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nn”Say-tan”, “see-tun”, “say-tawn”, pronounced any which way, this super versatile wheat meat is my favorite of the faux meats out there (with tempeh a very close second). After some seitan sticker shock at the grocery store, I decided making my own was the way to go. I’ve tried steaming & boiling, but by far, baking is the simplest and has the best texture.nnFor this particular batch of seitan I am making Indian tinged bbq’d kabobs so I went that route with my flavorings:nn1.5 C – vital wheat glutennn3-4 TB – nutritional yeastnn1 tsp – saltnn1 tsp – paprikann1 tsp – garam masalann1.5 tsp – cuminnn1 tsp – peppernn2 tsp – curry powdernndash of cayennenn1 C –  waternn3 TB tomato pastenn2 TB ketchupnn1 TB tamari or soynn2 TB vegetarian Worcestershire saucennDash of liquid smokenn2 cloves of crushed garlic (you can leave this out mom)nn-Preheat oven at 325. Mix dry ingredients together in a large bowl. In a separate bowl, whisk wet ingredients. Combine wet & dry and knead until thoroughly mixed (it’s possible this may feel a little dry or a little wet, if so, no biggie. Just add a tablespoon more of water or gluten until it feels right). Continue kneading for a few minutes into the tube formation you see above. Wrap in tin foil as shown. Bake for 1.5 hours, flipping halfway through. When done, remove & open carefully, as I have had a puff of steam ‘explode’ from the wrapping and it was kind of terrifying. Let cool and slice according to how you plan to use. Cubes are great for kabobs & stews, thins strips are perfect for mock Philly cheesesteaks, gyros or fajitas, sausages shapes for uhhh, sausage. You get it. Or, simply freeze for later.nnSome notes…nn*It’s always good to double, triple even quadruple the recipe. So easy to just make a big batch of tubes in one shot and toss them in the freezer for later use. Just make sure that after you mix the wet & dry ingredients you immediately separate into individual logs. If you knead all at once it is hella tough to break apart later.nn*You can totally customize the flavor. Besides the wheat gluten & water everything is basically just for taste. Like I mentioned, I wanted a Indian flavored seitan here, but say you wanted to chop it up and add it to lasagna, you could flavor with oregano & basil for an Italian feel. Or, seitan is awesome in Asian stir fries, so you could do a ginger flavored version. You get the point, you can totally play with the flavor.nnI’ll post about the kabobs I used this for soon.nnLet me know how it turns out if you try yourself!nn

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