a long time that did not skimp on sauce), but not the pale, out of season tomato slice. Overall, the vegan burger was just meh. I'd eat it again, but I'm not in love.My partner tried out one of the specials, a grilled seitan and vegetable sandwich with an Asian-influenced sesame sauce. This thing was massive! And not bad, even though the grilled seitan, onion, red pepper and cabbage sandwich seemed a little homey, like, "Oh, I had some leftover stir fry, lets put it on a bun." The seitan sandwich was odd, but the better of the two sandwiches.

I really, really wanted to love Sketch, since so many people do, and especially since the owner was incredibly friendly, and you could tell she poured her heart and soul into the place, but I just didn't. The food is decent, and the vibes are casual and fun, but I'm just not that into it. Philly has spoiled me.

Sketch
413 E. Girard Ave., Philadelphia, PA 19125
215-634-3466
open 7 days, 11:30am-9pm

The Abbaye

Somehow, my adventures on the veggie cheesesteak trail (see sidebar) got lost in the woods for the past seven months. But I recently laced up my wedge sandals and trekked up to The Abbaye in Northern Liberties to check out their gastropub grub, which just so happened to include a cheesesteak.
The Abbaye's seitan chees steak sandwich is filled with not-too-chewy, just-perfect, cubed seitan made in house, along with garlic aioli and Gruyere. The seitan was great, the garlic aioli was not garlicky, and the filling to bread ratio was way off. I ended up pushing the filling to one end of the sandwich and not eating the other half of the roll. I don't understand not filling a roll up. Fill 'er up and put some garlic in the sauce, and The Abbaye's cheesesteak sandwich would be my favorite cheesesteak as of yet.

I'm not a fry person (I prefer to save those calories for other things), but as far as skinny fries go, I had no complaints with The Abbaye's fries. They weren't nubbins, weren't floppy, weren't overly greasy. I ate a few, and called it good.
My partner ordered the seitan bbq plate, again, with seitan made in-house. I loved The Abbaye's bbq sauce - tart, tangy, slightly spicy, and not too sweet. The bbq sauce is like the best of tomato, mustard, and vinegar bbq sauces all in one.

The coleslaw is another story. See all those red specks in the slaw? How about all the pepper seeds? Click to enlarge if you must.

This was the spiciest, hottest coleslaw I've ever eaten. I like hot food, but coleslaw is not supposed to light a fire in your mouth; it's a cooling food. Underneath the hot pepper was what seemed like a pure vinegar base. The coleslaw went uneaten, except for the forkfuls we kept eating in pure disbelief that someone made coleslaw so spicy. I'm sure some will love this spicy rendition, but it should come with a warning.

The seitan bbq plate came with fries, and a few spears of asparagus that seemed like an afterthought, but we should all eat more asparagus.

On my next visit, here's what I would love: a half-sandwich filled -- filled -- with their awesome cheesesteak seitan, and another half-sandwich filled with their tangy bbq seitan. Oh, and a few asparagus spears on the side.

The Abbaye
637 N. 3rd. St., Philadelphia, PA 19123
215-627-6711

It's Unofficially Summer...

Pulled "pork" barbecue sandwich and coleslaw!!

And I’m officially happy! Summer rules, and this is why…

skirts, tank tops, flip-flops, high humidity, sweaty arms, ice cream, grilling, veggie kabobs, white wine, lemonade, glass condensation, late night bike rides, river-wading, swimming, Frisbee, the beach, bare feet, smell of sunblock, picnics, shenanigans, watermelon seed-spitting, garage sales, Slip-n-Slide, coleslaw, porch-sitting, thunderstorms, tree-climbing, hammocks, water guns, game of spotlight, warm nights, long days, gardenias, trampolines, fireworks, homegrown tomatoes, fireflies, spontaneous car trips…

Fakin' It Like A Local

Everyone proudly yammers on about eating locally produced food. Well, here are a couple of local foods expressly for the fake-meat lovin’ vegans in the Pennsylvania area.

When friends told us about Ray’s Seitan, a locally produced seitan that they buy in bulk off the back of a truck in some sort of illicit street deal, I wanted a hook-up. First, they said to go to Essene, my regular Queen Village health food store , to buy a container to see if I like it (also sold at Whole Foods and elsewhere). Pushers!

Yes, I do like it! Can I get five kilos street side, ‘cause $4.49 a tub is pricey compared to the canned Chinese blow I’ve been getting.

If you’re not from Pennsylvania (I’m not), you probably have no idea what scrapple is. Let's just say it’s pig parts and cornmeal, usually sliced and fried up for breakfast. Kinda like liver mush if you’re from the South (eaten it!), or pâté if you’re French (eaten it, too!). Ain’t never had scrapple, don’t know what it’s supposed to taste like, but the PA people love it.

