It’s FRIDAY Y’ALL!! Time for a new recipe and I think you are going to love it. We sure did. I’ve been wanting to experiment more with seitan. I looked up a few recipes and then decided on this one that is adapted from the yupitsvegan.com site. If you haven’t checked out her recipes, you should. She’s got some amazing ones. I made a few changes though in the way you cook the seitan because I wanted it to take on more flavor while cooking. And, of course, I did not use oil.

Also, have you noticed how you can’t buy tofu in the grocery stores? I asked my local grocer, “Where’s all the tofu?” and he said that the tofu plants are closed for 3 weeks. Ummm hello?? I need tofu for my recipes!! I then decided that I’m going to make my own, so stay tuned for that recipe in the near future.

Let’s get back to todays recipe………

Vegan Mongolian Seitan

For the sauce:

• 1/2 cup vegetable broth (this is to use in place of the oil)
• 1/2 teaspoon grated ginger
• 3 cloves garlic
• 1/3 teaspoon Chinese five spice
• 1/3 teaspoon red pepper flakes
• 1/2 cup low-sodium soy sauce
• 1/2 cup coconut sugar (or a scant half cup brown sugar)
• 2 teaspoons cornstarch
• 2 tablespoons cold water

For the crisped seitan:

• 1 pound seitan, cut into 1 inch pieces (the seitan I bought was in chunks and it was awesome)

For serving:

• toasted sesame seeds (optional)
• sliced scallions

To make the sauce:

Heat a little of the vegetable broth in a small saucepan over medium heat. Add the ginger and the garlic; stir constantly. After about 30 seconds, add the five spice and the red pepper flakes, and cook for one minute or until fragrant.

Add the soy sauce and the coconut sugar and stir well. Reduce the heat to medium-low and let simmer until the coconut sugar is dissolved and slightly reduced, about 5-7 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Whisk together the cornstarch and the cold water, then add it to the pan and stir. Cook for 2-3 more minutes, until the sauce becomes glossy and thickened slightly. Reduce the heat to the lowest setting and keep simmering gently until ready to add to the seitan.

To make the seitan:

In a wok or skillet, heat some of the vegetable broth over medium-high heat. Add a bit of the sauce to the seitan and cook, stirring frequently, for about 4-5 minutes or until slightly browned and crisped around the edges.

Reduce heat to low and add the remaining sauce to the pan. Stir to coat all of the seitan pieces, and continue cooking until the sauce has adhered to the seitan. Remove from the heat and serve hot, with the rice and/or vegetables of choice, and garnish with sesame seeds and scallions.

Serve with rice and broccoli.

Enjoy :).