Wednesday, December 28, 2011

First Recipe - Vegan Seitan Gyros with Tzatziki Sauce

Welcome to my blog!

I am so excited to share this first recipe with everyone. My diet has recently changed to slightly vegan/vegetarian, whole foods, plant-based diet. Growing up in WI means that I LOVE dairy. It has been really hard to take out all dairy, but I have finally been able to do it fairly easily, however, I do find that on occasion I have some cheese in a meal or use butter to cook. Make it known that I am not doing this diet because I am against an animal losing it's life for my consumption, but more to see how this diet works for me.

Anyway, so before I started this diet I had come to know the amazing food known as the Gyro. Being in Chicago means that I can get one on any corner, almost literally. Each one has it's ups and downs and I have come to know where to get a gyro around Chicago and where to avoid. Since I am eating vegan/vegetarian meals I can't eat gyros. Lately I have been craving them, but have not wanted to give in to eating meat, so naturally the next option is to find a vegan gyro recipe.

My default website to find vegan recipes is VegWeb.com and after a short search, I came across an amazing Vegan Gyro recipe with Tzatziki Sauce. Having eaten a real gyro before (and I have had a large variety of them in just about every city I have visited) I was worried that this would taste nothing like a real gyro. Obviously a vegan gyro will not taste like a real gyro, but the last recipe I found was created by someone who has never had a lamb gyro and admitted that it tasted nothing like them. This is not the case for this recipe. The seasoning is very on and topped with the amazing Tzatziki Sauce I almost forgot that it was vegan.

Having never made seitan before, I was a little worried that this wasn't going to turn out well. The recipe called for it to be steamed, but since I have such a small kitchen and limited supplies, I just used my rice cooker and steamed the seitan in the steaming tray. After it was done steaming I cut the loaf into slices to be cooked and then eaten!
It looks so good, right?


The way that I like to load up my pita is with a mix of salad greens, red onion, sliced tomatoes and tzatziki sauce. I got most of my ingredients from Whole Foods, but you should be able to get the ingredients from any health food store as well. Here is the recipe.

Seitan Gyros

Ingredients

Gyro spice mix:

  • 2 tablespoons chili powder
  • 1 tablespoon curry spice powder (I use McCormick mild)
  • 1 tablespoon garlic salt
  • 1 tablespoon dried parsley flakes
  • 1/2 tablespoon ground cumin
  • 1/2 tablespoon paprika
  • 2 teaspoons dried oregano
  • 2 teaspoons dried thyme
  • 1/2 teaspoon allspice

Seitan:
  • 1 cup vital wheat gluten
  • 1/4 cup nutritional yeast
  • 2 tablespoons gyro spice mix (recipe above)
  • 1 cup cold water
  • 1/2 lemon, juiced
  • 2 tablespoons olive oil

Gyros:
  • 4-6 vegan pitas
  • 1 onion, finely sliced, optional
  • 1 tomato, finely sliced, optional
  • cucumber sauce, to serve, optional

Directions:

1. To make spice mix, combine all spices. This makes enough spice for several batches of gyros. Store in a tight lidded container between uses. For seitan, place all dry ingredients in a large bowl, and stir with a fork until well mixed.

2. Add in cold water. Stir with fork until well blended. Knead dough about 23-30 squeezes by hand to make sure all ingredients are well incorporated. Let dough rest 10 minutes or so, and knead dough again for another 2-3 minutes to build up elasticity. Prepare steamer or steamer basket.

3. Form dough into loaf type shape, keeping the loaf about 1" thick (will rise while steaming). Tear off tin foil sheet about 12" long. Spray shiny side of foil with cooking spray. Lay seitan loaf in center of foil. Fold tinfoil up around seitan loaf making an envelope type shape (be sure to leave room around loaf to allow dough to expand while steaming).

4. Fold and pinch outside edges of foil together to make a tight seam (middle seam should be overlapping, it is ok if it is not pinched). Steam dough in foil envelope for about 50 minutes. Remove from steamer, and allow to cool for 5-10 minutes. Unwrap finished seitan loaf, and slice into strips 1/8-1/4" thick. Squeeze lemon juice over seitan slices, and allow to sink in while oil heats in pan.

5. Heat oil in a large pan. Add seitan slices, and fry until slightly browned on all sides, about 3-5 minutes each side. Remove from pan, but keep warm. Heat pitas, one at a time, in hot pan. Place on a plate and spoon gyro "meat" mixture into each pita. If desired, top with favorite cucumber sauce recipe, onions, and tomatoes.

Enjoy!

Makes: 4-6 gyros, Preparation time: 20 min, Cooking time: 1 hr +/-

Recipe can be found here.



And let's not forget the Tzatziki Sauce!


Tzatziki Sauce

Ingredients 
  • 1/2 (8-ounce) container vegan sour cream
  • 1/2 lemon, squeezed
  • 1 clove garlic, minced
  • 1/4 cup cucumber, minced
  • 2 tablespoons fresh parsley, minced
  • 1-1/2 tablespoons fresh dill, minced
  • 1 tablespoon olive oil
  • 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
  • 1/4 teaspoon paprika
  • ground pepper, to taste

Directions:

Combine all ingredients. Mix well.

Recipe can be found here.


For this recipe I like to use Cilantro instead of parsley, but that is my personal taste. I usually just do dill in the normal Tzatziki Sauce that I make, but wanted to share this version.



Mad props to Jamie Monster on VegWeb.com for this gyro recipe and veganmiss for the Tzatziki recipe!



Finished Seitan Gyro with Tzatziki Sauce


For this meal I paid about $15 for all of the ingredients. Most recipes that I have I won't include the cost of everything because I usually have those things stocked (such as seasonings, herbs, etc.). Here is the list of everything that I purchased:

  • Sanabel Bakery Fresh Whole Wheat Pita Bread (local) - $2.99 for a pack of 8 large pitas.
  • Earthbound Farm Organic Mixed Baby Greens (4oz bag) - $2.49
  • Tofutti Milkfree Sour Cream (12oz container) - $2.39
  • Small Organic, Fair Trade Cucumber - 48¢
  • One Bundle of Cilantro - Free because is wasn't ringing up right at the register
  • One Organic Lemon - 93¢
  • One Cup Vital Wheat Gluten (.36 lbs @ $3.99/lb) - $1.44
  • One Bundle of Dill - 69¢
Total - $11.41 for 4-6 gyros

(I didn't include the cost of the seasonings, garlic, tomato, onion or olive oil because those are things that I always have in my kitchen.)

Price of a Gryo at a local restaurant: $4.95 for one sandwich.

Until next time...
Happy Snacking!

5 comments:

  1. Ok, So I tried this. Not bad, but not a gyro IMO. Similar in taste but the texture was wrong. Maybe I overcooked the Seitan.

    Chad

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  2. I have never made my own seitan before. You have inspired me! A great idea to use the rice cooker for your steamer. Sometimes I forget it has that function.

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  3. How does the texture of steaming the wheat gluten compare to boiled or baked?

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  4. How does the texture of steaming the wheat gluten compare to boiled or baked?

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    Replies
    1. So sorry for the delayed (3 year response)! I have never boiled or baked wheat gluten, though I plan on doing it soon. Totally forgot about this blog for a while, but I am trying to bring it back. Once I have tried these recipes I will be posting about them and let you know!

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