Seitan Tikka Masala

It’s been a very hectic month or so here, and while I have been managing to feed us and keep us eating well, I was challenged to find the time to share those recipes with all of you.  Finally I’ve managed to come up for air, and what I have for you today is my favorite dish to come out of my kitchen recently … and the lovely thing is that it actually came off of our grill and, if I am not mistaken, this comes at a good time for all you who live in more temperate climates.  I am hoping that these early days of spring are bringing you all warmer weather, and a recipe for the grill is a perfect excuse to get outside and dine alfresco.

This recipe combines some of my favorite things: Indian food, kabobs, seitan, grilling, and eating outdoors.  Whip yourself up a batch and, while you’re standing over grill, smile at the fact that you are participating in a act of converting the tried and true conveyor of barbecue and seared meat products into  atrue blue vegan grillin’ machine.  Then, as you sit outside with a cool breeze at your back and you enjoy these kabobs with friends and family, hopefully you’ll be basking in the thought that “life is good.”  While you’re at it, grill up a batch of naan to serve along side your tikka masala.

This recipe was adapted from the cookbook The Food of India.

Enjoy!

Seitan Tikka

½ tbsp paprika
1 tsp chili powder
2 tbsp garam masala
1 ½ tbsp lemon juice
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 tbsp ginger, grated
½ cup cilantro leaves
1 6 oz container plain soy yogurt

1 batch seitan dough (I used the simple seitan recipe in Veganomicon)

1.    Blend all marinade ingredients in a food processor or a high speed blender until smooth.  Season with salt to taste.

2.    Cut the seitan dough into bite sized chunks.  Place these into a bowl with the marinade and mix thoroughly.  Cover and marinade for 6-8 hours.

3.    Set your grill to medium heat/flame or heat your oven to 400F.  Grill, covered, for 10 minutes per side or roast on an oven rack above a baking tray for 15-20 minutes.

Seitan Tikka Masala

1 tbsp canola oil
1 onion, finely chopped
¼ tsp cardamom
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 14oz can crushed tomatoes
¼ tsp ground cinnamon
1 tbsp garam masala
½ tsp chili powder
1 tsp brown sugar
1 14oz can coconut milk
1 tbsp ground almonds

1 recipe seitan tikka

1 tbsp chopped cilantro leaves for garnish

1.    Heat the oil in  dutch oven or heavy sauce pan over medium heat.  Add the onion and sauté until lightly browned.  Add the cardamom and garlic and cook for 1 minute, then add the tomtoes and cook until the sauce thickens (about 5 minutes).

2.    Add the cinnamon, garam masala, chili powder, and sugar to the sauce and cook for 1 minute.  Stir in the coconut milk and almonds, then add the cooked seitan tikka.  Gently simmer for 30 minutes.  Garnish with the chopped cilantro.

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Passover Seder

When I was younger, I wanted to be Jewish.

My friends all attended Hebrew school in the evenings or on the weekends. Every summer they all went away to co-ed summer camp run by the Jewish Community Center. (I was shipped off every summer to an all girls’ Christian camp.)  My friends all attended JCC dances, and they all practiced and perfected their Hebrew for their Bar and Bat Mitzvahs.

All of my crushes wore yarmulkes.

It all started in the second grade when I was pulled out of Catholic School. The school I had been attending, St. Peter’s, was close to my neighborhood and my mom would walk me there and drop me off on her way to work downtown. I spent those years wishing I was Catholic, instead of Presbyterian. Presbyterian seemed so dull to me – no wafers, no wine, so mysterious little closet into which you would disappear and spill all of your secrets. Eventually, however, the wish to be Catholic was borne out of a sheer survival instinct. Once a week after religion class we would all be marched into the church adjoining our school, where we would be filled with the fear of hell fire and brimstone for our damned souls if we did not take communion, confirmation and confession to redeem ourselves. Once communion began, those few of us who were unfortunate enough to have not been born Catholic would be plucked out of the pews and sent back to an empty classroom to sit with an aide because this part of church was for Catholics only. There we would idly sit, waiting for those gaining redemption (or, more accurately, at that age watching others taking part in said redemption but were by association being redeemed, as well) to return to sit amongst us who remained sinners. I began to imagine my sins emanating from me like a bright pulsating light as I sat amongst all of my more pure classmates. As I began to get more and more concerned about our souls, public school suddenly seemed like a much preferable option to my mother.

