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Seitan, or wheat gluten, is a tasty and healthy dish. Let’s find out everything about its properties, how to cook it and replace meat with it.
Vegan cuisine is more and more common. Day after day there are more cruelty-free alternatives, not only for food, but also for cosmetics and any other product that needs lab testing.
Sensibilization on the victims of these markets, their life right and wellness has influenced a lot of meat-eaters and people who eat animal derivatives. Therefore, a lot of products have replaced them, such as tofu or rice or soy milk, which easily replace dairies.
The same happens to meat. The vast majority of vegans replace it with seitan, considered its healthiest and tastiest replacement. But what is it, and where does it come from? Let’s find out how it’s made, how to eat it and where to buy it.
Seitan: how it is made and where it comes from
This healthy food comes from Japan. Buddhist monks found out how to prepare it and make it with a high content of proteins and a nice taste. Seitan is made of gluten extracted from wheat flour and mixed with herbs and spices, soy sauce and Kombu seaweed. Once boiled, the dough will become soft, tasty and scented.
Its nutritional properties show its high content of proteins and a very low content of fat. In this way, we can use it to replace meat in our diets, eliminating the cholesterol problem, too. In order to improve seitan properties, you should eat it together with legumes, that allow to keep the fat levels very low.
You can easily find this vegan product in every supermarket with a vegan aisle; you can also buy it online.
Seitan recipes
There are thousands of ways to cook this food, and they are also very easy! Just consider seitan as if it was chicken and cook it as you like! Here are some ideas:
Stew
Just dice your seitan and stir-fry it with extra virgin olive oil, peas, tomato, rosemary and bay leaves. Add some vegetal broth and after about 20 minutes your meal is ready!
Escalopes
This products is very similar to roast. Slice it, roll it in some cornflour and let sit for a few minutes. Now, pour two tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil in a pan and put the seitan slices inside. Add some vegetal broth and lemon juice. Cook them for 10 minutes at low heat and you will have amazing lemon creamy escalopes!
Vegan ragu
Mince the seitan: it has to look like ground beef. Prepare some sautéed vegetables, then put your vegan product in the pan. Just a few minutes at medium heat is enough. Add tomato sauce, rosemary and a pinch of salt. Let cook for 30 minutes and add half a glass of white wine while cooking: your vegan ragu is ready!
Seitan and spinach hamburger
Steam your spinach, then mince and add them to minced seitan. Pour a tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil on a pan and start cooking your hamburgers. After 5 minutes they are ready: you can eat them together with green lettuce, fresh spinach and tomatoes.
Is seitan dangerous?
There are no specific side effects for people in good health. But be careful: if you suffer from diabetes or you are celiac, this food is forbidden. Its high content of gluten and sugar make seitan very dangerous for people suffering from these two diseases.
Photo source: https://pixabay.com/it/photos/verdure-seitan-cotoletta-2047238/
