[Firebird Rising]

See, I'm going on a trip on Friday. In order to save money, we're going to try to eat as much food as we can bring (well, okay, maybe we'll eat at one or two restaurants during the two evenings/three days.

So, one of the things I'm making is smoked turkey sandwich "meat" It's made from gluten (hope there's no sensitivity to that in my fellow travelers).

I made it tonight, to get it ready for the trip. I'm going to freeze it so it can help keep things cold.



Here's the recipe (altered from the blogspot by Vegan Dad www.vegandad.blogspot.com ):

Smoked "Turkey"

INGREDIENTS
- 1 lb tofu, firm (not silken)
- 2 1/4 cups water
- 2 tsp soy sauce
- 1 tsp Bragg's (or can sub soy sauce)
- 1/4 cup nutritional yeast
- 1 tsp paprika
- 2 tsp onion powder
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- 1/4 tsp tumeric
- 2 tsp poultry seasoning
- 1/4 tsp hickory liquid smoke
- 3 1/4 cups vital wheat gluten

Get water steaming in your steamer. You will need a large steamer.
1. Place all ingredients except the gluten flour in a blender and process until very smooth. Pour into a bowl. Add gluten flour and work into a dough. Knead for a few mins to let gluten develop.
2. Shape dough into a log and wrap in heavy duty foil like a tootsie roll. Try to make the roll as thick as possible. Steam for 1 hour.
3. Preheat oven to 350 degrees in the last 15 mins of steaming. Remove seitan from steamer and bake for 40-50 mins. Seitan should swell and press against the foil.
4. Cool and slice as needed for sandwiches. This seitan holds up very well and can be shaved very thin. Store in the fridge or freezer. This recipe makes a lot, so you can cut it into 3 or four chunks and store them away for later.
5. I fried mine in a fairly dry skillet and added just a bit of salt to help it flavor a bit more. Here's a pic of it frying.



HMMMM, what shall I make tomorrow, in prep for my trip? There might be some tamales in the works...We'll see