Rather than enrolling me in the neighborhood public school, my mom camped out for several nights to secure me a spot in a magnet program at Linden Elementary, all the way across town. Each day my little short bus pulled up to my door in my gentile neighborhood of Fineview on the north side of Pittsburgh to take me to school in Point Breeze, which, with neighboring Squirrel Hill, was comprised of a large Jewish population. Straight away I became fast friends with Lena (who has made appearances on the blog in the past, such as here, here, and here) and we began to share our holidays with one another – I would make her little Easter baskets with chocolate eggs and wrap up trinkets in Christmas paper, and she would bring me Slush Puppies for Hanukkah (not particularly Jewish, to my knowledge, but delicious and appreciated, nonetheless) and flourless treats for Passover. I think she may have actually brought me matza one year, which eased the sting of having to eat chocolate bunnies instead of Passover fare.

This year, when I saw that Lena’s visit would occur during Passover, I couldn’t resist planning a vegan Seder. With Lena as consultant, we planned a menu of matzo ball soup, seitan pot roast brisket, and a flourless chocolate hazelnut torte. Lena was enthusiastically and adventurously on board with this plan; others, however, were a bit more dubious … which only added fuel to the vegan fire.

The matzo ball soup was made using the recipe from Vegan With a Vengeance, which is incredible – light, fluffy, delicious balls of matzo floating in a rich sea of vegetable broth. For the seitan recipe that is used in the pot roast brisket, I adapted Vegan Yum Yum’s adaptations of the now famous on the web Seitan O’ Greatness. Finally, for the chocolate hazelnut torte, I adapted a Passover dessert recipe of Martha Stewart’s.

I must admit that it was with slight trepidation that I served the seitan brisket. I felt fairly confident that it would turn out fine, but it really was a shot in the dark. Happily, it turned out better than fine – it was delicious, as was the torte. The brisket was so good that we packed it up the next day and took it on a picnic lunch in the form of sandwiches when we went upcountry to Kula to play frisbee golf.

I apologize for posting this Passover menu well after the fact this year, but be sure to bookmark this post and return to it for next year! (I also apologize for the subpar indoor photos .. there was no way to wait until the light of day to capture the moment!)

Seitan Pot Roast Brisket

4 cups vital wheat gluten
2 1/2 tsp salt
5 tbs nutritional yeast
2 1/2 tsp smoked paprika
2 1/2 cup water
5 tbs olive oil
2 1/2 tsp mustard
2 1/2 tbs soy sauce

1 yellow onion, sliced
8-10 red potatoes, diced
3-4 carrots, diced
5-6 garlic cloves
2 cups faux beef bouillon (I used Vegetarian Better Than Bouillon No Beef Base)
1 tbsp Italian herb blen

1. Preheat the oven to 375F. Mix the dry ingredients together until well combined. Mix the wet ingredients together. Add wet to dry and knead the dough for a few minutes. Let it rest for 3-5 minutes.

2. Form the dough into a pot roast loaf shape. Wrap the loaf up tightly in aluminum foil. Bake for 60 minutes. Remove and let cool.

3. Turn oven temperature up to 420F. Lightly spray a roasting pan (or, in my case, a large glass casserole dish) with cooking oil. Place seitan brisket loaf into the center of the pan. With a sharp knife, slice several shallow (appx. 1/2-3/4” deep) lines across the loaf for a more “realistic” brisket appearance.

4. Arrange the potatoes, carrots, onion, and garlic cloves evenly around the seitan loaf (its ok if some crown on top of it.) Pour the no beef bouillon over all of it, and then sprinkle with the Italian herb blend.

5. Tightly cover the dish with aluminum foil and bake until the vegetables are tender, appx 30-40 minutes.

6. To serve: arrange a slice of brisket on a plate with some of the roasted vegetables, spoon some broth over, garnish with salt, pepper, and parsley. Enjoy!

Chocolate Hazelnut Torte
Adapted from Martha Stewart’s Chocolate Torte with Passover Fudge Glaze

1 1/3 cups whole hazelnuts
3/4 cup Earth Balance, melted
3/4 cup cocoa powder, plus more for pan
1/3 cup matzo cake meal
¾ cup vanilla soy yogurt
1/2 cup packed light-brown sugar
Pinch of salt
1/2 cup superfine sugar

1 cup confectioner’s sugar, sifted
3 tbsp orange juice
1 tbsp melted Earth Balance

Flaked coconut

1. Heat oven to 350 degrees. Line a baking pan with parchment, and spread hazelnuts on top. Bake until fragrant and toasted, about 10 minutes. Place nuts in a clean kitchen towel, and rub to remove loose skins. Place 1/3 cup nuts in bowl of food processor, and pulse until finely ground; reserve. Roughly chop remaining 1 cup nuts, and set aside.

