I’ve tried a few different flavours of homemade seitan sausages, but these ones are really good. Mr Thrifty says they’re the best yet, but he says that every time I make seitan sausages.
I usually put all of the ingredients, other than the wheat gluten, into a blender and process until smooth. This time, I wanted little bits instead of a uniform texture, so the fennel, pepper and sundried tomatoes were stirred in after the other stuff was blenderised.
These sausages have Italian-type seasonings, which goes well with the sundried tomato flavour. They’re a bit softer than my other veggie sausages because of the tomatoes.
If you try the dough before you cook it, you’ll probably think there’s too much garlic, but the garlic flavour really mellows when they’re cooked.
Some bloggers wrap their sausages in foil before steaming. I don’t like to use foil right next to food. When I first made seitan sausages, I wrapped them in parchment paper, then in foil, before steaming, but sometimes they can burst the foil. Also I found I had to use new foil every time because it always tore when I unwrapped the sausages. Last time I tried wrapping them in parchment, then in cheesecloth. This worked better, and the cheesecloth can be reused. I also love Monique’s idea of wrapping veggie sausages in handkerchiefs before steaming, and I want to try that method as well.
One note about the gluten. It seems that every time I weigh gluten, then measure it by volume, I get a slightly different result. If you are using American (volume) measurements, you may find you need a bit more or less gluten.
The dough should soft, but not so sticky that it sticks to your hands. It won’t matter if the measurements are off a bit… the sausages will still cook through okay, they just might be a little softer or firmer than you want; take notice of the texture of the dough before you cook them, and adjust it accordingly next time.
Sundried-tomato seitan sausages
| British | American | |||
| 30g | ground almonds | 5 tablespoons | ||
| 250g | tofu | 9 ounces | ||
| 1-1/2 tablespoons | red wine | 1-1/2 tablespoons | ||
| 1 tablespoon | soy sauce | 1 tablespoon | ||
| 1 | vegan bouillon cube (I used mushroom) | 1 | ||
| (enough for 2 cups water) | ||||
| 3 tablespoons | oil from sun-dried tomatoes | 3 tablespoons | ||
| 34g | finely chopped onion | 1/4 cup | ||
| 1 tablespoon | nutritional yeast | 1 tablespoon | ||
| 1 tablespoon | minced fresh garlic | 1 tablespoon | ||
| 2 teaspoons | sweet paprika | 2 teaspoons | ||
| 1/4 teaspoon | cayenne pepper | 1/4 teaspoon | ||
| 1/8 teaspoon | ground anise | 1/8 teaspoon | ||
| 8 | sundried tomato halves, finely chopped | 8 | ||
| 1-1/2 teaspoons | cracked black pepper | 1-1/2 teaspoons | ||
| 3/4 teaspoon | toasted fennel seeds | 3/4 teaspoon | ||
| 160g | vital wheat gluten flour | 1 cup + 3 tablespoons |
1. If you’re starting with whole almonds, grind them in the blender first while it’s still clean and dry, then remove and set aside.
2. Crumble the tofu into the blender. Put the bouillon cube into a glass measuring cup and add a couple of tablespoons of boiling water; stir to dissolve the cube. Add red wine and soy sauce to measuring cup, then add enough water so the mixture equals 100ml (6-1/2 tablespoons). Add this to the blender.
3. Add remaining ingredients to blender EXCEPT tomatoes, pepper, fennel and gluten. Blenderise until completely smooth. Empty into a large mixing bowl.
4. Toast fennel seeds in a clean, dry skillet (I use cast iron) until fragrant and starting to turn light brown. Remove from skillet and grind coarsely in a mortar and pestle.
5. Add fennel, cracked pepper and sundried tomatoes to tofu mixture in bowl and stir until evenly combined. Then add gluten and mix well, until you have a uniform soft dough.
6. Divide dough into six pieces. Roll each piece into a sausage shape (make sure you don’t roll them longer than your steamer!). Wrap each sausage in parchment paper and then in aluminium foil or cheesecloth. Lightly twist the ends together if using foil, or tie them with string if using cheesecloth.
