Vegan Chorizo 'Sausages'

For those who follow either a vegetarian or vegan diet, seitan sausages may not be a revelation to you, but it may be for some of my other readers.

Seitan is wheat gluten. It is made by washing wheat flour dough with water until all the starch dissolves, leaving insoluble gluten as an elastic mass which is then cooked before being eaten. Wheat gluten is most popular in China and Japan where it was first developed, as well as in the cuisines of other East and South east Asian countries. Over the past few years, seitan has become a much valued ingredient in the West, especially in vegan cookery. It is often used in place of meat in vegetarian, vegan and macrobiotic diets. So it should not be a surprise that has been dubbed as ‘vegetarian wheat meat’.

I’ve made many vegetarian sausages in the past usually with cheese, but never with seitan, namely because I have had great difficulty finding the essential ingredient in the U.K: vital wheat gluten, and when I did locate a place that sold some, it could only be purchased in bulk orders. Having never cooked with it, I just wanted to purchase a small quantity, but the company made that difficult as small packets were hit with heavy postal charges.
Well my search for vital wheat gluten came to a halt when a big hearted blogger friend posted me a small package to allow me to experiment. The packet has been in my cupboards for a few good months. With D away, I found myself in the kitchen yesterday evening tempted by a Chorizo sausage recipe from Terry Hope Romero latest book Viva Vegan.

I’ve never ever had chorizo – Spanish or Mexican, but as a 'spice head' I have always liked the idea of a spicy vegetarian sausage and have been waiting in patience for one to appear at the health shops, but nothing appeared. This recipe gave me the opportunity to make my own. A lot of ingredients go into making these sausages: vital wheat gluten, chickpea flour, vegetable stock, olive oil and loads of flavourings such as tomato paste, nutritional yeast, garlic, cumin, coriander, oregano, chilli flakes, paprika and cayenne, but it is so worth it. I really enjoyed the mixing and kneading process. The spicy aroma was wonderful, lingering on the palms of my hand like good perfume. Then wrapping them up in foil like Christmas crackers for the final baking process.
I was so delighted when I took them out of the oven. The sausages looked fantastic. Even I was blown away by how real they looked. I tell you, had I not made them myself I would have been doubting the sausages suitability for vegetarians, not just vegans. It really is hard to believe that these were made without any meat! Not only was it an interesting and exciting culinary experiment (to work with vital wheat gluten), the result tasted absolutely amazing. The chorizo sausage was bursting with spicy flavours and lingered on the tongue afterwards.

On my first bite, I was reminded of my meat eating childhood days. It was very much like Shish or Sheesh kebab, a spicy sausage snack consisting of meat threaded on a skewer and grilled. But the fact is this was a vegan chorizo sausage and it tasted really, really delicious. Oh I have so many ideas of what to do with the chorizo – so watch this space.

The recipe comes from Viva Vegan, as this was my first time ever playing with seitan, I’ve not tampered with the recipe at all and would have been happy to post it here to share. But out of respect, courtesy and without the permission of the author I am not going to and recommend that you purchase the book. Also you may want to check out Terry Hope Romero here making seitan potato tacos from her book, or check out her site Vegan Latina.

Updated 09/02/2011
I am delighted to report that I have heard from Terry Hope Romero and she has been gracious to permit me to post the recipe here. Knock yourselves out!

Chorizo Seitan Sausages
Makes 6 - 7
Ingredients
325ml/1 ½ cups vegetable stock
2 tablespoons tomato paste
2 tablespoons sun dried tomato paste
3 tablespoons Annato infused oil (or olive oil) - see here for recipe
3 tablespoons red wine vinegar
6 cloves garlic, grated
210g/1 2/3 cups vital wheat gluten
40g/1/4 cup chickpea flour
3 tablespoon nutritional yeast flakes
4 teaspoons hot or smoked paprika
4 teaspoons ground chilli powder (or 2 teaspoons ground chilli powder and 2 teaspoons dried chilli flakes)
3 teaspoons Mexican oregano or dried oregano
2 teaspoons ground cumin
1 teaspoons ground coriander
1 ½ cayenne
1 ½ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon ground black pepper
Method
Tear  off 6 to 7 pieces of foil about 8 inches wide each. Preheat the oven to 4.
Whisk together the vegetable stock, tomato paste, oil, vinegar and garlic. In a large bowl combine the gluten, chickpea flour, nutritional yeast, paprika, chilli powder, cayenne, cumin, coriander, salt and oregano.
Make well in dry ingredients and pour in liquid ingredients, stir well with rubber spatula until dough leaves side of the bowl. Knead for 3 minutes and allow to rest for 10 minutes. Knead again for a couple of minutes.
Divide dough into 6 or 7 equal pieces. Place piece of chorizo on foil and shape into sausages about 6 inches long. Bring wide ends of foil together and wrap firmly around the dough. Leave a little room under the foil for the chorizo to expand during baking. Twist ends of foil to secure filling. Repeat with the remaining pieces.
Place each directly on the middle rack and bake for 40 – 45 minutes Allow to cool for an hour before using, or for best results chill overnight. Store it in fridge tightly sealed for up to 2 weeks or freeze.
To use, slice or chop and fry before adding to your recipe.

