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Mahalo cooking expert Miranda Valentine tells you what you always wanted to know about seitan.
A wheat-based protein popular in Asian cuisine having originated in China, seitan is called "wheat meat" as it offers a nutritional medley that can be substituted for meat in any diet.How It's Made
Seitan comes from the gluten of wheat. To make seitan, you must wash wheat flour dough with water until the starch dissolves completely, leaving insoluble gluten that looks like an elastic mass. The seitan is then cooked in one of several ways.The three primary forms of wheat gluten produced by the Chinese include:
1. Oily or oil-fried gluten - raw gluten is torn into small bits and deep fried into puff balls between three to five centimeters in diameter that are golden brown in color.
2. Steamed gluten - raw gluten is wrapped around itself, forming a sausage shape, before being steamed. The result is a dense textured seitan that is anywhere from off-white to a light green-grey in color.3. Baked spongy gluten - raw gluten is leavened before being baked or steamed, finishing with a food product with the texture of a sponge.c
Seitan takes on the flavors of other foods, depending on what it is cooked with, much like tofu.
Seitan and Health
One serving of seitan has double the protein of a serving of tofu and the protein equivalent of a sirloin steak or two whole eggs. As opposed to these latter two foods, however, seitan has much less fat and cholesterol.cIn fact, according to WebMD, seitan is one food that can actually lower your cholesterol and is part of a heart-healthy diet.c
In 1/3 of a cup of seitan you'll find:- Calories - 60
- Protein - 23 grams
- Carbohydrates - 11 grams
- Total Fat - 0.5 grams
- Fiber - 2 gramsc
References
Meet Our Expert
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Miranda Valentine
Miranda Valentine blogs about food and lifestyle at Everything Sounds Better in French. Miranda graduated from the University of Southern Maine and earned her master's degree from the University of Southern California. She works as a contributing writer for Bunker Hill Magazine and Joonbug.com's LA edition.
