Park East Kosher has served the public for osem beef consomme than 40 years. The extra work it takes to wash the flour and the resting between certain steps can be time consuming, but I swear this is really fun and such a unique texture from any other vegan mock meat that you can buy! Stages of the washed flour method, clockwise from the top left shows less and less starch present in the seitan.
At this point, I’ve seen people throw this block of seitan into the food processor with spices, some broth paste or bouillon cubes, and tofu or beans, to break up the texture so the end result won’t be so rubbery. The base seitan itself is fairly dense and chewy, but I really liked it! I think in the future I’ll play around with blending in different ingredients but the past few times I’ve made this, I’ve just been too lazy to bust out another appliance I have to clean haha. Cranking up the heat too high or cooking too long will yield a really tough and rubbery texture, so I definitely would recommend using a slow cooker or your Instant pot for this. Resources: I definitely did not come up with this method on my own! Seitan Society step-by-step photos helped me a lot with understanding the stages and what they looked like.
This amazing seitan is made with things you already have in your kitchen: flour and water! Instructions Preparing the Initial Ball:In a large bowl, combine the flour and water and mix until you get a fairly shaggy ball. Turn out the mixture onto a clean counter and knead until you get a fairly smooth ball that springs back when you poke it. This should take about 10-15 minutes of kneading, but if you have a bread maker or a heavy-duty stand mixer, you can let that do the kneading! Cover the ball with cool water and allow to rest for 1-2 hours. Washing the Flour:After a rest, pour out the water and cover the ball with fresh, cold water. Start kneading the dough in the water to wash out the starch.
It took me 3-4 passes of kneading in fresh water, but just keep going until the water is only lightly cloudy instead of opaque and white. Squeeze out as much water as you can and then let the seitan rest in a colander to drain for 20-30 minutes. I used vegan beef broth paste, but you can use powdered broth or broth in a carton, whichever you like. After a rest, stretch your seitan until its about 12-15 inches long.
Use a knife to cut 3 strands, leaving about 1 inch uncut at the top to hold together the braid. Braid the strands and then tuck in the ends into the braid. You can let rest again for about 5-10 min for better results, otherwise stretch out the braid to about 18-20 inches and then tie a large knot in the centre. Add on as many knots as you can on top and tuck in the ends inside the braid. I only really was able to knot it twice, but if I let it rest more, I probably could have added a third knot.
Add the braided and knotted seitan into your broth and cover, set the lid to venting if you’re using an Instant Pot, then simmer for 2 hours. Once cooked through, transfer to a container and cover with some of the broth. Allow to cool until cool enough to refrigerate, then let rest in the fridge for 4-8 hours. Prep and Storage:After a chilled rest, pull apart to reveal the amazing shreds from this! Store in the fridge for up to 2-3 days, or freeze for up to a couple weeks! To cook, you can marinate this and pan-fry, or use just like you would shredded cooked chicken! Ideally all purpose or bread flour works here!
You can also use other kinds of flours that have protein in them, so long as it is gluten. Nut flours would not work here. Lisa is the thirty-something, nerdy, procrastinating, feminist blogger and photographer behind The Viet Vegan. She loves spicy foods, noodles, and food in bowls.
