Chicken Seitan-Easy Recipe

About six months ago I became a vegetarian after being scared straight by the movie Okja. I was scared almost straight several years ago after watching Forks Over Knives, and again when I visited my doctor and was told I need to get my cholesterol down. But this time it stuck. Maybe it’s because I have a house full of animals now and just had a couple back then, or because I’m older, or because I’m a Californian now.

I’ve been doing well with the life change and have no interest whatsoever in going back to real meat. Sometimes though, I enjoy a meat substitute. I bought some  Primal Strips “beef” jerky online recently and really liked it. I read that it was made from Seitan. I’d never heard of this before and did quite a bit of research to figure out what it was, how to make it, and how to pronounce it.

For starters, I think it’s pronounced (Say-tahn) accent on the second syllable. My BF calls it Satan because he hates meat substitutes.

Through much trial and error I am posting my recipe and directions for Chicken Seitan. It came out good on the first try and I’ve made it twice since. You can eat it straight out of the steamer, sliced or chopped, but it’s better mixed into something.

Two variations I’ve tried were making into “Chicken” salad. For that I put one of the four hunks of cooked “meat” into the food processor and mixed it with mayo, some BBQ spices and chopped celery. It tasted and felt a lot like real chicken salad.

Another variation was for Buffalo Chicken Dip which I’ll show directions for in another blog entry. We ate it all and I forgot to take pictures.

Below is the recipe for the Chicken Seitan base. Change the spices around as you see fit. Substitute it anywhere you’d use chicken and it should come out just fine. I’ve tried it in stir fry and cold salads and it’s perfect!

Chicken Seitan

• 1.5 cups cold broth
• 2 tbl olive oil
• 1.5 cups vital wheat gluten (You can get this at any grocery store in the baking aisle)
• 1/4 cup chickpea flour
• 1/3 cup nutritional yeast (I got this at my Sprouts-your grocery store may not have it)
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• 1.5 tsp poultry seasoning
• ½ tsp paprika
• ½ tsp onion powder

Whisk together broth and oil, set aside.

Mix dry ingredients and then knead for 3 minutes. I start mixing with a spoon to cut down on mess, then used my hands once it pulled together. It’ll be elastic and you won’t need flour or oil. It’s not sticky.

Let it rest for 10 minutes then knead for 15 seconds. Cut in 4 pieces.  Wrap loosely in foil and steam for 30 minutes. I used my rice cooker on Steam. Super easy.

Let it cool for 30 minutes before putting in fridge.

Store it in zip lock bags. These pieces will stay good in the fridge 2 weeks. You can freeze them for months..

 

 

The Menders: Pilot

A couple of years ago when I was attending a Writers’ Conference in Atlanta, I attended a panel about screenwriting, and how to sell your book or script to Hollywood. The main messages were: It’s really hard to do, network like crazy, learn your craft, don’t give up, network some more, know your market, write well, and network like crazy.

Being somewhat shy, I have an issue with networking like crazy. I can do it when I have to but it’s not my favorite thing. There was one other big message. Get an account on Stage 32.

It’s a great site that lets you meet other writers, and pitch your work. It shows you how to pitch your work. They’ve got articles and classes and contests…

I did this some time ago and every once in a while sent in pitches for my TV pilot. I always take the written pitches and never the Skype ones because, well, the shy/ insecure thing. I’ve done it twice and got kind of mean feedback on one, because of a typo in the pitch, and a note that the format of the pitch was wrong. It’s worth noting that the format is shown as an example on the Stage 32 site. The second pitch’s receiver was very nice (had a small typo of her own and didn’t mention mine). She really liked it and said the writing was very good and it was an original story. Not enough to take it, but she gave me hope and gave a valid critique. Both resulting in my tweaking my pitch and logline.

I had forgotten that I’d entered the Happy Writers 3rd Annual TV Writing Contest back in February. The thing that’s good about contests is that I usually get feedback, it makes me feel like I’m trying to sell my work, and it’s all electronic.

I was very happy to open an email the other day letting me know that I placed in the TOP 10 in the contest. I didn’t win but that’s okay. Even placing in the top 10 is a big deal, to me at least. It boosted my confidence just enough that maybe I’ll try to market it a little harder, and maybe even write a new screenplay or book or story one of these days.