Seitan is not only an ethical alternative to meat, but it is also a food that is as healthy as it is versatile. Find out how to prepare it to take advantage of it!
In the kitchen, seitan allows as many elaborations and presentations as you can imagine. If at first you do not know very well what to do with it, it is practical to resort to traditional recipes. All meat recipes can be reproduced as is with seitan. The results will be less fatty and milder in taste, but equally nutritious.
A very common option is to subject it to a marinade or marinade before its final preparation, leaving it overnight. Lemon, garlic, thyme, rosemary, oregano, paprika or onion give a flavor very much in line with our traditional cuisine. But you can experiment with ginger, lemongrass, cumin, coriander, curry, coconut or any other seasoning. Seitan will absorb them like a sponge.
As for cooking techniques, it admits them all: it can be cooked, stewed, stewed, sautéed, fried and roasted. In addition, you can give very varied cuts, which allow you to obtain different textures:
- Cut with a cold meat machine, very thin slices are obtained to prepare carpaccios, ravioli, cannelloni or lasagna. Frying them in oil you get some curious chips or crunchy.
- Thicker allows you to make milanesas, steaks or hamburgers. It can also be rolled, stuffed with cheese and battered.
- In thin strips it can be used for oriental dishes, such as sautéed with vegetables and rice or noodles; or Mexicans, if they join fajitas, burritos or tacos.
- With small cubes you can stew dishes such as ragús, with turned potatoes and vegetables. Split with hands in irregular slices gives a more traditional look and absorbs sauces very well.
- Chopped, grated or crushed serves to make croquettes, bolognese, meatballs, hamburgers, stuffed with lasagna, peppers or zucchini, and all the traditional recipes that usually incorporate minced meat, with identical results.
SEITAN AND CILANTRO TEX MEX BURRITOS
Ingredients (for 4 people):
- 1 pack of seitan
- 1 red onion
- Half red pepper
- Half green pepper
- Half yellow pepper
- 2 tablespoons corn
- Zest of half a lemon
- Half a cup of black beans
- 1 tablespoon fresh cilantro
- 4 corn or wheat tortillas
- 1 fresh chili or jalapeño
- 100 g vegan cream cheese
- 25 ml vegetable milk
- 9 grated vegan cheese
- 4 tablespoons olive oil
- Salt
Preparation (25′ + 10′ cooking):
- Cut the seitan into thin strips. Chop onion and peppers and fry everything along with seitan, corn, lemon zest and salt. At the end of cooking add the beans or beans, washed and drained, and season with cilantro.
- Fill the tortillas with the stir-fry, roll them and arrange them in a baking dish. Beat the cream cheese with the milk and chopped chili and spread over the burritos, without covering the two ends.
- Top with cheese and bake for ten minutes.
Nutritional values:
- Calories: 526
- Carbohydrates: 43 g
- Protein: 41 g
- Fat: 21 g
- Cholesterol: 24 mg
SEITAN CARPACCIO WITH MUSHROOMS AND STRAWBERRIES
Ingredients (for 4 people):
- 1 pack of seitan
- 4 large mushrooms
- 16 medium strawberries
- 1 onion
- 2 garlic cloves
- 2 bay leaves
- 1 branch of thyme or chopped thyme
- 1 tablespoon sherry vinegar or Modena vinegar
- 1 teaspoon soy sauce
- 6 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil for the dressing sauce
Preparation (25′ + 5′ cooking + 2h rest):
- Cut the seitan into slices as thin as possible, as it will be the success of the recipe, and place them in a dish (ideally with a cold cutter slicer). Cut the onion into strips, and the garlic in the middle. Sauté with the oil and bay leaf, briefly, about five minutes.
- Remove the pan from the heat and add the vinegar, soy sauce and thyme. Distribute this dressing on the seitan sheets and let macerate for at least two hours, and preferably from one day to the next.
- Serve dishes covered with seitan carpaccio fillets, raw mushroom slices and strawberries cut into quarters or slices.
Variant: This recipe is even better if you prepare it with boletus, which can be frozen, and berries, more fragrant and sweeter.
Nutritional values:
- Calories: 275
- Carbohydrates: 9 g
- Protein: 25 g
- Fat: 15 g
- Cholesterol: 0 mg
SEITAN CARPACCIO WITH MUSHROOMS AND STRAWBERRIES
Ingredients (for 4 people):
- 1 pack of seitan
- 4 large mushrooms
- 16 medium strawberries
- 1 onion
- 2 garlic cloves
- 2 bay leaves
- 1 branch of thyme or chopped thyme
- 1 tablespoon sherry vinegar or Modena vinegar
- 1 teaspoon soy sauce
- 6 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil for the dressing sauce
Preparation (25′ + 5′ cooking + 2h rest):
- Cut the seitan into slices as thin as possible, as it will be the success of the recipe, and place them in a dish (ideally with a cold cutter slicer). Cut the onion into strips, and the garlic in the middle. Sauté with the oil and bay leaf, briefly, about five minutes.
