Orange Seitan and Noodle Stir Fry

This is one of those things that happens in my kitchen on a weeknight when plans have gone out the window.  I make a list of things I'm going to cook for the week,but then the milk goes bad or I forget to marinate the whatever.  

We needed to use up the last two side servings of that slaw I made, wanted something hot and protein-y and dinner-ish with it. 

Find some veg.  

Buffalo Seitan

 

I heart seitan.   I can't make that clear enough.   I like tofu, and there are applications that are appropriate for tempeh, but seitan can be anything, the texture is fantastic - overall, it's incredible.   I'm also not chicken-wing oriented.  I don't want to pick anything apart like that.  But I love buffalo sauce (ok, I just love hot sauce).  So I've been looking for a non-meat alternative.

Several weeks ago (months?) I got buffalo tempeh in a restaurant and was really disappointed.  It was lumpy and tough, like tempeh can get, and coated in a decent sauce, but unpleasant to eat.  It was just a week later that I went to Cantina Los Caballitos - a restaurant that we and lots of other folks we know have sort of a love-hate thing going on with - and saw vegan buffalo wings on the menu.   I asked the waiter what they were made of, and he said, "it's not meat."  

Sure.  What's in your milkshake? "It's not meat."  I tried harder.  He said it was soy and I was disappointed.  Two joints in our neighborhood serving buffalo soy products, what a bummer.  I had picked a second-choice meal off the menu and when he came back to take our order, he told us it was actually seitan.  YAY!  Seitan!  And it was absolutely as good as I had hoped.  It was crispy and spicy and if you got a meat-only kind of person a little drunk, he'd totally believe this was chicken.   Sous Chef Brian and I worked together to take that plate down, neglecting his enchiladas entirely. 

On the walk home, I said, "I bet I could make that."  And time passed and I didn't.  So then a couple of weeks ago, we're doing menu planning before I go shopping and he says, "Buffalo seitan."  And I nod and buy seitan and Earth Balance and forget about it.   And then last night it happened.

Sweet and Sour Seitan - for realz

again with the yellow food, yellow bowl

Early in the blog, like, more than two weeks ago, I mentioned this dish, but it was just leftovers.

I'm fairly impressed with myself, since I haven't made the same dish twice (excluding leftovers) since I started this in late January, but today I broke that streak. When I made it the first time, I had never fried seitan and I followed a recipe exactly, which is so not me.

So this is take two, based very much on the recipe on Vegan Yum Yum, but you know, tweaked.

Seitan Tacos and Tequila Avocado Salad

mmmmm wheat meat.

Also, I finally get to use tequila as a food.

Sweet and Sour Seitan

Ok, another "leftovers" shot. Because I'm honest.

I swear I'll get with it and take pictures while the food is attractive next time.

This is not at all my recipe - I got it here: Vegan Yum Yum
My first time cooking seitan, thrilled with the results, next time I'm using onion and garlic.

[Edited to add: There's a tweaked version of this with more detail (any detail) here.]