Since the 1970s, tofu has been the favorite alternative to meat for vegetarians and also for non-vegetarians looking for the occasional cholesterol-free meat substitute. Only recently, “within the last two or three years,” estimates David Lipschutz, owner of Evanston’s 20-year-old Blind Faith Cafe, has seitan (pronounced SAY-tan), another vegetable source of protein, been getting some respect.
Lipschutz credits seitan’s growing public image to availability, marketing and its meatlike texture.
“Until recently there was no mass-production or marketing of seitan,” he says. But now it’s available in several ready-to-use varieties and flavors. Seitan successfully mimics meat in texture and style, he says, “and it’s more versatile than tofu and tempeh.”
(Tempeh, based on fermented soybeans, is another alternative to meat, but it is still less popular than tofu.)
Lipschutz uses the meaty little strips in fajitas, a Mongolian stir-fry and in traditional Korean dishes that use beef. Seitan also stands in for beef, pork and duck at Chinese vegetarian restaurants: At Vegetarian Garden on Cermak Road, seitan is used to replace the meat in such dishes as sweet and sour pork, kung pao beef and Mongolian beef, the chef’s specialty.
Seitan is the Japanese word for cooked wheat gluten, traditionally flavored with soy sauce broth. The word, coined in the mid ’60s by macrobiotics guru George Ohsawa, has since come to mean all cooked, seasoned gluten.
Gluten is the protein part of wheat. It is extracted from hard wheat flour by washing away the starch and bran, leaving only the gluten. The remaining bland, pale, stretchy substance has a chewy, meatlike texture and, once flavored and cooked, it can taste remarkably like meat.
Although relatively new to the West, seitan is an ancient food, and has been traditional fare (under other names) in China, Korea, Japan, Russia and the Middle East–wherever wheat was plentiful–for centuries. It’s also a staple in the diet of Mormons.
Chinese call wheat gluten mien chin, or “Buddha food,” because it was created by Buddhist monks whose diet was vegetarian. Before commercial production, gluten had to be made by hand, a laborious process: Wheat flour is mixed with water, kneaded into dough, allowed to rest to develop gluten, then kneaded continuously under warm and cold water to remove the starch and bran until only the elastic, smooth gluten remains. Only then is seitan ready to flavor and cook.
But today natural foods stores sell a variety of commercially produced, ready-to-use seitan. Seitan can be purchased refrigerated or frozen in blocks, chunks, strips and ground at health food stores (such as Sherwyn’s) and natural food supermarkets (such as Whole Foods). Some forms of seitan spotted in Chicago-area markets include:
– Refrigerated 8-ounce blocks packed in tubs like tofu in three flavors–traditional, chicken style and unflavored ($3.19 to $3.39, White Wave brand)
– Fifteen-ounce packages of sloppy Joe mix ($2.99 to $3.19, White Wave)
– Six-ounce fajita strips ($3.95, White Wave)
– Eight-ounce savory seitan chunks in teriyaki or barbecue sauce ($2.99, Lightlife)
– 4.5-ounce packages of cold cuts–chicken-, turkey- and salami-style ($2.69, Vegi-Deli)
– 5.5-ounce packages of lunch meats–turkey-, chicken- and pastrami-style ($1.99 White Wave)
– Twelve-ounce packages of Smart Grind ground seitan ($3.49, Lightlife).
Although nutritional analysis varies with the style, seitan is as high in protein (about 7.5 grams per ounce) but is lower in fat than full-fat tofu, and it is slightly higher in calories and carbohydrates (20 calories and 1.2 grams fat per ounce for tofu versus 34 calories and less than 1 gram fat for seitan). Both tofu and seitan are low in calories and fat compared with animal protein. Because they both are vegetable products, seitan and tofu are cholesterol-free.
(It’s worth noting that wheat protein has not excited health researchers in the same way soy protein has. Soy has been associated with various health benefits beyond being a low-fat protein source, mostly concerning heart disease.)
Determined cooks can make seitan at home the quick way by simply mixing together high gluten flour and water. Gluten flour, as the name suggests, has already had the bran and starch removed.
There’s not much to learn in cooking seitan, Lipschutz says. “I always tell people, just take chicken or beef out of about any recipe and replace it with seitan.”
For more information, you can consult:
“Cooking with Seitan, The Complete Vegetarian Wheat-Meat’ Cookbook,” by Barbara Jacobs and Leonard Jacobs (Avery, 1994).
“Cooking with Gluten and Seitan,” by Dorothy R. Bates and Colby Wingate (The Book Publishing Co., Summertown, Tenn., 1993).
Two newer vegetarian cookbooks include several recipes that use seitan:
“The Vegetarian Compass,” by Karen Hupert Allison (Little, Brown).
“The Millennium Cookbook,” by Eric Tucker and John Westerdahl (Ten Speed).
SEITAN GYROS
Preparation time: 20 minutes
Marinating time: 10 minutes
Cooking time: 5 minutes
Yield: 4 servings
A twist on raita, a traditional Indian condiment, tops this otherwise Greek-inspired sandwich. Adapted from “The Millennium Cookbook.”
1 container (8 ounces) seitan, sliced 1/4-inch thick
1 large red onion, peeled, sliced
1/2 cup Moroccan marinade, see recipe below
2 teaspoons olive oil
4 whole-wheat pita breads
Tofu, mint and cilantro raita, see note
Chopped tomatoes or bottled salsa
1/2 head romaine lettuce, shredded
1. Toss together seitan, onion, marinade and oil in medium bowl; let stand 10 minutes.
2. Heat broiler. Drain seitan and onions; place in baking pan. Broil until onions soften and seitan browns, about 5 minutes. Cut seitan into strips; chop onions.
3. Spread each pita with 2 tablespoons raita. Top with tomatoes and romaine. Roll pita around filling and cut on diagonal. Serve with remaining raita.
Note: To make tofu raita, puree 6 ounces silken tofu, 1/3 cup fresh lime juice, 1 tablespoon light miso, 1/2 cup each fresh mint and cilantro with sea salt to taste in blender or food processor fitted with metal blade. Stir in 1/2 cup each finely diced apple and English cucumber.
Nutrition information per gyro:
Calories ………… 90 Fat ………. 0.3 g Saturated fat … 0 g
% calories from fat .. 2 Cholesterol … 0 mg Sodium ….. 1,045 mg
Carbohydrates ….. 23 g Protein …… 2.6 g Fiber ……… 1.9 g
MOROCCAN MARINADE
Preparation time: 20 minutes
Yield: 2 1/2 cups
The authors of “The Millennium Cookbook” write that they use this marinade “on everything!” It keeps in the fridge up to 2 weeks.
1 1/2 cups tomato sauce or puree
1/2 cup each: fresh orange juice, fresh lemon juice
1/4 cup tamari, see note
4 cloves garlic, peeled
1/4 cup honey
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
2 teaspoons each: ground cumin, minced fresh ginger
1 teaspoon each: ground fennel seed, ground coriander
1/2 teaspoon each: red pepper flakes, ground cinnamon
Blend all ingredients in blender or food processor fitted with metal blade until smooth.
Note: Tamari, a type of soy sauce, is available at natural food stores and some supermarkets and specialty stores.
Nutrition information per 1/4 cup:
Calories ………… 90 Fat ………. 0.3 g Saturated fat … 0 g
% calories from fat .. 2 Cholesterol … 0 mg Sodium ….. 1,045 mg
Carbohydrates ….. 23 g Protein …… 2.6 g Fiber ……… 1.9 g
