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This is a revisited version of 'Oncle Hu’s ntw method' and pastrami recipe originally posted in The Seitan Appreciation Society's facebook group.
Ingredients
Directions
Mix the flour with the food color powder (if used)
Add most of the water, mix and knead.
If you own a food processor, use the dough hook and knead for 15-20 minutes.
If you don't: have a nice workout.
Add more water, if needed;
add more flour, if the dough gets too wet.
You should end with a firm dough that bounces back when poked.
Place the ball of dough in a bowl and cover it with cool water for 1 hour as shown in the “Wash the Flour” guide.
Wash the dough as usual, but not until the ‘cloudy water stage’. Wash only until the washing water is something between pretty milky and buttermilky. Thus leaving notable amounts of starch in the final seitan.
This is called the ntw method and makes all the difference.
Indicators for ntw:
– washing water is milky∼buttermilky (depending on how often you change the water, of course)
– you still notice starchy blobs (those are more opaque and weaker, than the sheer gluten strands; if you used food color in the initial dough, the starch will have a lighter tone than the gluten)
– when you feel the dough tightening, becoming rubbery, you may want to stop the washing (this is an eyeball thing, of course)
– (important!) this method calls for thorough washing/mangling, nonetheless; starches from every part of the dough must be washed out – just not that much;
Big lumps of starch are not what you want; small pockets or ‘blobs’ of starch are what we like to have here.
You should end up with more gluten than starch. The starches building small pockets within a mainly glutenish body.
The ‘starchy blobs’ will make kind of ‘fatty bits’ in the final result and also contribute to a nice crust.
Optional: At this point you may take the dough out of the water, but keep mangling it, thus distributing the starchy blobs into a finer grain, if desired.
Give the seitan a few minutes to rest in a colander and lose some excess water.
Put seitan in a bowl and add the dry seasoning.
Use your fingers to massage the spices in rather than a food processor.
By swirling the seitan always in the same direction long strands of seitan will form with the spices distributing evenly.
At this stage the seitan may seem very soft; this is okay, though.
Cover the bowl with a towel or with cling film.
Rest on the counter for at least one hour to settle and have the gluten rearranged.
Cut the seitan into two even pieces (I recommend using scissors).
Each piece will make two servings of pastrami (or one big steak, if you want). Two pieces are easier to handle than one big piece.
There will also be more surface – thus more crust.
Use a frying pan with a lid.
Mine has 24 cm of diameter, which fits perfectly with the amount of seitan plus the simmering liquid.
Heat the fat (medium heat).
Add the seitan.
Make sure the two pieces don't stick together.
Gently move and push the 'steaks' using a spatula to keep them in shape.
When you feel the steaks being firm enough, flip them over.
Flip every now and then to control the grade of brownness you desire. Don't burn.
Once the desired brownness is attained, remove the pan from heat.
When the fat isn't that sizzling hot any more, mix the wine and tamari and add.
Close the lid and bring to a simmer.
Don’t boil!
The amount of wine/tamari mixture should fairly half-dunk the steaks; this should be ± the quantity that will be fully absorbed in the end.
Simmer with the lid closed, allowing the liquid to be absorbed.
This should take at least 30~35 minutes; may even take up to one hour, depending on the amount of liquid used.
The steaks will increase size during this, but will contract gradually once cooled down in the end.
When nearly all of the liquid is absorbed, the wine will begin to caramelize.
Carefully control that it doesn't burn!
Remove from heat, let cool down and refrigerate over night.
Refrigerating is very important here and will improve the texture.
Slice the seitan as thin as possible or as desired.
Use your favourite pastrami sandwich sauce/ cheeze/ bread...
I like to mix cream cheese with hot mustard and honey (maple syrup) for a sauce and pile the pastrami slices adding pickled cucumber and fried onions on french baguette.
Servings 4
More Beaf Recipes
Ingredients
Directions
Mix the flour with the food color powder (if used)
Add most of the water, mix and knead.
If you own a food processor, use the dough hook and knead for 15-20 minutes.
If you don't: have a nice workout.
Add more water, if needed;
add more flour, if the dough gets too wet.
You should end with a firm dough that bounces back when poked.
Place the ball of dough in a bowl and cover it with cool water for 1 hour as shown in the “Wash the Flour” guide.
Wash the dough as usual, but not until the ‘cloudy water stage’. Wash only until the washing water is something between pretty milky and buttermilky. Thus leaving notable amounts of starch in the final seitan.
This is called the ntw method and makes all the difference.
Indicators for ntw:
– washing water is milky∼buttermilky (depending on how often you change the water, of course)
– you still notice starchy blobs (those are more opaque and weaker, than the sheer gluten strands; if you used food color in the initial dough, the starch will have a lighter tone than the gluten)
– when you feel the dough tightening, becoming rubbery, you may want to stop the washing (this is an eyeball thing, of course)
– (important!) this method calls for thorough washing/mangling, nonetheless; starches from every part of the dough must be washed out – just not that much;
Big lumps of starch are not what you want; small pockets or ‘blobs’ of starch are what we like to have here.
