Drunken Seitan with Green Rice

I hope it's true that alcohol burns off when it is cooked--otherwise I just served my sons the most awesome meal of their young lives. This is a delicious sweet and tangy dish--serve it with warm tortillas to mop up the juices. Since we will be eating the leftovers tomorrow, I will post the rice recipe then.

INGREDIENTS

- 1 cup of raisins

- 1/2 cup sherry

- 1 cup all purpose flour

- 1/2 tsp each salt and pepper

- 6 tbsp oil

- 8 medium pieces of "chicken" seitan

- 1 onion, thinly sliced

- 3 garlic cloves, minced

- 2 Granny Smith apples, peeled, cored, and diced

- 1 cup sliced almonds

- 1 small plantain, very thinly sliced

- 1 1/2 cups vegetable stock

- 1 cup tequila

METHOD:

1. Put raisins and sherry in a small bowl and set aside.

2. Heat oil in very large saucepan. Add salt and pepper to flour in a large bowl. Dredge seitan pieces, then fry on both sides in oil until golden brown and crispy. Set aside.

3. Add onion and garlic to the oil and fry for 5 minutes. Add apple, almonds and plantain, and fry for another 5 mins. Add raisins and sherry and mix through.

4. Add tequila and stock and mix through. Simmer for 15 mins to let the sauce reduce and thicken. Add seitan and simmer for an additional 5 mins to heat the seitan. Serve with rice and tortillas.

The Theme For WBB #17 is...

Weekend Breakfast Blogging, more popularly known as WBB is the brainchild of Nandita of Saffrontrail. In her words, it is an event "where all our fellow bloggers can tell us what they have been cooking over their weekend mornings".

The event has seen different hosts in the past and it is my honour to be hosting WBB #17 in November 2007.

I tried to think hard for a theme, and finally settled on using the first thing that comes to our minds when we say breakfast. Yes, its cornflakes!!

The idea for corn flakes began by accident when Dr. Kellogg and his brother, Will Keith Kellog, left some cooked wheat to sit, while they attended to some pressing matters at the sanitarium. When they returned, they found that the wheat had gone stale, but being on a strict budget, they decided to continue to process it by forcing it through rollers, hoping to obtain long sheets of the dough. To their surprise, what they got instead was flakes!
source: answers.com

So lets put on our thinking caps and conjure up recipes where one of the main ingredient is cornflakes (or any other variation of it).

I did a simple search on Google and found so many different things that can be made with cornflakes, that its really mindblowing. Please check here and here for a nice list of recipes you may want to try out.

The rules are pretty simple:

1. Post a breakfast recipe in the month of November, with cornflakes, or its variations, as the main ingredient. You can even share any innovations you use to make that simple bowl of cornflakes jazzy!

2. Send in your entries to naagu.v@gmail.com with subject line as WBB before November 30th, 2007. Make sure you include the permalink to your post, your name and a picture. More than one entry per blog is also most welcome.

Please send in your thoughts and suggestions, if any.

WBB #16 is being hosted by Kanchana of MarriedToADesi so do check her site for an amazing array of omelettes!

Seitan Parmigiana

Finally made a batch of seitan this weekend and whipped up this dish for supper. Chicken Parmigiana was the first dish that Vegan Mom and I made together when we started dating, and this vegan version it a pretty darn good substitution.

"Chicken" Seitan (adapted from this recipe)

DRY MIX:

- 2 c. vital wheat gluten flour

- 1/2 c. full-fat chickpea flour

- 1/2 c. nutritional yeast flakes

- 1/4 c. "chicken" broth powder

- 2 tsp. onion powder

- 1 tsp. garlic granules

WET MIX:

- 12 oz. firm tofu (not silken) (I squeeze the water out and then measure)

- 1 1/2 c. water

- 3 tbsp. soy sauce

- 1 tbsp. olive oil

BASTING BROTH:

- 6 c. boiled water

- 1/3 c. "chicken" broth powder

- 2 tbsp. olive oil

METHOD:

1. Whisk all dry mix ingredients in a large bowl.

2. Put all wet mix ingredients in a blender and blend until smooth. Add to dry mix.

3. Knead in a counter-top mixer, or on knead cycle in a bread machine for 10 mins. Let rest for 30-60 mins. Knead 10 mins more. Remove dough from bowl. Cut off chunks and flatten with wet hands (shape into something that looks like a small chicken breast--it will double in size when cooked).

4. Put basting broth in an oiled Crock Pot on low. Slide in seitan pieces one by one. Cook for 5-7 hours, turning pieces 2 times.

TIP: Gluten flour takes a while to firm up and absorb the liquid. If the dough seems too wet, just give it time and let it rest--it will all come together. I find it helpful to use the batter attachment for my mixer first, then the dough hook.

Seitan Parmigiana

INGREDIENTS

- 6 pieces of "chicken" seitan, cooled

- 1 cup soymilk

- 1 tsp lemon juice

- 1 1/2 cups bread crumbs

- 1/2 c nutritional yeast

- 1/2 tsp each salt, parsley, oregano

- oil for frying

- 1 jar spaghetti sauce

- 1/2 cup nutritional yeast

- 6 mozarella Tofutti slices

- cooked spaghetti

METHOD:

1. In a medium bowl, mix lemon juice into soymilk. Stir and let thicken.

2. In a large bowl, mix bread crumbs, nutritional yeast, salt, and spices.

3. Dip a piece of seitan in the soymilk, then roll in the breadcrumbs. Repeat with all pieces of seitan. When all pieces are done, dip seitan back in the soymilk, then into the breadcrumbs to "double bread" the seitan. (Always keep one hand dry so that the bread crumbs do not clump)

4. Fry in oil on medium heat until golden brown.

5. Pour oil out of pan. Let pan cool a bit. Add spaghetti sauce into the saucepan. Stir in nutritional yeast. When bubbling, place seitan pieces in the sauce and top with a slice of cheese. Turn down heat and cover. Serve when cheese has melted.

TIP: Putting the seitan back in the sauce kind of sogs the breading. If that is not the texture you are going for, put the cheese on the seitan and place under the broiler for a few mins to melt the cheese.