Seitan Holiday Ham

We always have ham for Christmas and Easter which I used to love.  Now when the holidays come around I've been left wondering what I will eat along with my family.  I have finally come up with the solution.  Seitan Holiday Ham!  I haven't had ham now for almost 4 years, but I think this recipe is a great substitute if you are looking for something a little "meaty".  The flavor is a lot like those hams you buy with glaze packets, if you have ever tried one of those - kind of sweet.  I love to use my meat slicer (I got one for really cheap at Shopko) and slice it really thin to make sandwiches later.  This recipe makes a fairly large roast, but you could try halving the recipe.  I haven't tried halving it yet, (and probably won't because I love the leftovers, but I'm guessing you would only cook it for 90 minutes rather than 2 hours.  Just make sure it seems pretty firm to the touch before you take it out of the oven.  If you try halving it, let me know how it turned out!  One more thing - don't forget to buy the olives for your fingers - it makes eating even more enjoyable!

Seitan Holiday Ham

Ingredients
2 cups vital wheat gluten
1/2 cup nutritional yeast
1/4 cup chickpea flour
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
1 tsp garlic powder
1 Tbsp smoked paprika
1/2 tsp ground cloves
1 cup water
1/4 cup maple syrup
3 Tbsp olive oil
2 Tbsp liquid smoke
2 Tbsp soy sauce
1/4 cup pineapple juice

Directions
Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

n a large bowl, mix together the vital wheat gluten, nutritional yeast, chickpea flour, salt, pepper, garlic powder, smoked paprika, and ground cloves.

In a large measuring cup or separate bowl, whisk together the remaining ingredients.  Gently stir into the dry ingredients until totally combined.  It should be a ball of dough.  Knead it for a couple of minutes until it becomes very elastic, adding a little vital wheat gluten if needed. It should hold it's shape.

Shape the dough into a roast shape and wrap in a large sheet of aluminum foil, twisting the ends to seal.  Then wrap in another sheet of foil.  Bake for 2 hours.  Carefully remove the roast from the aluminum foil and let it cool.  Refrigerate it once it's cool.  Tastes best the next day!

To make the holiday ham glaze:
1/3 cup pineapple juice
1 Tbsp brown sugar
1/2 Tbsp mustard
1 Tbsp maple syrup
1 tsp molasses
1 Tbsp vegan butter (such as Earth Balance) or coconut oil
a few drops of liquid smoke
salt to taste
whole cloves (approx. 20-30)

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Combine all the ingredients EXCEPT for the cloves in a small saucepan.  Heat to boiling, then reduce to a simmer. Continue to cook reducing until thickened.

Score the ham in a crisscross pattern, making little diamonds (like in the pictures - if you can see it). They should only be about 1/4 inch deep, 1/2 inch at the most.  Put cloves into the ham.  Glaze the ham and bake in oven for 20 minutes.

Seitan With Broccoli

 

My kids aren't the best at eating vegetables on their own, so I try to think of ways to throw a variety of veggies together in one meal so they get a good variety in one shot.  Stir-fries are a good way to accomplish this.  My husband used to love Beef and Broccoli so I have created a "plant" version so we can still enjoy it.  He loves this recipe - even the seitan.  My kids aren't big seitan eaters, but they also love this recipe.  I hope your family enjoy it too! 

We serve it over brown rice or quinoa usually but any grain will do.  OR you can just eat it by itself. You will also want to make the baked seitan recipe ahead of time (it takes 90+ minutes). Otherwise this is a pretty quick meal to make.  If you want to go without seitan - just throw in some extra veggies that you like instead.

Seitan with Broccoli

Makes 4 servings

Ingredients

3 Tbsp low-sodium soy sauce

3 Tbsp hoisin sauce

2 Tbsp rice wine

1 Tbsp brown sugar

1 Tbsp cornstarch

½ recipe baked seitan, thinly sliced

1 lb (4-5 cups) broccoli broken into bite-size pieces

1 bell pepper, cored and sliced

1 carrot, sliced on the diagonal

¾ cup onion, sliced

4 cloves garlic, minced

1 Tbsp grated fresh ginger

¼ tsp Better Than Bouillon, No Beef Base

¼ cup water

Directions

Combine the soy sauce, hoisin, rice wine, brown sugar, and cornstarch in a mixing bowl.  Whisk to combine the liquid with the cornstarch.  Mix in the seitan and let marinate for 30 minutes.

