Tag: seitan

Sarmas (Stuffed Collard Greens)

We got collard greens in our Boston Organics box again this week, so I was looking for a recipe and found this: a Turkish dish called sarma. They looked to be similar to dolmades or stuffed cabbage rolls. I used the same basic approach described in that post, but substituted ground seitan for the bulgur wheat. The seitan was from a recipe I made a few months ago – we made a loaf, then ran it through our food processor to yield a ground meat substitute. I didn’t add any salt, because the seitan was pretty salty as is. I also, sadly, didn’t have any mint or fresh lemons — I think those would improve this dish. It was my first time making any kind of stuffed leaf dish, and it turned out great! I served them with some leftover roasted potatoes, parsnips, carrots, and beets from earlier in the week.

A heaping tablespoon of filling on each leaf

Ingredients:

Large bunch collard greens, stemmed, quartered

A little oil for sauteeing
1/2 red onion, diced
Bell peppers, chopped (I used about a cup of frozen)
3-4 garlic cloves, minced
About 8 oz ground seitan (could substitute Gimme Lean or vegan chorizo or even crumbled firm tofu)
1 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
2 T tomato paste
2 T lemon juice
2 c water

Sarmas in the pan, before adding water and covering with the plate.

Method

Bring a large pot half filled with water to a boil. Submerge collards and boil for 1-2 minutes, then drain and put in a bowl filled with ice water and set aside. Saute onion, pepper, and garlic in a little oil until the onion is softened. Add seitan and stir to combine. Add cumin, red pepper, lemon juice, tomato paste, and about 1/4 to 1/2 c of the water to help everything come together. Mix well. Remove the seitan mixture to a bowl and rinse out the pan. Take a quarter of a collard green leaf, and with the widest edge facing you, spoon a heaping tablespoon (or whatever amount will fit) onto the leaf. Fold in the sides and roll toward the opposite point. Roll tightly! Place in your pan and repeat until all the collards are filled or you run out of filling. Pour the rest of the water over the sarmas. Place a large plate over them, cover with a lid, and cook on medium for 10 minutes, then on low for another 10-15 minutes.

Makes about 4 servings.

The final product, served alongside roasted veggies.

Seitan & Root Vegetable Stew

This is a filling, warming, nurturing kind of winter stew. The kind that makes you go “mmmm.”

Feel free to use whatever veggies you have hanging around. The combination I used worked well, but it would have been equally good with sweet potatoes, celeriac, a different kind of winter squash, rutabagas, and/or parsnips. Don’t be afraid of root vegetables! They are your friends! By the way, if you use regular red beets in this recipe, you will end up with pinkish stew. So go with golden if you can find them, and save the red beets for something else.

Ingredients

a little oil for sauteeing
1 onion, diced
3-4 cloves garlic, minced
6 cups water
1 T Better than Bouillion vegetable broth concentrate
2 turnips, diced
1 large potato, diced
3 golden beets, diced
2 large carrots, diced
1/2 a butternut squash, peeled, seeded, diced
1 rib celery, diced
4-6 slices/hunks chicken-style seitan or veggie sausage
A splash of apple cider vinegar
3-4 tsp nutritional yeast
1 tsp smoked paprika
Chopped fresh or frozen sage, tarragon, thyme, etc. to taste
1 bay leaf

Directions
Warm the oil in a large stockpot over medium heat. Add the diced onions and garlic and cook a couple minutes. Add the broth, increase heat, add the rest of the ingredients. Once soup reaches a low boil, reduce heat to simmer until veggies reach desired tenderness (this was about half an hour for me, but it depends on how small your veggies are diced and how tender you want them.) Serve with croutons, crusty bread, or just a smidgen of freshly ground black pepper.

Number of Servings: 8
Approximate nutritional info per serving: 200 cal, 2g fat, 380mg sodium, 25g carbs, 5g fiber, 23g protein

Seitan burritos

Tonight’s dinner was an effort to use up the last of my homemade chicken-style seitan (from this recipe – best chicken-style seitan ever!). I sliced up three seitan pieces into thin strips and sauteed them with 5 scallions (leftover from last week’s CSA share). Meanwhile, I topped two whole wheat tortillas with refried black beans, some red-veined Italian chicory leaves from my garden, some fresh cilantro (also from last week’s CSA share), and veggie cheese slices. Once the seitan was browned, I put half on each tortilla, folded them up into burrito-like bundles, placed into a small baking dish, and topped each with salsa. Popped the dish into the microwave for a couple of minutes and… done! Quite yummy.

I should note that I’m originally from Texas, so Tex-Mex is one of my favorite cuisines. I’m still getting used to eating it without a lot of cheese, though.