7. Bring water to boil in a pot that has a steamer insert. Arrange wrapped sausages in your steamer insert. If using foil, arrange with seam side down as this reduces the likelihood of a foil blowout. Packing the sausages tightly in the steamer also reduces this chance. I arrange three sausages on the bottom of the steamer insert, then another three at a 90 degree angle on top of them.
8. Steam for 40 minutes over gently simmering water. If you’ve arranged your sausages in two layers, switch their positions halfway through the cooking time (bottom ones on top and top ones on bottom). Turn heat off and let cool.
9. To cook, gently pan fry until golden.
Can be frozen for future use (leave them wrapped and place in a plastic freezer bag).
Makes six sausages.
These look so good. I have been wondering how to actually make sausages on my own. I was looking online for sausage casings that are not made of animal, and found this: http://www.vegicase.com/
Interesting! I wonder if that is what some of the veggie sausage manufacturers use. Another possible alternative is bean curd skin (aka yuba). We buy a product called yam rolls, the skin of which is a bit like sausage skin. It’s made from bean curd skin.
How lucky Mr.Thrifty is! Does he know that?
ya, he does mention that 🙂
looks really good. I’ll have to try the cheesecloth method of steaming. I’m not in love w/ aluminum foil either except that it’s recyclable.
Yummy. I can’t wait to try them. My son loves hotdogs but doesn’t like the tofu dogs they sell in the stores.
Hi Felicity! I was looking at your blog and these sausages look delicious. I was wondering if I could use walnuts instead of the almonds as I usually have walnuts on hand.
Hi Shannon — I’ve used both almonds and cashews in my sausage recipes, so I think walnuts would work fine as well. Let me know how it goes! 🙂
I have been vegetarian since February, so a little less than three months. This is the best. I am making it again tomorrow with a little bit more fennel (I didn’t have any anise, so that is probably why it needed just a little more oomph) and I might put a little Parmesan in it. I didn’t have any nuts so I used some rolled oats. Money saver and less fat. I have been trying seitan and tofu in every way I can find, and this is going to be my go to winner. I have non vegetarian teenagers loving this! Thank you. You are a god send!! Oh, and it helps that is is ridiculously easy!!
Hi,. I am wondering where you purchase your wheat gluten from in the UK? I’m at this very moment in time making the snags but I had to use strong bread flour and follow the washing out the starch process to leave me with gluten, so fingers crossed, we will see how they come out of the steamer. Of course it washes a lot of the ingredients out as well. Ive not to this day been able to find pure gluten flour, I live in Cambrdige, UK.
Great and helpful site you have here.
Cheers,
Prema
Hi Prema — I actually mail order wheat gluten from American company iHerb. They have really cheap shipping to the UK (only $4), and if you keep the order total under £18 (£15 as of November 1st), it will come straight through without any delays at customs. My orders usually take 10 days to arrive. I order tons of stuff from them, everything from supplements to snacks (Annie Chun’s roasted seaweed snacks are awesome!) I’ve been using them for about 10 years without any problems. If you want to give them a try, coupon FUL251 will give you $5 off your first order.
Wheat gluten is also available in the UK from Flour Bin and Low Carb Megastore.
hello mrs. thrifty, i was wondering if you have ever done these in a pressure cooker as i dont have a steamer but would love to make these!
btw… i am american but married a scottsman and used to spend lots of time near abergorlech which is near hereford! the food looks good on your pages however, the view really has my heart! my husband has been looking at scottish youtube pictures of the scenery i have been telling him for some weeks now he is homesick… he didn’t think so. being a very active person he has been laid up sick this past week and well… today he pulled out the videos again and i told him he is homesick and he smiled and agreed. i wish to go back… we are in good ol’ arkansas.
Hi tara marie — Sorry, I don’t own a pressure cooker so haven’t tried the sausages that way. Do let me know if you try them like that
The photo in my header was taken in Wales, but of course there are many scenic places in the UK. For such a small island, we really have so much fantastic scenery. Hope you make it back here soon 🙂
Hi- love your sausages, couple questions.
1) Can I use walnuts instead? If yes would the flavor be much different?
2) Any other alternative to the wine? I have red wine vinegar…no actual wine? What do you think would be the out come?
Would love to tackle this today.
Thank you!!!
Walnuts have a stronger taste, so this flavour might be noticeable, but other than that, they should work fine. Vegetable broth could be used in place of the wine 🙂