Updated 06/2011: This recipe has also been made by Bekkitae of Greenisms.  Please do check out her version of this vegan chorizo, she has written some fantastic information about the ingredients.
Updated 16/02/2012: Made by Vegan in Montreal too.

Jalapeño and Garlic Kale Stew

Every time D travels to England, I lose all inspiration to cook for myself. In fact I become rather lazy resorting to frozen chips, pizza or beans on toast. This time though, I thought I would try and motivate myself and make an effort to cook something good and healthy for myself. As well as show him that I do not survive solely on junk food when he is away.

Yesterday evening, I made this Jalapeño and Garlic Kale Stew.
Even though I halved the quantity of the Jalapeño and Garlic Kale Stew recipe, there was still enough for two, if not three people.

The gravy in this recipe is light and can be described more as a broth than a stew. I think it's crying out for dumplings to sup up the mildly spiced gravy. So if you want it your stew to have more substance, then please top with some dumplings. Either make a dumpling recipe that you are familiar with or try this one for suet dumplings. Add the dumplings to the pot about 10 minutes before you wish to serve.

Jalapeño and Garlic Kale Stew
Serves 2 - 3
Ingredients2 pints vegetable stock
6 cloves garlic, peeled
1 bay leaf
½ teaspoon coriander seeds, ground
1 tablespoon pickled jalapeño pepper, sliced (from a jar)
1 large potato, peeled and cut into ½ inch cubes
1 large carrot, peeled and chopped into ½ inch pieces or matchsticks
50g kale, large stems removed and cut into 1 inch strips
1 small tomato, chopped
optional: 1 tablespoons fresh coriander, minced
Salt and pepper to taste
1 tablespoon lime juice or 1 tablespoon pickled juice from the Jalapeño jar
MethodIn a pot, combine the stock, garlic, bay leaf, coriander seeds and jalapeño . Bring ingredients to a simmer, and simmer them for 10 minutes uncovered. Add the potatoes, carrots, tomatoes and kale to the pot, and simmer the mixture for 10 - 15 minutes or until the potatoes are almost tender.
Then add the coriander, salt and pepper and juice of either lime or pickled jalapeño. Serve the stew in large bowls, discarding the garlic cloves, if you like. Adapted from Vegetarian Planet Didi Eammons.

Tempeh, tempeh

Tempeh or tempe is a popular fermented soy cake. It has been eaten for hundreds of years in South East Asia, particularly in countries like Indonesia where dishes like Tempe Bacem and Oseng-Oseng are popular. However, in the West tempeh has become a vegetarian and vegan substitute for meat.

I've had sliced tempeh a number of time, normally as part of a veggie breakfast. It has a light yeasty-mushroom flavour. I have to admit I have never really liked it. I have found the texture from the soy beans a little too bumpy and bobbly, but I could still eat it. Unlike D, who would push it to the side of his breakfast plate, the way some people push 'black pudding' off their breakfast plate. He had firmly decided that he did not like it at all. So its not something that features in my cooking.

Last year though when I was in Nairn, looking for something to snack on for lunch I stumbled upon an independent health store and cafe called Sky Delights. On its shelves I noticed some tempeh in glass jars. It was not a brand I was familiar with. The tempeh was whole and looked a lot more substantial. I actually ended up purchasing a couple of jars willing to give tempeh another try. Since then, the jar has been in the cupboard - fortunately still in date.
Upon purchasing these jars, I had a number of recipes I want to try with tempeh, but first I wanted to give it the 'taste test'. I decided to keep it simple and made tempeh hash browns for brunch. For those of you who have been reading for a while, will note that Hash browns in various guises have been featuring quite heavily on my blog recently, what can I can - I think I am in need of some comfort eating.

Well the Tempeh hash browns were a hit. Even D who had in the past pushed the tempeh to the side was tucking in big time. The texture of the tempeh was not like those I've had in the past. I also liked the fact it kept its shape well. Serve with beans, tomatoes and a fried egg if you wish with a good dollop of brown sauce.
Tempeh hash browns
Serves 2 with accompaniments
Ingredients
2 medium potatoes, diced
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 small onion, finely sliced
Enough tempeh for 2, cut into ½ inch cubes (sorry I don't remember how much weight)
1 tablespoon soy sauce
salt and pepper to taste
Method
Cover the potatoes with water in a pot and bring to a boil. Cook for 10 to 15 minutes, or until tender. Drain well.
In a frying pan, saute the onions until translucent, then add in the potatoes and tempeh in olive oil, stirring frequently to cook all sides of the potato and tempeh cubes. When brown enough, add the soy sauce, salt and pepper to taste.