Vegan Mofo V Day 11 - My Steamy Love Affair With Seitan (and Reuben too!)

I've never had much luck with seitan. Of the five or six times I've tried to make it, I've had a single success somewhere around attempt number three. I don't know whether I am kneading too much or not enough. Should I have flipped it over more times in the pot? Maybe the flame was too low? I don't need to wonder about the answers to these questions any longer. I also don't need to knead anything, now that I've finally wised up and tried Julie Hasson's method of steaming seitan. If you're late to the game like I was, don't hesitate any longer, get into it!

Since I've never steamed anything other than vegetables I was freaking out that I would mess this up. I tend to obsess about directions and wonder whether or not I am doing it right. To calm myself down and get an idea of what to expect I watched a video of the author making some sausages. It looked so easy I couldn't believe I was actually scared of seitan. How silly of me!


There are so many recipes I want to make from Vegan Diner but since it's "Sandwich Week", I had to go for the "Rockin' Reubens". While the "Pastrami-Style Seitan Roast" was steaming I made the "Very Secret Sauce", do chua for the next sammich on the schedule, and did the dishes. I had planned on making "Garlic Mashers" as well,  but due to my reading/napping break earlier in the day I was way off task. I might make them later in the week to go with my philly.

Instead of putting cheese on my reubens, I like to put avocado. Today I put more than usual since there was no one else to share it with and I didn't want to waste. So yes, there is a whole avocado on my sandwich. There is a whole lot of everything on it in fact. In my hungry haze I overloaded those two slices of bread, so it's kind of good that I served it alone. I don't think I would have had room for any potatoes after taking on this beast. I believe I've met my match!

Put the "U" in Reuben!

A week ago we went to see Forks Over Knives. Even though I like to think I know more than the average person about why we should stop eating animals, there is always more for me to learn. Also it reminds me that I need to go further than just "stop eating animals" and eat a hell of a lot more plants. I'd been in a health slump for a while now so this was exactly the reminder I needed to get back into gear and recommit myself to eating healthier, or at least making more of my own slightly unhealthy food (fried tofu!). Plus more cooking = more blogging, yay!

My new love for about a year now has been veganized Reuben sandwiches. I first had one at Real Food Daily so that was my benchmark for what they should taste like, having no remembrance of the meaty version. I tried another at Floré, and would have liked that one better, if I could find the tempeh. It was in strips and it seemed like they got lost in all of the avocado and cashew cheese, both of which were delicious, but I needed a bit more bite in my sammich. I will give them another chance next time I am out that way.

Since I can't always travel an hour just for a sammich, I tried making the RFD version at home. I unwisely did not figure out a way to reduce the recipes so I had way too much dressing and cheese spread with no one to feed it to. However, I did enjoy eating reubens for a few days without having to sit in traffic to get to them.

Luckily my favorite cookbook queen, Isa Chandra Moskowitz, saved the day like always. I don't know how I hadn't noticed her recipe for Tempeh Reubens in Vegan With a Vengeance, which is the first vegan cookbook I ever bought. I had almost all the ingredients, so I only needed a few items from the grocery store and I was ready to go. These sammiches turned out amazing and the first round was gobbled up too quickly to get a photo. I tried to get one of today's round two, but I was in such a hurry, I still didn't do it justice. Needless to say I will definitely be making these again. I'm glad I found a scaled down recipe that isn't as fussy with the ingredients without sacrificing any flavor. I didn't even miss the cheese since I had all that avocado goodness. They're fairly easy to make so get on it!

Reuben-Where You Been?

After making copies of some recipes a year ago, I finally made something from the Real Food Daily Cookbook today. I am so proud that my Total Reubens turned out totally awesome. It was a three step process to make the Reuben-style tempeh, Thousand Island Dressing and Tofu Ricotta Cheese but it was all worth it in the end. I marinated the tempeh since yesterday afternoon and made the other two spreads today. I wanted to make all three yesterday so they'd have time to chill/set, but it still worked out well. I couldn't find yellow miso for the ricotta so I had to use white. I think it came out just fine, but will try it again with yellow another time. I could just eat the ricotta on chips or crackers, which is what I probably will do since I didn't reduce the recipe and have quite a bit left over. Luckily we had an avocado on hand so we added that to the sandwich too since that's how we order it when we're at RFD. I have plenty of everything to make more sandwiches tomorrow so I'll have to get a picture of that one if I can stand to leave it alone for that long. My sister grilled ours in the pan, but I am a notoriously bad flipper so I might just toast the bread when I make them myself. We might go to brunch on Sunday so now I'm not sure what to order, but I will definitely get my own copy of the cookbook when funds permit.