Savory steamed dumplings: Sweet potato, shiitake and mock duck (gluten)

My Dad turned 89 last week and we had a large gathering at my house. I made all of the food; which was all vegan. It was carnivore approved and no one missed any of the flesh or (milk) puss they were used to. I made a variety of foods and my guests nagged me to give them the recipes. Since they all came from my head, I need to blog as much of the dishes as I can before I forget. 

One of the show stoppers was my steamed dumplings. These little suckers are a little time consuming to make, but well worth it. If you've never made asian dumplings, I'd suggest watching a tutorial on the web. If you google it, you'll find step by step images and video on how to stuff and fold the dumpling. When buying the dumpling skins, make sure they are the round ones (the square ones are for wonton and the thickness is different) and vegan (some brands contain egg). 

I used to make one dumpling at a time, but I found it easier to lay out as many dumpling skins as you can (I used an extra large cutting board as my base), place the stuffing in each, then fold (you must wet the rim of the dumpling before you fold and pinch the skin edges together). You will need something to steam the dumplings with. I use the traditional bamboo steamers, which is placed in a wok. The wok contains the water which then steams the dumplings. I line my bamboo steamer with parchment paper. The dumplings peel right off and there is no cleanup. I also flavor the water in the wok with miso and/or large chunks of sea salt. 

Dumpling contents:

Put the following in a food processor.....

 

- 1 large sweet potato (cooked: either bake ahead of time or pop in the microwave until soft)

- 1 handful of shiitake mushrooms (I used fresh ones, however if you use the dried ones make sure you rehydrate them enough to be soft)

- 1 can of mock duck (wheat gluten) drained (you can use your own seitan, but this stuff has been perfectly flavored for the job)

- a couple of shakes of dark mushroom soy sauce (this stuff is the bomb! - it has a rich, salty flavor that brings out the flavor of the mushrooms)

- a couple of shakes of vegan mushroom oyster sauce (this stuff is also the bomb - it has a sweet taste that will bring out the flavor of the sweet potato)

- a few shakes of thick ground pepper

Pulse in the food processor until everything is chopped up. You want a thick consistency, not creamy; so don't blend the mixture. You might want to open the food processor between each pulse to push the contents down. 

I stored the mixture in the fridge for 24 hours to bring out the flavor. If you don't have that much time, you can probably start stuffing the dumplings whenever you want. Just make sure that the mixture is at least room temperature or colder. If you used a hot potato, you'll need to wait until the mixture cools. 

Now start stuffing the dumplings. Each dumpling will only hold a little dollop of the mixture, so you can make around 25 or so from this recipe. Don't over stuff the dumpling or it will tear. 

Serve warm, with a dipping sauce (although they're so tasty you don't really need extra sauce). I prefer sweet chili sauce or hoisin (plum sauce). However, tradational dipping sauce is fine too, but is salty rather than sweet. 

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Zesty Spicy Seitan Loaf

Every once in a while I come up with a new variation of seitan. Today I wanted to do one that was spicy and flavorful without having to marinate it after it has been made. I didn't really measure much, except for a few key ingredients, so some of the stuff you'll have to wing, depending on the level of spice you can tolerate. 

First: Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees. 

Meanwhile: In a frying pan saute the following - 

a few shakes of olive oil (to grease the pan)

1/2 sweet onion

1 heaping tablespoon of crushed garlic

8 or 10 twists of ground pepper 

4 good shakes of taco seasoning

4 shakes of dried red chili pepper seeds

(once the onions are soft and browned, remove from heat and set aside)

In a food processor add the following: 

3/4 cup water

1 can tomato paste

4 or 5 shakes of tamari

2 or 3 shakes of Braggs

2 to 4 shakes of chipotle hot sauce

2 to 4 shakes of cayenne hot sauce (tabasco sauce would be fine too) 

3 or 4 squirts of organic ketsup

2 hot peppers (remove seeds first)

sauteed onion mixture 

(blend until mixture liquifies) 

In a large size bowl: 

2 cups vital wheat gluten

3 or 4 shakes of taco seasoning

6 or 8 shakes of paprika

3 shakes of cumin

4 to 6 grinds of sea salt

6 to 10 grinds of ground pepper

(Stir up dry ingredients, then fold in wet ingredients from food processor. Stir until dough forms and all ingredients have become fully mixed in the dough)

Kneed dough with hands a few times. Let stand for 5 minutes and kneed a few more times. 

