BBQ Pulled Seitan

For my dinner parties, I typically come up with a theme and cook within it. My last dinner party was centered around Southern Comfort Food. Here are some of the dishes I created and served:

~Sweet Potato Pie

~Pan Fried "Chicken" (created from homemade seitan)

~Collard Greens, Sweet Corn and Black Eyed Peas cooked in southern spices

~Cornbread

~Potato, Leek, Corn and Black Bean Chowder (clear broth)

~BBQ Pulled Seitan over Brown Rice

My BBQ Pulled Seitan creation was the wild card of the evening and it turned out to be the most popular dish served. Although time consuming, it was well worth it. This dish took two days to make due to preparation, cooking, marinating and simmering time. This dish was created in total improvisation, but through the same ingredients I think a tasty variation of this is in your future.

There are several steps involved, but don't get intimidated. These steps are all pretty easy.

STEP ONE: MAKE SEITAN

PRE-HEAT OVEN: 350 degrees

In a food processor (with bread mixer blade) mix the following until it forms a dough (approx. 6 minutes).  ~~~~If you don't own a food processor, then mix all the dry ingredients in one bowl and blend the wet ingredients in another. Then combine the wet and the dry and mix and knead until dough is formed.

MIX THE FOLLOWING:

Dry Ingredients:

~1 cup vital wheat gluten*

~1/4 cup garbanzo flour (or soy flour)

~3 tablespoons nutritional yeast

~2 tsp onion powder

~ 1 tsp roasted garlic powder (or regular garlic powder)

~2 tsp paprika 

Wet Ingredients:

~ 3/4 cup water

~ 1 tablespoon soy sauce or tamari

~ 1 tsp liquid smoke

~ 2 tablespoons tahini

In an 8x8 baking dish (lined with parchment paper) - press out your dough until it takes up most of the pan. Next do the following

• Bake in oven for 20 minutes uncovered.
• Remove from oven, with a basting brush apply BBQ-Sauce**
• Return to oven for approx. 15 minutes.
• Remove from oven, flip seitan and apply BBQ-Sauce.
• Return to oven for approx. 10 minutes.
• Remove from oven and cool.

STEP TWO: MARINADE

After the seitan has cooled, take two big forks and pull/shred the seitan into little pieces. A combination of bigger pieces with stringy smaller ones is perfect.

In a lidded container mix up the marinade (add a little of each, for spicy sauce add more hot sauce, for sweeter sauce add more maple syrup, for tangy sauce add more BBQ-Sauce):

Maple syrup
BBQ-Sauce
Hot Sauce
liquid smoke
Mesquite Spice Blend (or BBQ blend spices)
Organic Blue Agave (optional)***
Ground Pepper

Then add the seitan and mix thoroughly so that the seitan is perfectly covered with the marinade. Cover and refrigerate. Shake up the seitan and marinade once in a while. If possible, marinade for at least 24 hours. 

STEP THREE: COOKING PULLED-SEITAN

In a frying pan saute in olive oil:

~1 large purple onion or sweet onion (chopped into small pieces) 

Once the onion is soft add:

~1 large spoonful of crushed garlic
~1 large or 2 small red bell peppers (chopped into small pieces)
~The marinated seitan

Cook until thoroughly hot.

In a mixing bowl combine the following (add a little of each, for spicy sauce add more hot sauce, for sweeter sauce add more maple syrup, for tangy sauce add more BBQ-Sauce and ketchup):

BBQ Sauce
Maple Syrup
Organic Ketchup****
Tamari or Soy Sauce
Organic Blue Agave (optional)
Water (one cup or more, depending on how saucy you want it)
Gravy thickener (add enough for the amount of water added)
Mesquite spices***** 
Ground Black Pepper

In a medium sized crock-pot scoop in the seitan mixture, then add the liquid, then another layer of the mixture and more liquid. Repeat until all the contents are in the crock-pot. Cook on low heat for a few hours. ~~~~If you don't have a crock-pot then simmer in large saucepan on low heat for an hour or so. 

STEP FOUR: EAT

Serve over brown rice. Collard greens makes a good side dish. 

SHOPPING TIPS:

*I typically use Bob's Red Mill's vital wheat gluten, but you can also buy this in bulk at places like WinCo and it is WAY cheaper. 

**I love Trader Joe's Kansas City BBQ sauce. It has a great taste and it doesn't contain high fructose corn syrup. 

***Agave syrup can add sweetness to nearly any recipe and is a good substitute for honey. I get it at Trader Joe's and it's pretty cheap. 

****I love Trader Joe's Organic Ketchup. It has only a few ingredients and doesn't contain any high fructose corn syrup. 

*****Costco has killer deals on spices. I got a great blend of organic mesquite spices and it was super huge and cheap.