Wheat “Meat”

My friend and chef, Steve, was kind enough to share this recipe with me and let me share it on my blog here! Thanks Steve! I made some VERY slight adjustments to the recipe he gave me as he works at ION Restaurant and designed his recipe to serve the masses.

For this recipe, you need:

• KitchenAid mixer or something similar with a dough hook (you can also combine by hand in a bowl and knead it if you don’t have a dough hook with a mixer)
• medium to large sauce pan
• cooking tongs or skimmer
• rolling pin (I used a cup before I had a rolling pin, you can improvise!)
• parchment paper or dough mat

This recipe is protein rich (20g of protein per 3 oz serving). The first way I made it was as chik’n parm! You could also marinade with vegan BBQ sauce (most are vegan if they don’t have honey) and grill it up! I will expand on directions for prepping the Wheat “Meat” in future posts. I posted the finished product because it’s not very pretty before it’s prepped.

Dough Ingredients:

• 1 cup vital wheat gluten flour
• 2/3 cup vegetable broth
• 2 Tbsp sesame tahini
• 2 Tbsp soy sauce
• 1 1/2 Tbsp nutritional yeast
• 1 tsp onion powder
• 1 tsp salt

Broth Ingredients:

• 1 tsp seasoned salt
• 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
• 1/2 tsp chili powder

Directions:

1. Combine dough ingredients in the bowl of the mixer.
2. Mix on speed 2 with dough hook attachment for 5-10 minutes or until dough has formed into a ball. Stop the mixer and scrape the sides of the bowl as needed. If you don’t have a mixer, knead by hand until all the dough is mixed thoroughly. A wooden spoon may be useful for this as well.
3. Once the dough is well mixed, shape into smaller pieces. (I use a scale to measure 50g dough balls to ensure the amount of protein per serving is accurate.)
4. On a dough mat or parchment paper, roll the pieces out to about 1/2 – 1 inch thickness.
5. Put water on the stove in the pot on high. Add broth ingredients to the water. Bring water to a boil.
6. Place the “meat” pieces into the boiling water using the tongs or skimmer. Boil for at least 40-45 minutes. The “meat” will start to flake apart slightly. You can tell if it’s cooked all the way by cutting into it. The middle section looks thicker/ there’s no texture or air bubbles, if it’s not fully cooked. The texture should be consistent throughout.
7. Remove the “meat” pieces from the water.
8. Allow them to cool slightly and prep as desired.

Enjoy!