I always say that there is nothing that you couldn't veganize 🌱
And one of my favorite thing to do is to veganize food that is traditionally imagined as non-vegan, such as cheese, meat dishes, fish dishes, etc. And yet you can make steaks, sausages, fish and everything else from plant-based ingredients!
So, today I am sharing one of those veganized recipes.
It is super common in Lithuania to grill skewers of meat or steaks in summer and I don't want to be left outside and eat salads while everyone else is enjoying something made with that nice smoke flavor 😀
It is usually boring for me to just grill tofu or vegetables and although I 90% of the time just grill simple soy pieces (it is also very good), I also got over it and wanted just "normal" skewers, just the same that everyone else is having.
And I don't think it should be embarrassing to want meat-like dishes when you are vegan, most of us doesn't become vegan because it was not tasty to eat animal products. We become vegan because it is unethical for us to consume animals (at least in most cases) and we don't want to make them suffer just for some meal when we have all the plant-based ingredients in the world to choose from. So, yes, I still crave meat-like dishes sometimes but that is fine, because I now have a variety of ways to recreate them in a harmless way for the animals 😎
And I am sharing one of those ways today!
You will need (for 30 small/medium pieces):
- 175 g. seitan flour
- 1 tablespoon of nutritional yeast
- 1.5 teaspoon of garlic powder
- 1.5 teaspoon of onion powder
- 2 teaspoons of steak spices (already prepared, store-bought)
- A pinch of pepper
- 240 ml. warm water
- 95 g. cooked/canned white beans
- 1.5 tablespoon of soy sauce
- Optional: 6 tablespoons barbecue sauce (for marinade)
For boiling the seitan you will need:
- 1 liter of water
- 2 cubes of vegetable broth (the cooking instructions for the broth may say different amounts of cubes per liter of water, so follow the instructions on your own package)
- 2 tablespoons of soy sauce
- 1 tablespoon barbecue sauce
Preparation
- Mix the dry ingredients (seitan, nutritional yeast, garlic and onion powder, steak spices, pepper) in a bowl.
- Pour warm water, beans and 1,5 tablespoon of soy sauce into a separate container and blend with a hand blender or food processor until smooth.
- Mix the dry mixture (from seitan and spices) with the wet mixture (from water and beans) until there is no flour left and knead with your hands for another 2-3 minutes.
- Form an oblong shape from the dough, cut it in half lengthwise and cut it into small pieces (you will get about 22-24 pieces). They will increase in size during cooking and can be made smaller later on.
- Boil 1 liter of water in a pot, add 2 broth cubes, 2 tablespoons of soy sauce and 1 tablespoon of barbecue sauce. Mix them into the boiling water.
- Put the seitan pieces in the pot and cook on low heat for about 40 minutes, covered with a lid and stirring constantly so that the pieces do not stick together.
- Remove the cooked pieces to a separate container and leave to cool.
Once they have cooled down, you can make some pieces into smaller ones. I recommend to make them as small as you can depending on your skewers because then they will just grill better.
- You can choose your favorite flavors for the marinade but I just mixed them with store-bought barbecue sauce (just check if it is really vegan). I used about 5-6 tablespoons of barbecue sauce.
Just mix the seitan pieces with the marinade of your choice, keep it in the fridge for 2-3 hours or more and grill it until all the pieces are browned and toasted (about 20-30 minutes depending on your grill).
Here is also a very quick video of the whole process:
Seitan is a savior in many veganized recipes, and you can make so many different things from it!
But let me know what is your favorite thing to grill? 🔥