Barbecued Seitan Ribz

Sunday was such a beautiful day that I had to get outside, away from the kitchen and the computer, and just enjoy the sunshine and flowers. I spent all of last week closeted in my office trying to copy files and programs to a new computer and set up a new home network. By Sunday I had had enough. I wanted to spend as much of the day outside as I could.

For a few weeks I've been planning on cooking this barbecued seitan, but the timing and weather were never quite right. Though it's started in the kitchen, it's finished up on the grill, giving it the smoky taste that only grilling can impart. I've found that cooking outside is much less stressful if most of the foods are pre-cooked at least a little in the kitchen; long grilling times, different foods finishing at different times, and potential burning all can be avoided with a little strategic pre-cooking in the microwave or oven.

Update: Thanks to Julie Hasson for featuring this recipe on Everyday Dish. Be sure to check out her video!



Barbecued Seitan Ribz
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Like Veggeroni, this seitan is baked dry rather than boiled. The results are a little spongier than Veggeroni, less dense, but I think the texture is perfect for absorbing the flavor of the barbecue sauce. You'll be amazed at how easy this recipe comes together using your favorite bottled sauce.

1 cup vital wheat gluten
2 teaspoons smoked Spanish paprika
2 tablespoons nutritional yeast
2 teaspoons onion powder
1 teaspoon garlic powder
3/4 cup water
2 tablespoons tahini or other nut butter
1 teaspoon Liquid Smoke
1 tablespoon soy sauce
about 1 cup of your favorite barbecue sauce

Preheat the oven to 350 and lightly spray an 8x8 baking dish with canola oil. Mix the first 5 ingredients together in a large bowl. Mix the water with the nut butter, Liquid Smoke, and soy sauce and add it to the dry ingredients. Stir to mix well and then knead lightly in the bowl for a couple of minutes.

Put the dough into the baking dish and flatten it so that it evenly fills the pan. Take a sharp knife and cut it into 8 strips; then turn the pan and cut those strips in half to form 16 pieces:



Put it in the oven and bake for 25 minutes. While it's cooking prepare your grill.

Remove it from the oven and carefully re-cut each strip, going over each cut to make sure that the ribz will pull apart easily later. Generously brush the top with barbecue sauce. Take it to the grill and invert the whole baking dish onto the grill (or use a large spatula to lift the seitan out, placing it sauce-side down on the grill). Brush the top of the seitan with more sauce:



Watch it closely to make sure that it doesn't burn. When it's sufficiently brown on one side, turn over and cook the other side, adding more sauce, if necessary. When done, remove to a platter and cut or pull apart the individual ribs to serve.



We ate this outside with steamed broccoli and grilled/baked potatoes. The potatoes were pre-cooked in the microwave until almost done and then cooked on the back of the grill while the seitan was cooking. The whole meal was a complete success. The potatoes had that delicious grilled taste without the long cooking time baked potatoes usually require. And the seitan was succulent and tasty. In fact, the three of us probably could have eaten another entire pan of this stuff, so in the future I will double the recipe and hope for leftovers. E. says to tell you that this is "way, way kid-friendly."

Note: The cooking method is based on this recipe, which uses the oven rather than the grill. If you don't have a grill, you might try following the directions in that recipe.

Tags: vegan recipes vegetarian cooking food fat-free