You should end up with more gluten than starch. The starches building small pockets within a mainly glutenish body.
The ‘starchy blobs’ will make kind of ‘fatty bits’ in the final result and also contribute to a nice crust.
Optional: At this point you may take the dough out of the water, but keep mangling it, thus distributing the starchy blobs into a finer grain, if desired.
Give the seitan a few minutes to rest in a colander and lose some excess water.
Put seitan in a bowl and add the dry seasoning.
Use your fingers to massage the spices in rather than a food processor.
By swirling the seitan always in the same direction long strands of seitan will form with the spices distributing evenly.
At this stage the seitan may seem very soft; this is okay, though.
Cover the bowl with a towel or with cling film.
Rest on the counter for at least one hour to settle and have the gluten rearranged.
Cut the seitan into two even pieces (I recommend using scissors).
Each piece will make two servings of pastrami (or one big steak, if you want). Two pieces are easier to handle than one big piece.
There will also be more surface – thus more crust.
Use a frying pan with a lid.
Mine has 24 cm of diameter, which fits perfectly with the amount of seitan plus the simmering liquid.
Heat the fat (medium heat).
Add the seitan.
Make sure the two pieces don't stick together.
Gently move and push the 'steaks' using a spatula to keep them in shape.
When you feel the steaks being firm enough, flip them over.
Flip every now and then to control the grade of brownness you desire. Don't burn.
Once the desired brownness is attained, remove the pan from heat.
When the fat isn't that sizzling hot any more, mix the wine and tamari and add.
Close the lid and bring to a simmer.
Don’t boil!
The amount of wine/tamari mixture should fairly half-dunk the steaks; this should be ± the quantity that will be fully absorbed in the end.
Simmer with the lid closed, allowing the liquid to be absorbed.
This should take at least 30~35 minutes; may even take up to one hour, depending on the amount of liquid used.
The steaks will increase size during this, but will contract gradually once cooled down in the end.
When nearly all of the liquid is absorbed, the wine will begin to caramelize.
Carefully control that it doesn't burn!
Remove from heat, let cool down and refrigerate over night.
Refrigerating is very important here and will improve the texture.
Slice the seitan as thin as possible or as desired.
Use your favourite pastrami sandwich sauce/ cheeze/ bread...
I like to mix cream cheese with hot mustard and honey (maple syrup) for a sauce and pile the pastrami slices adding pickled cucumber and fried onions on french baguette.
I tried the pastrami seitan recipe 2 weeks ago. I had mostly whole wheat flour and about a cup of spelt. It was so much fun with the “not that washed method.”I only had liquid red dye but it still worked. I was so thrilled with the results that this week I am trying Genoa salami with its spices and only spelt flour. It brings me back to 30 years ago when I loved a baguette, brie and Genoa salami.
Ge-no what I mean? But seriously Thank you for this recipe !!😁😍
Is there a non-alcoholic (ie unfermented) alternative to red wine, please?
You can use a vegan beef-style broth or even regular vegetable broth, and perhaps add a splash or two of balsamic vinegar to increase acidity. I have read that black tea has tannins similar to red wine but haven’t tried using it as a substitute yet.
Black tea and vinegar both are fermented…try pomegranate juice. Glad to see someone cares for the unseen worlds.
I just finished making this and it is resting in the fridge overnight. What would you recommend for the red powdered food coloring. There are so many out there and I have tried beet powder, but the color is not stable when heated.
Also, what do you use for fat? I tried coconut, but I suspect it will solidify in the fridge!
Thank you.
I have found it depends on the beetroot powder as well as cooking method. It often browns on the outside but stays pink on the inside which is great for many beef applications. Another good one is organic red yeast rice. That turns a darker hue but never browns. I’ll provide links for both if you’re interested.
As for fat, I love to mix vegan stick butter into the dough. Coconut oil works if you emulsify it with other things like methyl cellulose first. Agni can get into more detail if you’re interested. Please shoot me an email if so cause it’ll be easier to follow up.
I usually use a synthetic powdered food colour like the one from TRS which is a British brand and sold all over Europe. It contains E102 and E124. A little of this goes a long way. A pinch might be enough to dye one kg of flour pink.
An organic alternative is red yeast rice, also known as dried yeast, red rice koji or simply red yeast which is sold in Asian supermarkets. It comes as dried, fermented rice and you want to grind it into powder before adding it to the flour.
Both are stable and pretty cheap given that you only need very little of it.
As fat I prefer vegan margarine or alternatively any neutral oil.
Tried sending a message, but I am getting “Could not verify the reCaptcha response.”, but there is no image displayed.
Thanks for letting me know, I’ll take a look at the form. Feel free to email me directly jen@seitansociety.com.