I have been vegan for over three years and in that time I have only made one or two seitan recipes.
If you are not familiar with seitan (pronounced “say-tan”) it is a traditional Japanese food made by rinsing the starch away from wheat and retaining the protein.
You are left with a meat-like texture and it can taste like many different things depending on how you season it.
Seitan is low in fat and high in protein. As a matter of fact, the protein in seitan is similar to beef with approximately 16 grams of protein per 3 1/2 ounce serving. That is twice the amount of protein in tofu.
It is also a good source of iron and Vitamin B, so it really makes sense for me to use it more. The problem was that the few times I tried it, I thought it tasted rubbery.
But as I found out, it is all about preparation.
This time I tried a three part process of marinating the seitan, browning the seitan and then baking the seitan. I know that sounds like a lot of work, but it sounds harder than it actually was.
This preparation brought out a really nice texture and yummy flavors. I used a brand called Upton's Naturals because it is 100% vegan and non-GMO. It is available in most Whole Foods stores.
Oh and just a heads up, this tasted delicious fresh but I did not like it as a left-over at all. Hope you enjoy this Asian seating salad as much as I did. Sign up here to receive all of Ordinary Vegan's free recipes.
Asian Seitan Salad with Rice Noodles & Lime Vinaigrette
- 6 tablespoons fresh lime juice
- 6 tablespoons rice vinegar
- 2 teaspoons maple syrup
- 2 teaspoons chopped Japanese pickled ginger (or 1 teaspoon fresh minced)
- 1 teaspoon chili oil (or more to taste)
- sprinkling of cayenne pepper
- Salt & Pepper to taste
- 3 tablespooons low sodium organic soy sauce
- 2 tablespoons apple juice (or apple cider vinegar)
- 2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
- 1 teaspoon maple syrup
- 1 clove of garlic, chopped
- 1 teaspoon minced ginger
- 6-8 ounces chopped bite size pieces seitan (I used used non-gmo Uptons traditional seitan)
- ¼ cup vegetable broth
- 4 cups of crisp chopped lettuce
- ½ cup mushrooms, sliced and blanched
- ½ cup red bell pepper, sliced and blanched
- ½ cup green beans, cut in half and blanched
- ¼ cup sliced water chestnuts
- 1 small cucumber, peeled and sliced
- 1 red fresno chili, chopped (optional)
- 4 scallions, thinly sliced for topping
- 8 ounce package of rice noodles (or noodles of your choice)
- Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees.
- Whisk together all the ginger lime dressing ingredients and set aside.
- Whisk together all the seitan marinade ingredients except for the ¼ cup of vegetable broth. Place the seitan in the marinade, turn to coat, and set aside.
- Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Place steamer over the top, cover and steam the green beans, red pepper and mushrooms for 3-5 minutes. They should still have a bite but not taste raw.
- Remove from steamer. Turn off the heat of the boiling water. Add the rice noodles, cover and set aside for 10 minutes. Drain under cold running water.
- Remove the seitan from the marinade, reserving the extra marinade. Heat a nonstick ovenproof pan, add the seitan and brown on all sides.
- Mix the veggie broth with the extra marinade and pour over seitan. Bake in the oven for 15 minutes.
- Arrange by mixing the salad greens with a tablespoon of dressing and divide the greens onto four plates. Toss the cooked noodles with half the dressing. Arrange the noodles, seitan and all the vegetables on the greens, Drizzle with the remaining dressing. Garnish with scallions and chopped red fresno chili.
I’m very much looking forward to trying this! THANK YOU for the extra info on getting the best flavor from Seitan. I’ve seen vague mention of doing things to it before using it and I believe that will really help in the future!