FLOUR WASHING SEITAN

When I first heard of ‘Flour washing Seitan’ I was a little sceptical to say the least.  How can mixing flour and water create a substance which mimics the texture of meat?  I think back to my childhood and remember fondly mixing these two ingredients together but the purpose was to stick things together, not for eating.

It’s a long and messy process but so satisfying to make your own Seitan and it can be used for so many fake meat dishes.    Plus, the cost of a bag of flour along with a few flavourings make it super cheap to make considering the shop bought alternatives are both expensive and in my view, pretty bland.

The process of washing the flour rids the dough of carbohydrate and turns it into pure protein.  This recipe is for crispy nuggets but once the seitan has boiled it can be used for many dishes, more recipes to come!

INGREDIENTS

For the seitan

• 1kg plain white flour
• 500ml water
• 3 tbsp chickpea flour
• 2 tbsp nutritional yeast
• 1 tbsp onion powder
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• glug of soy sauce
• 1 tbsp marmite
• 1 tsp paprika
• ½ tsp chilli powder
• ½ tsp celery salt

For the stock

• 2 onions
• 1 tbsp marmite
• 2 stock cubes
• 2 bay leaves

For the coating

• Plant based milk
• Tropics Special Chicken Fry Mix
• Rapeseed oil

METHOD

1. Mix the flour and water to create a dough and knead for 20 minutes until it is spongy and fully combined
2. Place a bowl in the sink, add the dough and cover with water
3. Continue to knead the dough until the water is white, dispose of the water and repeat
4. Do this several times until the water become clear
5. This is a long process (my first time took about 40 minutes with a few short breaks!)
6. It is paramount that the water runs clear or it won’t form together properly
7. It does become gloopy and unformed but stick with it as the next process will rectify this
8. Once the water is completely clear, place the mixture in a food processor and add the rest of the seitan ingredients
9. Run the processor until everything is combined
10. Form the mixture into 3 balls and simmer very gently in a large pan with the stock ingredients for 40 minutes
11. Once cooled, slice into bite-sized pieces and coat in the milk and then the chicken fry mix
12. Fry for a few minutes on each side.