Vrapple, a locally made vegan version of scrapple, surprised the hell out of me flavor-wise (this is a good thing). It’s subtly sweet and nicely spiced – like a spicy sausage with a bit of maple syrup mixed in. The texture is a bit grainy from the cornmeal. Is this what scrapple is supposed to taste like?

I would not be mad if all the Philly brunch spots decided to get PA-proud and vegan/veggie vigilant and offered Ray’s Seitan and Vrapple on their menus.

Soy and Seitan Turkey

Remember Tofu Brain? How about The Brain of Seitan? It’s turkey time again, and I’m experimenting with another faux turkey recipe. This year it's Bryanna’s soy and seitan turkey. It’s like Tofu Brain and The Brain of Seitan got together and had a baby brain. Mmm…brains!

Tofu Brain was too tofu-mushy. The Brain of Seitan was pretty damn good, albeit a little salty, but that’s easy to fix. I’ve had my eye on Bryanna Grogan’s soy and seitan turkey since this time last year, but was saving up the experiment for Thanksgiving. I wish I had hopped on this recipe earlier. (Update: here's the recipe with step-by-step instructions.)

I will tell you about my experience, and things I would (and did) do differently. The first time I made the recipe was sort of a disaster. Mid-crisis, I ran to the faux-meat-friendly Post Punk Kitchen forums to see if any one else was having the same problems. Many people had success, with only a few not so lucky. I soldiered on. The end product was fabulous, despite my crisis.Clockwise from to left: Tofu smoothie (a.k.a. wet ingredients), very wet dough, dough covered with broth, dough before being covered with broth.

First Attempt

• The recipe calls for 12 ounces of firm tofu. Every package I pick up is 15 ounces. I’m not tossing 3 ounces, so included it. This may have lead to my problem?
• My dough was very wet. I added more gluten, chickpea flour, and nutritional yeast. It was still wet. Afraid I’d make a heavy dough bomb, I quit adding more dry ingredients, and carried on.
• Bryanna’s directions give options for kneading the dough. She feels that kneading the dough is difficult, so suggests a mixer or a bread machine. I tried the bread machine since I had one. It works, but you have to clean it afterward!
• Poured the broth over the loaves and covered with foil. Stuck them in the oven at 200° (preheated first to 350° like her directions say) for three hours. Two hours into the baking, I take a peek. It looks just like the wet loaves covered in liquid that I put in two hours ago. No! This is not going to work.
• Poured off the liquid (saved it), left the loaves uncovered, and cranked the oven to 350°. Baked for about an hour, flipping a few times to get all sides brown (parchment paper really helps in flipping), and basting when the loaf dried out a bit.
• Turned out great despite the gooey, wet-loaf crisis. So good, in fact, I did it again.

And on the second day, she made brains.

Second Attempt

• Still used all 15 ounces of tofu.
• Used ¼ cup less water in tofu smoothie.
• Dry and wet ingredients actually formed a dough, and not a wet mass.
• Kneaded by hand. I’m no wimp, and neither are you.
• Baked uncovered at 350° for 1 hour 15 minutes. Then flipped a few times over the next 30 minutes to get the surfaces brown. (Total cooking time 1 hour 45 minutes)
• Turned out great, and took less baking time!

The lesson here is that no matter how wet your loaf is, just bake it dry. The proportion of gluten, flour, nutritional yeast, tofu, and seasonings makes a perfect loaf. The water content may vary (tofu drained or not, more or less water), but you can bake that off.

I eat a ton (about two packages a week!) of Tofurkey deli slices on sandwiches and rolled up for snacks. Tofurkey is my favorite deli slice, and I think that Bryanna’s loaf is just as good - that's why I made it a second time, and I'll make it again!

I love the texture of this loaf – firmer than tofu, but not as chewy and heavy as baked seitan. The flavor is turkey-like, and certainly open to experimentation and personalization. Bryanna's loaf does slice up thinly (not as thin as Tofurkey slices, but maybe if you had a deli slicer), and is perfect for sandwiches. Thanksgiving, too! Put some gravy on it.

Seitan (and this tofu seitan turkey) really is better the next day after it has firmed up. Make this loaf at least a day before Thanksgiving so it can set, and reheat in the oven before serving. Making ahead also allows you to not completely freak out if you have doubts about the end results like I did the first time.

Persian Layered Seitan Polo

Last week I made Spanish paella, and this week I made Persian polo. I’m on a one-dish rice kick it seems, which suits me just fine as a single diner. No one to impress with multiple courses, I can curl up with one bowl by myself.

