"What is this "seitan?" Is it anything like tofu?"
Hi! I am answering some old posts that I missed. Sorry for the delay. I know you couldn't wait another minute to find out what seitan is, anyway! It sounds kind of weird, but was invented over a thousand years ago (see history below). White Wave makes chicken flavored seitan that makes delicious chicken pot pie. It is the only seitan dish I have every cooked, but I think it would make really good Chinese cashew seitan over rice, also. Too bad I don't feel like cooking!Here is their website, in case anyone wants to try something different.
What I have always wondered is how chicken flavoring can be made without harming any chickens:
whitewave.com
From Temple Food to Tasty Alternative
In 7th century China, vegetarian Buddhist monks, unwilling to give up the flavors and textures of Chinese cuisine, searched for ways to make a substantial vegetarian protein. After developing tofu, they continued trying to develop something with a firmer texture and a more satisfying chew. Many parts of China grew wheat, so they began by making a simple dough from wheat flour and water. While kneading the dough in a tub full of cold water, they noticed the starch extracted into the water; as they kneaded, more and more starch clouded the water. What finally remained was a chewy substance that was 70%-80% pure protein or "gluten".
After simmering this protein-rich wheat dough in a flavored broth for a number of hours, they had a grain meat that had a firm texture. It could be ground and flavored like traditional Chinese sausage. It could also shaped and flavored like chicken, beef, ham, or shrimp, or sliced and stir-fried or grilled. Today, the Chinese call this grain meat "Mien Ching," or "Buddha's Food," after the vegetarian Buddhist monks that created the recipe. Chinese cuisine has always used gluten to create vegetarian editions of traditional meat-based Chinese dishes, including sausages, shrimps, ham, beef, etc.
The Japanese Connection
By way of the spread of Buddhism, Mien Ching traveled across the sea to Japan, where it was taken in a different direction by Japanese cooks. They took what the Chinese had developed and added their own culinary twist to it. The Japanese simmered the Mien Ching in a broth made from shoyu (soy sauce), kombu (sea vegetable), and ginger. The traditional Japanese name for wheat gluten is "fu". In the 1960's in Japan George Ohsawa, the founder of macrobiotics called it "Seitan," which means "wheat simmered in shoyu". This special broth added flavor and a savory base to this new and different grain meat. In the Japanese tradition, wheat meat is used more as a unique ingredient, rather than a replacement in meat recipes.
ellenskitchen.com |
