"chicken" with okra
This dish is traditionally made in Greece with chicken and baby okra. It used to be one of my favorite summer recipes in my pre-vegan days. Well, I’ve never given up on okra as it’s one of my favorite vegetables, so since I became a vegan I started cooking okra plain with tomatoes or with potatoes. For this recipe I used baby okra which I collected from my mom’s garden! I wish I lived in the country to have my own garden! This time I decided to go way back and enjoy this favorite dish with chicken style seitan.
I have to tell you that I am not a big fan of seitan. Or at least I wasn’t a big fan of seitan until recently. I had tested over 15 recipes, and more than 5 different brands, but I really couldn’t get into it. Until I tried the white seitan recipe from Viva Vegan. This is by far the best seitan recipe I’ve ever had. And as it almost tastes like chicken I thought to give it a try for this recipe. And it worked! Thanks to the wonderful Terry, and just in case you don’t own the Viva Vegan cookbook (well if you don’t, buy it asap!) I am sharing with you this amazing seitan recipe.
Ingredients
for the white seitan
1 ½ cups cold vegetable broth
4 cloves garlic, minced
2 Tbsp olive oil
1 ½ cups vital wheat gluten
¼ cup chickpea flour
¼ cup nutritional yeast
1 tsp dried thyme
½ tsp sweet paprika
½ tsp cumin
1 tsp salt
In a jug whisk together broth, garlic and olive oil. In a large bowl combine wheat gluten, chickpea flour, nutritional yeast, thyme, paprika, cumin and salt. Form a well in the center of dry ingredients, add the broth mixture, and stir well with rubber spatula until dough leaves side of the bowl. Knead f or 3 minutes to develop gluten. Let dough rest for 10 minutes and then knead again for 1 more minute. Place dough on a cutting board and cut into 4 equal pieces. Tear off pieces of foil, place each piece of dough in the center of the foil, fold the short sides of the foil over the seitan and then fold over the ends. The foil should be secure but loose allowing the seitan to expand. Place in a steamer basket and steam for 30 minutes. Allow the dough to cool and then refrigerate overnight. Store seitan in the fridge tightly sealed in a plastic bag for up to 2 weeks or freeze. Defrost before use.
"chicken" with okra
Ingredients
for the okra dish
2 loafs white seitan (half recipe of the above), cut in pieces
1 onion, diced
1 clove of garlic, minced
1/3 cup of olive oil
1 ½ – 2 cups of water
1 kg/2 pounds fresh or frozen baby okra
2 fresh tomatoes processed in the food processor or 1 can of crashed tomatoes
1/3 cup vinegar
Salt and pepper
"chicken" with okra
Place the okra in a colander, rinse with cold water, sprinkle with salt and vinegar and shake to coat all of them. Set aside at least for 2 hours before cooking. If it’s sunny out, cover with cheesecloth and let them dry outside. Heat the olive oil in a big pot over medium heat and sauté the onion, garlic, and seitan for about 10 minutes. Stir in the tomato, okra and water, season with salt and pepper and bring to a boil. Cover the pot, lower the heat and let it cook for about 25 to 30 minutes.