Polo is an Iranian rice dish traditionally including cinnamon, turmeric, other aromatic spices, and dried fruits. Meat is optional, but fish, chicken and lamb are the most common proteins. Variations of polo have made it to other regions and have been renamed. In India, you’ll find “pulao” on menus, in Morocco, “pilaf”, and in Spain, the distant relative “paella.” I'm guessing that the Southern "purloo" stems from these dishes, as well.

I stumbled upon a recipe for Persian polo searching randomly through cookbooks for dinner. I don’t think I’ve ever had a rice dish with the name polo attached to it. I’ve certainly have had pulao, pilaf, paella, and purloo, so I knew sort of what I was in store for. This dish surpassed my expectations with the meaty seitan really rounding out the dish into a meal, the prunes and apricots bursting with sweetness, and the cinnamon and onions leaving my house smelling like Thanksgiving dinner.

Persian Layered Seitan Polo
Adapted from a recipe in The Essential Rice Cookbook
Serves 4

1/2 stick butter or margarine
1 onion, finely chopped
20 ounces seitan, cut into chunks
1/2 teaspoon turmeric
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
salt and pepper
1/2 cup pitted prunes, coarsely chopped
1/2 cup dried apricots, coarsely chopped
2 cups spinach, blanched
2 cups basmati or long grain rice

• In a large saucepan, melt 1/4 stick of butter over medium heat. Add onion and cook for 5 minutes. Add seitan, turmeric, cinnamon, salt and pepper to taste, prunes, and apricots, then pour in enough water to cover the seitan. Cover and simmer over low heat, stirring occasionally. Let the seitan stew simmer while preparing the rice.
• Meanwhile, in a medium pot, bring 3 3/4 cups of water with remaining 1/4 stick of butter and pinch of salt to a boil. Add 2 cups of rice. Return to a boil, cover, turn heat to low and simmer for 10-15 minutes. Then turn off burner, keeping lid on, and steam for another 5-10 minutes, or until rice is tender.
• In a large, heavy-based casserole dish or pan with a lid, spread half of the rice over the bottom of the dish, top with spinach, then stewed seitan, and finally the remaining rice. If the rice is dry add a few tablespoons of water. Cover with the lid and steam over low heat for 20 minutes, or until the rice is tender and has absorbed some of the juices from the stewed seitan.

Sweet Loaf

This comic* has been brought to you by the Seitan O' Greatness recipe over at Post Punk Kitchen and the Butthole Surfers' song, Sweet Loaf.

*I've been out of work for two days because of the rain. I got bored, I baked, I played with food, and conjured up high school memories. I hope the rain stops soon.

Favorite Asian Market Mock Meats

Asian markets are amazing! The variety of mock meats, alone, is astounding. And prices for mock meats are generally less than half of what you’d pay at a regular or natural food store. Here are my favorite picks:


At the market, you’ll find all forms of tofu: fresh, baked, fried, puffed, string, dried, and seasoned. My favorite form to pick up at the Asian market is fried tofu. Save yourself from cutting, pressing, and frying fresh tofu, and just pick up a package of fried tofu. Go ahead and join the legions of lazies.

Seitan is generally found in cans at Asian market. Oh, and there are lots of them - vegetarian abalone, vegetarian pork, vegetarian chicken, and vegetarian duck are just a few of the styles. They’re all a little different in taste and texture. I’ve found that I like the vegetarian chicken and the vegetarian duck. What I like the most is that a 10-ounce can currently costs $1.49 at my market - super cheap compared to buying White Wave at the natural food store.

The most entertaining section is the frozen food aisle. Amongst the more mundane veggie hot dogs and chicken nuggets, you’ll find packages of mock meats in the style and shape of fish, eel, shrimp, whole chickens, logs of ham, lobster, and just about anything you can imagine. (Vegetarian ear, anyone?) This is where I suggest open-minded experimentation, but be forewarned that some are weird.

There are some gems, though. My absolute, all-time favorite mock meat buy at the Asian market are the frozen packets of Citrus Spareribs from May Wah in NY. These soy-based nuggets don't look exactly like spare ribs (check the intro picture), but have an exceptionally chewy texture, making them more meat-like than most mock meats. The sauce is the best part, though. It’s spicy and sweet - similar to the sauce on general Tso’s chicken or sparerib bbq sauce. (Imagine that!) Slosh some water around the empty package to make use of all the sauce, add to your stir fry, and you’re golden.

Thai-Style Chicken Soup

The Thai-style chicken soup featured in the Jan/Feb 2007 issue of Cook's Illustrated Magazine is my new favorite soup! I’ve made it three times already! (Well, my partner made it twice, and I made it once.)

Mushrooms and chicken (seitan) swim in the rich, creamy, coconut-based broth infused with lemon grass and lime. Red curry paste and chiles add a pleasant spiciness.

