Happy last day of August!
It is that time again, when this blog participates in Tami's Vegan Appetite's Food Network Friday challenge. If you do not know of Tami, she is the fabulously talented author of American Vegan Kitchen, a must own cookbook.
This Friday's challenge was Tyler Florence's Double Dipped Fried Chicken. As soon as I saw fried chicken, I immediately thought of my Twice-Baked Crispy Gluten. This is not any of my typical gluten/seitan recipes since there is nothing in the gluten recipe except vital wheat gluten and water. It is kneaded by hand for a few minutes, allowed to sit for 30 minutes to relax the gluten, kneaded by hand for another few minutes and allowed to sit for a few more.
Then it is portioned into pieces, rolled out thin, thin (the gluten can do that with the above described method since the gluten strands would have been developed) and filled with a savory nutritional yeast-onion-tahini-paprika filling. It is rolled up into the gluten, dredged in seasoned saltine cracker crumbs and baked on an oiled baking sheet.
At this point it can be eaten as is or, and here is the great part, frozen and broiled on low for 10 minutes when you want some! I make bags and bags of the stuff to freeze and have ready at a moment's notice! It is incredible!
The Twice-Baked Crispy Gluten is crunchy, savory because of the filling, chewy a bit, but not too much and the rolling of the thin gluten pieces around the filling make it happen in every bite. Not to mention that it isn't fried! Some gravy and mashed potatoes is what this loves to be eaten with and it is worth every minute of rolling - which is the most time consuming part.
We love! love! love! this!
I ship them domestically for a nominal fee :)
Cost Breakdown:
gluten flour: $1
nutritional yeast, tahini: $2
cracker, onion, garlic, spices: $1
Earth Balance and oil: $.50
Total to make 8 pieces:
$4.50
5 out of 5 stars
Love it...you smarty pants you. Definitely on my "bucket list".
ReplyDeleteThanks, GiGi! Making that bucket was the hardest part of this meal!
ReplyDeleteI am definitely going to try these for my vegetarian husband--looks really good.
ReplyDeleteLooking good! At a glance, it's looked like a fried chicken thingy :)
ReplyDeleteI never realized before, so many Indonesian desserts are vegan and gluten free until I learned more about my home country food :)
I love the container you put them in. Haven't had a good vegetarian fried chicken although I am intrigued by it.
ReplyDeleteAh mah gawd, that looks amazing! Could you make this with regular seitan? Or ground seitan?
ReplyDeleteThis nothing short of genius! Nice!
ReplyDeleteFRS, your hubby would be very grateful.
ReplyDeleteIndonesian Eats, it is amazing the amount of veg food in ethnic cuisine. Just goes to show how nmeat-laden the Western diet is and how much sicker the people who eat it can be (source: The China Study).
Tender Branson, since this is much tastier than just seitan, I hope you get the chance to make it.
Vegan Meisje, no, this is not a traditional seitan dish. You need vital wheat gluten flour (or fresh gluten made by washing the whole wheat flour, but just buying the ready made powder is much easier) that you will mix into raw gluten. Check out the recipe - it isn't difficult to make.
Thank you so much, Veg-In-Training. I love your version as well! It looks so delicious!!
That looks FANTASTIC and is going on my "must try" list immediately!
ReplyDeleteThis is on my menu this week! This makes 12 pieces, right? How many pieces would you say is an average serving?
ReplyDeleteThanks, Liz!
ReplyDeleteBecky, yes, this makes 12 pieces and I say about 2 a person with side dishes, but my family has managed to put that much away even before we get to the table! I say make a batch and see how well it goes. Google Docs is acting odd, double spacing the recipe for no reason, so I apologize for that.
Also:
** It is important that your surface is dry before rolling your gluten. Gluten sticks better to dry surfaces and is easier to keep in place (so it doesn’t stretch back into a smaller piece).**
Have fun!