Strangely Chicken-tasting Seitan

Here is a simple miso-inspired "itame ni", (eetahmeh nee) or simmered stir fry I concocted using home made seitan, carrots, and string beans. The flavor turned out to be a successful ying-yang of sweet and salty, and it was yummy.

Rather then measure or use a recipe for the above dish, I just threw in random ingredients that I thought might work, and tasted as I went along. Therefore I don't really have an exact recipe, but as a flavor base I used miso paste, mirin, soy sauce, grated ginger and ground white sesame seeds.

As for le seitannnnnnn:

1/2 cup vital wheat gluten
1/2 almond milk
1/3 (ish?) ground raw unsalted cashews. (I used a food processor)

Seitan vat of flavor:

1 bay leaf
1/4 cup nutritional yeast
1tbsp soy sauce (or so, to your liking)
1 clove crushed garlic
small/medium sized pot of boiling water

• Combine seitan dough ingredients in small to medium bowl
• Let sit for five minutes, then knead until smooth and stretchy and gluten-y (5-10 minutes)
  
• Cut dough into pieces of desired size and shape.
• Prepare "vat of flavor" and turn on low medium heat
• Boil seitan in broth for 45 minutes, (I tend to just eyeball, but this is always the approx. time) until the pieces have expanded in size and are firm

And behold. If all goes smoothly, you will have savory and bizzarely chicken-y seitan that you can dine on in whatever fashion you like! This time, I threw them in a pan with olive oil to brown for the miso simmer-stir fry, but I also like to bake them in the oven for extra flavor and texture.

In fact, when the seitan pieces were boiling on the stove, my sister stuck her in noise in the kitchen and asked whether I was making chicken. And I said I was not. Muhahahahahah.