On a large piece of aluminum foil, place the dough in the center, first shaping into a loaf with your hands. Once the dough is on the foil, continue to form into loaf if needed. 

Wrap the loaf up in the foil and bend the ends over. 

Bake on rack in oven for 1 1/2 hours.  Take out of the oven and open foil, place on cooling rack. Once cool store in oven or eat while hot. 

Seitan can be used in sandwiches, soups, fried, sauteed, etc. 

Seitan Picatta

Picatta is tangy and not for all palates. But if you like lemon and capers then you'll probably enjoy it.

In a frying pan, saute the following:

10 mushrooms sliced chunky style(use your favorite ones, I used a meaty variety. If you use a portabello, one would suffice)
2 green onions - chopped
heaping tablespoon of crushed garlic
5 or 6 twists of freshly ground sea salt
olive oil (enough to keep the pan coated but not greasy)

In a separate frying pan:

Coat pan with olive oil
add in a few giant scoops of whole wheat flour (if you have a gravy thickener you can use this alone or in addition to the flour)
heat and mix very quickly until it starts to brown slightly
add lemon juice (amount depends on how tangy you can take it)
a few shakes of cumin
Ground pepper
white wine
a little water (add a little as you go- until you get desired thickness and taste)
capers (several hefty scoops)
Stir until thick then add contents from other frying pan.

The empty frying pan can be used for the next step; add enough olive oil to coat the pan. Keep the gravy mixture on low and stir occasionally as you make the seitan.

In one shallow bowl, mix up one or two egg replacers
In a second shallow bowl, add whole wheat flour.

Dip seitan slices into faux eggs to coat, then dip in flour to coat and place in pan. Repeat until the pan is full with seitan.
Cook seitan on med-high. When the seitan starts to get crisp, flip pieces over. The seitan will cook very quickly.

Tip: Serve on a bead of brown rice, place seitan around edges and pour gravy mixture on top.
Tip: Serve a vegetable on the side, such as asparagus.
Tip: You can use my basic seitan recipe to create the seitan slices to be used in this recipe.

Super Easy: Seitan - goes with all types of meals

Seitan can be used in place of meat for a variety of flavorful meals. Seitan is made from gluten, so if you have issues with wheat, you should pass on this recipe.

A lot of recipes for Seitan are either heavy on the Asian flavor or have a tomato base. Both types are yummy, but are rather limited in regards to the types of different meals you can make from them. I came up with a recipe for Seitan that has the right flavors that can be used with all types of dishes, such as Mexican, Soul Food, Italian, Asian, Indian, Mediterranean, BBQ, etc.

Dry Ingredients (add to large bowl first)

1 1/2 cup vital wheat gluten (I use Bob's Red Mill)
6 or 7 hefty shakes of paprika
2 or 3 shakes of garlic powder
5 to 10 shakes of ground pepper
4 or 5 shakes of seasoning salt
1 or 2 shakes of All Spice
3 to 7 shakes of red pepper flakes
8 to 10 grinds of sea salt (using salt grinding mill)

Mix around using whisk. After thoroughly mixed, add wet ingredients (tip: to make sure all the flavors are blended; mix wet ingredients in separate bowl and then add to dry ingredients)

Wet Ingredients

8 to 10 shakes of Tamari
3 to 6 shakes of Braggs Liquid Amino
1 tablespoon olive oil (optional)
3/4 cup cold water

Stir wet ingredients into dry ingredients. As dough forms, kneed dough with hands 4 to 5 times (in bowl). Let the dough sit.

In the meantime, using a soup pot (or a large cooking pot such as one you'd use for spaghetti) heat up water (fill the pot 2/3 up with water) with a few scoops of crushed garlic.

As the water heats, place dough on cutting board and kneed 2 more times. Stretch the dough and slice off thin slices. The slices can be a variety of sizes. I'd go thinner than thick. Long pieces will be easier to cook with later (approx. 2" long is adequate). As the water starts to bubble, drop the dough pieces into the water. Once the water reaches a full boil, turn down to a medium to med. low heat for an hour.

Drain seitan in colander and let cool. Store in refrigerator. If you do not use the seitan within a week, freeze for future use. Seitan always tastes better after its had a chance to sit (a few hours to 1 day will really bring out the flavor)

The seitan will have flavor on its own, however when you go to cook with it I'd recommend using sauces or a marinade. Have fun.