May 1, 2010: Kentucky-Style Seitan Ribz

We receive got an American colleague spending a twelvemonth at my workplace. He as well as his household unit of measurement receive got been making the most of their fourth dimension inward this purpose of the world, holidaying extensively throughout Commonwealth of Australia as well as New Zealand every bit good every bit making numerous weekend trips around Victoria. They've also shared a lilliputian of their civilisation amongst us Antipodeans, putting on a fabulous Thanksgiving spread terminal November. And, when the northern springtime rolled around, they upheld their 20-year tradition of hosting a Kentucky Derby party.

Mindful that there'd hold out many guests as well as non many vegetarians, I volunteered to choose along something thematically appropriate to share.  There are a few vege-based Kentucky Derby side dishes around but the meat is clearly the bigger attraction as well as I was speedily attracted to the persuasion of mimicking barbecued ribs.  It was as well as thus I remembered Lindyloo's bully success amongst SusanV's recipe for seitan ribz.  I mentioned my conception to Kristy as well as Toby over dinner at Yong, as well as they recommended I glaze them amongst Vegan Dad's Memphis BBQ sauce recipe.

This was fantabulous advice.  The sauce is a less-than-nutritious mix of ketchup, spices, lots of saccharide and, if you're going amongst the Kentucky theme, bourbon.  Slathered all over those chewy gluteny ribz it's sugariness as well as a lilliputian spicy and, my hosts assured me, a pretty skillful fit for the existent deal.  Actually I knew it non to hold out the existent Kentucky deal, because I used a mini-bar-sized bottle of whiskey inward house of the not-so-mini-bar-sized bottle of bourbon available at my local bottle shop.  I couldn't imagine how I'd acquire through the remainder of such a quantity, though I learned a affair or 2 virtually mint juleps afterwards on.  My 2nd transgression was to occupation the grill setting on my oven inward house of a barbecue - a low-fuss as well as highly successful alternative.

The seitan, made via the gluten flour short-cut, is real slowly to prepare.  Though its ain flavor didn't actually bear through, it was sure a worthy vessel for the sauce.  Many party-goers hadn't encountered this faux-meat earlier as well as it elicited many guffaws, spell the sauce kept people going dorsum for a 2nd bite.  Michael heroically went dorsum for to a greater extent than bites all the same every bit the political party wore on, ensuring that I could receive got an empty dish domicile amongst me.

Kentucky-style seitan ribz
(based on recipes at FatFree Vegan Kitchen as well as Vegan Dad)

sauce
1/4 loving cup vegan margarine
1 onion, finely chopped
three cloves garlic, minced
1/4 loving cup apple tree cider vinegar
1/4 loving cup bourbon or whiskey
1 loving cup ketchup
1/3 loving cup maple syrup
1/3 loving cup chocolate-brown sugar
1 tablespoons vegetarian Worcestershire sauce
1 tablespoon mustard
a few dashes of hot sauce

ribz dough
1 1/2 cups gluten flour
three teaspoons smoked paprika
three tablespoons nutritional yeast
three teaspoons onion powder
1 1/2 teaspoons garlic powder
1 generous loving cup water
three tablespoons tahini
1 1/2 teaspoons liquid smoke
1 1/2 tablespoons soy sauce

First, brand the sauce inward a medium-sized saucepan.  Melt the margarine, as well as thus gently saute the onion as well as garlic inward it until they're reduced as well as chocolate-brown (this took me 20-30 minutes).  Add the remaining sauce ingredients, choose them briefly to the boil, as well as thus plough downwards the estrus as well as simmer the sauce for xx minutes.  Set the sauce aside spell you lot fix the ribz.

Preheat the oven to 180°C as well as lightly grease a baking tray.  In a large bowl, mix together the gluten flour, paprika, yeast flakes, onion pulverization as well as garlic powder.  In a split smaller bowl, whisk together the remaining dough ingredients.  It powerfulness hold out hard to move along the H2O as well as tahini from separating but hold out every bit thorough every bit you lot can, to forbid tahini globs inward the dough.  Mix the liquid ingredients into the dry out ingredients as well as knead them together lightly inward the bowl for a duet of minutes.

Place the dough inward the baking tray as well as flatten it out amongst your hands thus that it covers the base of operations evenly.  Slice the dough into long, sparse rib shapes.  (I used a pizza bicycle to brand 1 long cutting through the middle, as well as thus virtually a dozen shorter cross-cuts to exercise 2cm-wide 'ribs'.)  Bake the seitan for 25 minutes.

While the seitan is baking, force the sauce through a sieve to take the onion chunks.  When the ribz are ready, take them from the oven as well as describe over the rib cuts again.  Slather one-half of the sauce over the tiptop of the ribs.

If you're using a barbecue, ready the ribs sauce-side-down on the grill as well as slather the remaining sauce on the tiptop side.  Turn it 1 time to ready the other side as well as serve.

If you're using your oven's grill, house it nether the estrus sauce-side upwards until the surface is bubbling as well as browned (be real careful non to mail away it!).  Gently flip the ribs over inward the dish, slathering the remaining sauce on the other side as well as grilling it until it's also bubbling as well as brown.