- Remove the pan from the heat and add the vinegar, soy sauce and thyme. Distribute this dressing on the seitan sheets and let macerate for at least two hours, and preferably from one day to the next.
- Serve dishes covered with seitan carpaccio fillets, raw mushroom slices and strawberries cut into quarters or slices.
Variant: This recipe is even better if you prepare it with boletus, which can be frozen, and berries, more fragrant and sweeter.
Nutritional values:
- Calories: 275
- Carbohydrates: 9 g
- Protein: 25 g
- Fat: 15 g
- Cholesterol: 0 mg
GREEN SALAD WITH FRIED SEITAN AND MANGO AND LENTIL LEMONADE
Ingredients (for 4 people):
- 1 pack of seitan
- 1 cm fresh ginger root
- 125 g lettuce mixture
- 1 mango, a little green
- 1 small piece of red pepper
- 5 cm from the green stem of a spring onion
- 5 tablespoons cooked lentils
- 1 tablespoon chopped fresh cilantro
- 1 lemon, its juice and its zest
- 2 tablespoons soy sauce
- 6 tablespoons virgin olive oil
Preparation (25′ + 10′ cooking + 2h rest):
- Cut the seitan into thin slices and these into narrow strips. Peel the fresh ginger, chop it very fine, and macerate the seitan with the ginger and three tablespoons of oil, at least for two hours.
- Chop the mango, pepper and the green part of the spring onion very thin and mix them with the lentils, the zest of half a lemon, its juice, soy and olive oil.
- Arrange the lettuce in bowls. Drain the marinade oil into the pan, heat it and fry the seitan until crispy. Spread it on the leaves, pour the mango and lentil lemonade over it, and garnish with cilantro.
Nutritional values:
- Calories: 327
- Carbohydrates: 21 g
- Protein: 27 g
- Fat: 16 g
- Cholesterol: 0 mg
RUSSIAN FILLETS OF TANDOORI SEITAN WITH COUSCOUS AND TZAZIKI
Ingredients (for 4 people):
- 1 pack of seitan
- Half a pack of tofu
- 2 tablespoons wholemeal flour
- 1 spring onion
- 2 tablespoons mashed tandoori
- 175 g wholemeal precooked couscous
- 2 vegan natural yogurts
- Half a cucumber
- 1 tablespoon capers
- 1 tablespoon fresh mint
- 1 garlic clove
- 2 tablespoons lemon juice
- 6 tablespoons virgin olive oil
- 1 glass of water
- Salt
Preparation (30′ + 15′ cooking):
- Prepare the tzaziki first. Crush the yogurt with the cucumber, capers, fresh mint, garlic clove, lemon juice, a piece of the green part of the spring onion, salt and two tablespoons of olive oil and reserve in the fridge.
- Boil the water and cover the couscous seasoned with salt and a tablespoon of olive oil, with half a centimeter of this water. Stir continuously so that it does not stick, until the semolina has absorbed all the water.
- Finely chop the seitan and undo the tofu with your hands. Chop the spring onion and sauté for five minutes. Mix the seitan, tofu, spring onion, tandoori puree and flour, salt and knead until it is bound. Tandoori puree can already be found in all large supermarkets, in the exotic food section.
- Mold the Russian steaks and fry them until crispy. It serves with couscous and tzaziki.
Nutritional values:
- Calories: 503
- Carbohydrates: 46 g
- Protein: 36 g
- Fat: 20 g
- Cholesterol: 7 mg
SEITAN WITH MASHED CORN
Ingredients (for 4 people):
- 1 packet seitan, cut into tacos
- 1 tomato
- 3 piquillo peppers
- 150 g organic corn
- 1 spring onion
- 100 g quinoa
- 1/4 red onion, chopped
- 1 firm avocado, chopped
- 1 tablespoon cochayuyo seaweed, chopped
- Tabasco (optional)
- 5 tablespoons olive oil and salt
Preparation (25′ + 20′ cooking + 2h rest):
- Crush the tomato and piquillos with salt and tabasco. Spread the seitan with the mixture and macerate it for at least two hours.
- Cook the spring onion and corn for two minutes, drain and crush. If there is a very dense puree, rinse it with your cooking water. Pass it through Chinese and book.
- Cook the quinoa, drain and let it warm. Fry it with the red onion, avocado and cochayuyo for 15 minutes, until everything is slightly crispy.
- Clean the seitan a little, brown it on the grill and serve it with the puree and frying.
Nutritional values:
- Calories: 452
- Carbohydrates: 30 g
- Protein: 31 g
- Fat: 23 g
- Cholesterol: 0 mg
