Chickeny seitan cutlets with mushroom gravy

Sometimes I’m in the mood for a big ol’ slab of protein… seitan, that is!

A couple of days ago, I made Matt’s recipe for Chickeny seitan cutlets. I tweaked the spices slightly (I omitted the bay leaf and instead added celery seed and freshly ground pepper); used regular tofu instead of silken; and made half a recipe.

I like this recipe because it involves cooking the seitan cutlets in broth in the oven. This is easier than cooking them in a pot on the hob, where inattention can mean the difference between seitan cutlets and seitan brains. I checked them after about an hour, and they still seemed a long way from cooked, so I increased the temperature to 180C (350F). That did the trick and they were perfectly cooked in a total of just over 1-1/2 hours.

I then dusted the cutlets with flour and panfried them.

We served them with Mr Thrifty’s special mash, creamy mushroom gravy and a red cabbage salad from Epicurious.

The cutlets were delicious, tender and tasty, and the gravy was a perfect accompaniment. As for Mr Thrifty’s mash… well let’s just say, this is the mash that turned me into a mashed potato lover. The salad, I have to admit, was not my favourite; the flavours just didn’t seem to work together very well.

The best thing about the cutlets is that there were four left over. Yesterday I thinly sliced two of them to use as chickeny strips in Buddha bowls, and they were excellent in that role as well.

So when you have a few minutes, go and check out Matt’s blog My Veggie Kitchen, he’s got a lot of great vegan recipes.

Creamy mushroom gravy

1. Reserve two tablespoons of the bouillon and heat the rest in a small pot over medium heat. As it is heating, add the nutritional yeast, soy sauce, thyme, and salt & pepper to taste.

2. Meanwhile, mix the cornflour (cornstarch) into the reserved bouillon and set aside.

3. When the bouillon in the pot comes to a simmer, give the cornflour/bouillon mixture a stir and add it to the pot, whisking continuously, and bring again to a simmer, whisking all the while. The mixture will thicken as the cornflour cooks.

4. Whisk in the optional cream cheese until incorporated.

5. Add sliced mushrooms and stir. Cover, turn heat to low, and cook at a gentle simmer until mushrooms are cooked, about five minutes.