The Vegan Kids Kitchen: Seitan and Broccoli!!!

This is my version of the classic Asian stir fry that is always a tasty yummy meal, perfect for anytime, and super easy to mix up. This has become one of my favorite meals to make because my kids always eat it up and I really don't have to do much except mix up the sauce. I sometimes cheat and buy store bought seitan, it just depends on my day, but if you have the extra 20 minutes, it is definitely worth it for homemade seitan! I always serve this dish over rice, but you could do over some udon or rice noodles. Seitan is basically vital wheat gluten flour mixed with spices and liquid, in order to get a doughy consistency or its sometimes referred to as "Wheat Meat", but whatever you call it, it really does resemble meat!! You then bake just until firm and add to any dish, it will absorb the liquid and get nice and chewy, you will never know the difference. When I first began making homemade seitan, I really had a tough time to get the taste just right because the wheat gluten can be quite strong, so it is important to season it correctly. I can also adjust the ingredients depending on the type of food I will be using it in, so for any Asian dish, I will always add a bit of toasted sesame seed oil, which really gives it a great flavor!!! We normally eat this with steamed edamame and seaweed with sushi rice, my kids love, love seaweed!! Yes, I know its hard to believe my one and three year old love seaweed, but its true!! It definitely runs in the family... if you go to my moms house, you will see all my nieces and nephews (and my kids) eating up dried seaweed, they fight over the stuff, seriously. I can remember as a kid, for one every night we had rice, actually at any time, there was always rice in our house (one of those perks growing up Asian:), but me and my siblings would just love to have rice rolled up in seaweed, that my mom had just got done toasting,mmm...its taking me back:) Now they have made it easier to have seaweed, you can almost always find toasted and seasoned, just make sure to look out for sodium, some can be way high!!! Anyways, this is definitely a delicious, wholesome meal that is sure to impress the adults and the kids will really eat! Enjoy!!

MaiMai's Seitan:
1 cup Vital Wheat Gluten
1/4 cup nutritional Yeast
1 tsp. Thyme
1/2 tsp. Old Bay seasoning, chili, garlic, onion powders.
1 tsp. Vegan Worcheshire
1/2 tsp. liquid smoke
1/4 cup Bragg's
1/2 TBSP. oil (for this recipe, use sesame oil)
1/2 cup H20
Preheat the oven to 375. Mix all the wet/dry ingredients separately, then mix together until well mixed. Knead the dough until it gets somewhat elastic (usually a couple of mins). Let rest for 5 mins, then slice depending on the size pieces, smaller is usually better. Bake for 15 mins, flipping halfway between baking. Then add to the sauce and enjoy!!!

Seitan and Broccoli Sauce:
3 TBSP. Cornstarch
4 TBSP. Bragg Amino Acids
4 TBSP. White wine
3 cups Water or no-chicken broth
4 tsp. sugar
2 TBSP. toasted sesame oil
Mix all ingredients together and set aside.

To make the stir fry, you will want to heat your wok up to medium heat. Start out with 1TBSP. fresh ginger and garlic with a tsp of sricha (Asian hot sauce), and use a little sesame oil to saute for 2 mins, then add in 1/2 onion, large chopped pieces; cook until translucent. Then add in the sauce, heat until thickens and clears (it will start out white b/c of the cornstarch). One tip: Make sure to let this cook enough to get all the corn starchiness and flavor out of it, it will need to heat for about five minutes, with you stirring, this will ensure a good flavor and no chalkiness!! Add in the seitan (it will hold its shape) and a pound of frozen or fresh broccoli, cover to let the broccoli get tender and serve over warm rice!! This is a home run dish, go and make soon:))