 

Heat a cast iron skillet over medium heat.  Add the broccoli, bell pepper, carrot, onion, garlic and ginger and stir-fry.  Stir the vegetables frequently for about 5 minutes, until the vegetables have softened.  Add the seitan and its marinade and continue cooking, stirring frequently for about 5 minutes. 

 

Whisk together the bouillon and water in a small bowl.  Add it to the vegetables and seitan and cook for another 2 minutes, until the sauce thickens and clings to the seitan and vegetables. 

 

Serve over brown rice or quinoa if you like.

 

Seitan and Black Bean Tacos

 

My husband and I love Mexican food.  My husband especially loves the tacos he can get from the restaurant Los Betos.  He loves adobada, carnitas, carne asada, chicken and fish.  So to better suit his needs, I have come up with a seitan taco which turned out so good!  He loved it (I found him in the kitchen eating just the seitan)!  The marinade gives the seitan a very delicious flavor and grilling it makes it that much better! 

If you need a seitan recipe you can use my recipe for baked seitan on my blog.  However, instead of making a log, I flattened the seitan (kind of like steak) and then wrapped it in tin foil and baked it.  That way I could cut thin "steak-like" strips.

We like to make our tacos nice and full as you can see in the pictures, but our kids tend to make them smaller.  So, it's up to you - whatever you like!

Seitan and Black Bean Tacos
makes 4 servings

Ingredients

½ cup orange juice
2 Tbsp canola oil
1 Tbsp chipotle in adobo sauce
1 tsp cumin
4 cloves garlic
Salt and pepper to taste
1 lb seitan cut into really thin strips
Corn tortillas
½ cup shredded Daiya pepperjack cheese 
Guacamole
1 can black beans, drained and rinsed
Pico de Gallo
Shredded cabbage

 

Directions

Combine the juice, oil, chipotle, cumin and garlic in a blender and puree.  Add salt and pepper to taste.  Place seitan and marinade in a plastic bag or in a dish with a lid and marinate for at least 1 hour in the refrigerator.
 
Preheat grill over medium heat (cast iron).  Oil the grill when hot and place seitan on it, turning occasionally until it nicely browned.
 
Heat a skillet over medium heat.  Place a tortilla in the center and warm on both sides.  Place in folded dish towel to keep warm.  Continue with more tortillas. 
 
Place cheese, guacamole, beans, seitan, Pico de Gallo, and shredded cabbage on tortillas.  Fold and eat!

 

Baked Seitan

For those of you who are new to the whole "vegan" thing you may not have ever heard of seitan.  I try to stay away from soy products as much as possible (for my own reasons) and so I don't eat a lot of tofu.  Seitan is what I eat in place of it and it is something I can make from scratch.  It is considered a meat replacement (vital wheat gluten is full of protein), but I don't like to neccesarily think of it like that.  I am not really trying to replace anything, I am just trying new things.  Switching to a plant based diet has opened a lot of doors and I have discovered a lot of new and interesting things to eat and I guess seitan is one of those things.  You can buy it at the store, but I like to make my own - that way I know what is in it. I am trying to not buy as many processed foods.

There are many recipes out there, but this one is what I've come up with and really like.  The fun thing about seitan is you can put your own favorite seasonings in it to make it your own.  You can steam or boil seitan, but I prefer to bake it in the oven, it gives it a more dense and "meatier" texture.  My favorite thing to make with it is reubens.  Mmmm... my mouth is watering just thinking about it.  Seitan is very versitile and I have a lot of fun coming up with new ideas for it.  I will be sure to share some of them on here!  Seitan can be used as a filler also, like beans - it is very filling like meat and a whole lot cheaper! So stay tuned and I will give you some yummy uses for your seitan!

 

Baked Seitan

Ingredients
1-1/2 cup vital wheat gluten
1/4 cup nutritional yeast
1 tsp salt
2 tsp smoked paprika
2 tsp pepper
½ tsp cumin
¼ tsp cayenne
2 cloves garlic
3/4 cup cold water
1 Tbsp maple syrup
4 tsp A1 Steak Sauce
2 tsp olive oil
1 tsp Better Than Bouillon No Beef Base
 

Directions

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.

Put all dry ingredients in a large bowl and mix together.  In a separate bowl, combine wet ingredients (including garlic).  Add the wet ingredients to the dry and mix with your hand -- until you can knead it like dough.  Knead until fully incorporated.  It should sort of resemble a firm ball of dough.

Roll into a log shape and wrap in 2 layers of aluminum foil -- twisting the ends to seal.

Bake for 90 minutes.