Tuesday 2 June 2015

BBQ Seitan Ribz!

Saucy. Crunchy. Chewy. Ribz. 

That is what Faith requested. After trying lots of different recipes for Seitan Ribz I found online, this is the best one yet! 

You'll need:

2 cups vital wheat gluten 
4 tbsp nooch
2 tbsp smoked paprika 
4 tsp onion powder
2 tsp garlic powder
1.5 cups vegan needless broth, concentrated* 
1/4 cup green lentils (canned or cooked)
2 tsp liquid smoke (I used hickory)
2 tbsp tamari 

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. 

Whisk all dry ingredients together in a bowl and set aside. In a food processor, blend the green lentils with the tamari, liquid smoke and enough broth to make a paste. When the lentils are sufficiently broken down, add the remaining broth and pulse. 

*for the broth, when I make it from "cube" form it calls for 1/2 a cube for 1 cup of boiling water. Instead, I do 1 whole cube to 1.5 cups water to make it more concentrated. 

I have a ninja system, so I swap the blade for a dough hook and add the dry to the wet. If you don't, you can mix with a spatula by hand until you think your arm might fall off. Then go for another two or three minutes and stop.

Once your dough is well mixed, transfer onto a parchment lined cookie sheet and punch/hammer/beat into as rectangular of a shape as you can. The dough will be elastic like but stay with it. It's ok if some parts are thicker or thinner. Even some holes are ok; they'll all get sauced and bbq'd later anyway. 

Bake for 25 minutes, then flip over and bake for another 5. Once cooled, cut one slice down the middle and every inch or so horizontally into "rib" shapes. 

From here, you can sauce and BBQ on the top rack for 5 minutes per side or marinade in BBQ sauce for a day or two before grilling. 

Grilling tip: Cook on the top rack, because they're already cooked you just want to crisp them up and with the amount of sugar in BBQ sauce they can burn really easily. 

Also, reserve a little extra sauce to drown them in while plated and there you have it. 

Saucy. Crunchy. Chewy. Ribz. Enjoy!