Savory Seitan

I have quite a strange relationship with food. I do not only enjoy eating, preparing or buying food, I even like to only look at it. I just love the colours, the smell, the texture and of course the taste of different food items. On the other hand I also try to eat as healthy as possible in order to provide my body all nutrients and enough energy. Having tried many different diets and lifestyles together with the fact that I simply adore all kind of vegetables, made me end up as a vegetarian, but I tend to cook vegan meals if I prepare them for myself. This works best for me and my body, so that I feel the most energetic, dynamic and motivated I have ever felt in my entire life. One reason why this diet works so great for me is that I simply adore carrots, tomatoes, eggplants, celery,... and as well as starchy vegetables like rice, potatoes, bulgur, buckwheat and quinoa. However, sometimes I just like to add something with a bit more protein to my meals. Most people only think of tofu when it comes to vegan protein, but there are a lot more options, such as beans, lentils or seitan.

Sei...what?

Seitan! Seitan is made from pure wheat protein, better known as "gluten". It was traditionally used by Zen-Buddhists as a substitute for meat and therefore is a meal of Chinese and Japanese origin.

Attention!!! If you suffer from celiac disease or if your body has any other issue with digesting gluten, then you should not try this recipe!!!

There are basically two different ways to prepare seitan. The more common one is to buy whole wheat flour and rinse it with cold water until the water runs clear, so that only the gluten is left. This can be quite tricky, so I am going to show you the other option.

You will need:

- 250g of gluten
- 250ml of water
- 2 tsp. garlic powder
- 1.7 liter of vegetable broth
- 2 tsp. soy sauce
- approximately 100g of tomato paste
- ½ small onion, diced
- 1 clove garlic, crushed

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At first, combine wheat gluten, salt and garlic powder in large bowl. 

Add water and the soy sauce and knead the mixture until a dough forms. You may need to add more water if necessary. 

Continue kneading the dough in the bowl until its consistence turns elastic.

Cut the dough into smaller pieces and place them in a large saucepan.

Now add the diced onion, the tomato paste, the garlic, and enough vegetable broth to cover the seitan. 

Bring everything to a boil over medium heat, before reducing the heat in order to let it simmer 30 to 45 minutes, until the seitan is firm.

Now remove everything from the heat. It is important to let the seitan cool down in the vegetable broth, as it soaks up the flavours over night. 

The seitan is now ready to be steamed, baked, fried or used in any dish that ordinarily requires meat. Feel free to play around with flavors and shapes!

Enjoy!

Who am I?

As most of you know, I am somehow obsessed with sports and train at least two hours on an average day, six days a week. So people who visit me at home are not really surprised to see a whole shelf stuffed with sports equipment when they enter my living room. If they have a look through it, they can see dumbbells of different sizes, colourful thera-  and deuserbands, all kind of running shoes, skipping ropes made from different materials and a ... hm ... yea, what is that strange thing?

I have had people asking me if it was a kind of a knight's helmet or the protection cloth that beekeepers wear ...but I can tell you I'm definitely not breeding bees, it is actually a fencing mask! Believe it or not, but I used to be a competitive épée fencer until the age of fourteen. But let me tell you the whole story. It all started in primary school, when Lissy, former Olympic épée fencer and trainer of the UWK fencing club, was searching for young talents. Therefore she visited several schools, bringing equipment with her and giving brief instructions before the children were allowed to just try it out. The ones who she thought were talented received an invitation for a free lesson at the club ... and I was one of those who got selected. So I went there - and immediately knew I loved it! I used to be a shy, quiet and self-conscious child, but training at the club, as well as fencing itself made me gain more and more self confidence.

I spent four great years there and found some true friends, with whom I shared numerous amazing moments, e.g. winning a bronze and a silver medal as a team at the Austrian Championship, taking part in a World Cup tournament and of course endless hours of hard training. One of my personal highlights was the Styrian Championship in 2009, where I fought really well and even managed to win the title.

Now you may ask "Why the hell did you quit if you had such a great time?" ... Yep, that is a good question, and to be honest, I still regret it a little bit. The reason why I quit was that I simply lost the motivation. The problem was, that while I was a fast, confident, and technically strong athlete at the club, I suddenly was full of doubt when entering the competition hall and lost against opponents, who I actually should have beaten easily. Nowadays I sometimes feel like I just should have been more patient but on the other hand, to quit fencing enabled me to try out so many other things and to make a whole lot of new experiences.

So that is it - the story behind the mysterious blue helmet hanging in my living room.