2. Lightly oil a 9-inch round cake pan with margarine; dust with cocoa powder and sprinkle in the chopped hazelnuts.

3. Whisk together remaining 3/4 cup cocoa powder, ground hazelnuts, matzo meal, and salt; set aside.

4. Use a handheld mixer to beat the soy yogurt and sugars together until well blended. Slowly mix in the dry ingredients until well incorporated.

5. Pour batter into the prepared pan and bake until a wooden skewer inserted in the middle of the cake comes out clean, approx. 35-45 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack to cool.

6. Prepare glaze by whisking all ingredients together and pour over the cake.  Cover with flaked coconut.  Slice and serve.

The next day: picnic lunch

 

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Happy St. Patrick’s Day!

 

 

 

St. Patrick’s Day could be summed up as such for me: finding new and interesting ways of using Guinness in the kitchen. (I posted this without the knowledge that Guinness is not, in fact, vegan (thank you, Romina!)  For more on this, please read the comments for this post … and, for you vegans, here is a link to a list of vegan beers to help you find an alternative to Guinness) For the last couple of years I’ve rested on the laurels of Guinness Chocolate Cupcakes, which probably would have made yet another appearance this year had I not still been in sugar overload recovery from Dan’s birthday a week ago. This year I decided that I wanted to make something more savory, so I researched different traditional Irish entrees and quickly came to realize that the culinary influences from the Emerald Isle have not made their way into my cooking. Colcannon, corned beef and cabbage, corned beef hash, and even shepherd’s pie are all strangers to my kitchen. After careful consideration, I finally settled upon a Guinness and beef stew recipe from the Food Network and a brown Irish soda bread recipe from Cooking Light to veganize (the shepherd’s pie will just have to wait). Below I have copied the recipes directly from their origins and edited them to reflect my adaptations. These two recipes make a wonderful and satisfying dinner for any night, not just St. Patty’s Day, so eat up!

Erin Go Bragh!

Seitan and Guinness Stew
Adapted from Food Network

2 cups seitan, coarsely chopped
1 ½ tbsp olive oil
2 tbsp flour
Salt & pepper
Pinch of cayenne
1 onion, coarsely chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
2 tbsp tomato paste, mixed with 4 tbsp water
1 ½ cups Guinness
3 carrots, large dice
2 Yukon gold potatoes, large dice
1 sprig thyme
Chopped parsley, for garnish

1. Toss the seitan with ½ tablespoon of the oil. In a small bowl, season the flour with salt, pepper, and cayenne. Toss the seitan with the seasoned flour.

2. Heat the remaining 1 tablespoon of oil in a Dutch oven over high heat. Brown the seitan for five minutes. Reduce the heat, add the onions, crushed garlic and tomato paste mixture to the pot, cover, and cook gently for 5 minutes.

3. Pour the Guinness into the pot. Bring the Guinness to a boil, then add the carrots, potatoes, and thyme leaves. Stir and adjust seasonings.

4. Cover the pot and simmer over low heat for 1 ½ hours. Garnish with parsley and serve.

Brown Irish Soda Bread
Adapted from Cooking Light2 cups whole wheat flour
1 ¼ cup all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons brown sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon caraway seeds
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons chilled Earth Balance butter, cut into small pieces
1 1/4 cups soymilk, mixed with 1 ¼ tbsp apple cider vinegar1. Preheat oven to 350°. Mix the vinegar with the soymilk and set aside. Lightly spoon flours into a dry measuring cup; level with a knife. Combine whole wheat flour and next 6 ingredients (whole wheat flour through salt) in a large bowl; cut in Earth Balance butter with a pastry blender or 2 knives. Make a well in center of flour mixture; add the soymilk mixture. Stir just until moist.2. Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface; knead lightly 5 or 6 times. Pat dough into an 8-inch circle on a baking sheet lightly coated with cooking spray. Using a sharp knife, score dough by making 2 lengthwise cuts 1/4 inch deep across the top of the loaf to form an X. Bake at 350° for 35 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool on a wire rack. Cut into 12 wedges.

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