Roast Vegan No-Turkey Turkey (or Chicken!) by Seitan Kitchen

Step 1

Pop unpressed tofu in a blender (I use a NutriNinja 900w) with seasoning, stock powder, oil, water and mix until smooth. Only put just enough water so the tofu can be mixed, it should be quite thick. Start with 1/4 cup and add more if needed.

Step 2

Pour tofu sauce in a bowl, add baking powder and start mixing in your vital wheat gluten. You will have put enough vital wheat gluten when the dough is still very moist, but firm enough for you to just be able to knead it lightly. 
You might need more than 1 1/2 cups depending on how liquid your tofu sauce is.

Step 3

Now, take a small handful of the dough and pop in your blender. For my Ninja I normally pulse for about 30sec -1min in total (pulse 1-2 secs, stop, pulse another 1-2secs, etc).If using a food processor you can put bigger pieces of dough in and let it run for longer.Stop to unwrap the dough off the blades if the engine starts struggling (almost set mine on fire first time I made this!). You’re done mixing when the dough is super smooth and kind of feels like soft chewing gum. Sticky, warm, elastic and smooth. Repeat with the rest of the dough pieces.

Step 4

When they’re all mixed, just gently push them together in a bowl to make the seitan more uniform. The dough pieces should be sticky enough to attach to eachother. Don’t knead too much, you want the gluten fibres going in different directions.This is how my dough looks once it’s all processed, pre-shaping:

Step 5

Prepare simmering broth. Use a pot that isn’t too much wider than the seitan to prevent it from expanding too much sideways. Fill it up with enough water that you know would cover the seitan. Pop all broth ingredients in and bring to a simmer.Taste the broth. It should be chickeny, but not salty! This is important as the broth will be used later on.

Step 6

Once the broth is simmering, take a sharp knife and stab the seitan all over. No mercy. We want the simmering broth to reach all the way inside. Then pop the seitan in the broth and let it simmer (make sure it’s a low simmer!) for about 2hrs. Turn dough a couple of times during the simmering process and as you do, stab the seitan a few more times in the middle to make sure broth keeps getting in there.The seitan is done once you check on it and it’s suddenly gone ‘poof’ and turned into a sponge. Worry not. This is good.
Now gently transfer seitan to an oven dish roughly the same size as the seitan, cover and set it aside to cool. I put mine outside in the snow for an hour or two.

Step 7

As seitan is cooling, mash up the garlic cloves inside the broth. Taste to make sure it’s not too salty. If it’s too watery you can reduce it a bit.

Step 8

Turn the oven on, quite high. About 200-210C fan / 220-230C conventional (which is like a bazillion (in fahrenheit).Pour about 1/2 cup of the broth over the seitan. Save the rest for something fun (like gravy). Then rub a couple of tablespoons of oil, a teaspoon of soy sauce and teaspoon of chicken seasoning on it. This + the high heat will make the skin.
Finally put seitan in the oven, until top has a nice colour. Take it out, flip it around and brown the other side too if you want. The seitan will now be much firmer than its previous sponge state.

Step 9

When the seitan is done and out of the oven, flip it around in the broth so it gets juicy all over. Then, sorry guys, pop it in the fridge overnight. It will firm up beautifully and really soak up all the juices.When it’s time to eat, I’d recommend slicing the roast cold, dipping slices in broth and then letting them heat up by pouring hot gravy all over your plate. 👌