The first time we made the soup, we followed the recipe to a tee, with the exception of substituting vegetable broth for chicken broth, seitan for chicken, and soy sauce for fish sauce to make the dish vegetarian.

The second time, we added thin rice noodles to the soup for bulk.

The third time, we added rice. We also substituted low-fat coconut milk for whole coconut milk, and green curry paste for red curry paste.

I liked the addition of rice the best. Low-fat coconut milk is obviously not as rich as whole coconut milk, but does not compromise the soup. Pick your favorite curry paste. I have no preference for green or red curry paste, so enjoyed them both equally.

Thai-Style Chicken Soup
Adapted from Cook’s Illustrated
serves 4

1 teaspoon vegetable oil
3 lemon grass stalks, bottom tender 5 inches halved lengthwise and sliced thinly
3 shallots, chopped
8 sprigs of cilantro, chopped coarsely
3 tablespoons soy sauce (originally fish sauce)
4 cups vegetable broth (originally chicken broth)
2 (14-ounce) cans coconut milk
1 tablespoon sugar
½ pound button mushrooms, sliced
1 pound seitan, sliced or cubed (originally boneless, skinless chicken breast)
3 tablespoons lime juice
2 teaspoons Thai red curry paste

Garnish
½ cup cilantro leaves
2 serrano chiles, thinly sliced
2 scallion, thinly sliced
1 lime, cut into wedges

• Heat oil in a large saucepan and add lemon grass, shallots, cilantro, and 1 tablespoon of soy sauce. Cook over medium heat until softened, 2-5 minutes.
• Add vegetable broth and 1 can of coconut milk; bring to a simmer. Cover, reduce heat to low, and simmer for 10 minutes.
• Pour broth through a fine-mesh sieve and discard solids. Return broth to saucepan.
• Add remaining can of coconut milk and sugar to broth and bring to a simmer.
• Reduce heat to medium, add mushrooms, and cook 2-3 minutes.
• Add seitan, and cook for another 1-3 minutes. Remove from heat.
• Combine lime juice, curry paste, and remaining 2 tablespoons soy sauce in a small bowl; add to soup.
• Garnish individual soup-filled bowls with cilantro, chiles, and scallions. Serve soup with lime wedges.

Seitan Turkey

After last year’s tofu turkey left us wanting something meatier, we tried making a similar concoction, but with seitan. So, here we go...


I'd heard good things about VWaV seitan, so I made a batch. I turned the gluten dough out, and, great mother of God, if it didn't have fully developed left and right hemispheres!


Then I followed these procedures to make a turkey loaf. Press the dough out to form a rectagle.




Wrap the slab of dough in cheesecloth, covering the bottom, top, and edges. This is so the dough will not stick to itself when rolled up.





Roll dough, and tie loosely with string to allow for expansion.




Go back to the VWaV recipe and boil as directed - drop in cold water or broth, bring to a boil, simmer for 1 hour, and cool in broth for 30 minutes.





Pull it out of the broth. Ooow, it expanded! Slightly.




Unroll the seitan and remove the cheesecloth. Crap! The seitan fell apart. There went my plan to make a roulade.





So, I just slapped it on top of the stuffing and tucked in the edges. Oh yeah, make about 2 cups of your favorite stuffing.





To immitate the texture of turkey skin, use those crazy-large sheets of yuba. I used frozen, so no need to hydrate the dried form.


Cut the yuba to fit your turkey and tuck the edges in. Use one or multiple layers of yuba, brushing each layer with butter or oil. I used two layers of yuba.



Glaze that baby! I made an impromptu glaze from tomato paste, orange marmalade, garlic, soy sauce, and something else? Use your favorite glaze.


Bake at 350 º for 1 hour. Slice it, serve it, and you should get something similar to the very first photo in this post.





Thoughts
*Whoa! That seitan was salty! I followed the VWaV seitan recipe, which calls for soy sauce in the dough and soy sauce in the simmering broth. I opted for vegetable broth instead of water in the simmering broth. That was salt on salt on salt. Next time I'd skip the vegetable broth or use a no-sodium vegetable broth.

*Yuba! You're such a funny little guy. You feel like plastic and taste like nothing, hence I can mold you into what ever I want. The yuba picked up the flavor from the glaze and was given a nod by a meat-eater. Meat-eater said it was chewy just like real skin. I didn't give it a nod because it doesn't stick to the seitan like real skin. Cut the turkey and the skin slides all over the place. I'd use yuba again as turkey skin if I could glue it down. Don't know how, though.

*Otherwise, this year's turkey was good.

Next Year
I'm going to try Bryanna's soy and seitan turkey. This woman has devoted her life to fake meats and probably has this one down. I saw this recipe after I had my plans, but could not bring myself to abandon mission. Must. Follow. Through.

Have a lovely Thanksgiving!