Alright so this kentucky fried seitan burger was pretty much a replica of what I taste tested at the temple of hackney once. I had never had anything like it before and it totally changed my perception of vegan meat alternatives, despite being a solid meat eater I absolutely loved it. This is my version of trying to clone it and it did not disappoint. There are many ways to make seitan, some include baking it from scratch or putting it in parcels and steaming it, for me this worked a charm and I would maybe add more flavour into the seitan if I was not serving it with all the other nice things, so i’d suggest making it then playing around with it!#
First make the seitan, homemade seitan, as it turns out is actually very easy! Mix all of the dry ingredients for the seitan together in a large mixing bowl until well merged and then pour in the vegetable stock, it does not matter if it is cold or hot. Mix well, it will thicken up and become quite stretchy very quickly. Once all really well mixed together and all the flours have been absorbed remove from the bowl and knead like any other dough for a good ten minutes, stretching it a bit too. It will be very elastic like. This is good! We want to work the gluten! Leave it to rest for 10 mins, meanwhile pour the other stock into the saucepan with the bay leaves and bring to a gentle simmer.
Dust some more chickpea flour on a board and roll out the seitan dough to about 1/2 inch in thickness. Slice into chicken size wedges, but please note it will almost double in size once cooked! Put any unused seitan dough in the fridge and place the others in a saucepan and gently simmer for 30 minutes with the lid on. It will balloon up as it absorbs the stock quite quickly. Do not overcrowd the saucepan, so either do this step in batches or use a big pan. Once 30 minutes is up, turn off the heat on the hob and leave the seitan in the pan to cool to room temperature. Lift out of pan and drain off, it will feel a bit wet and soggy. Place in the fridge (or freezer if you want to save some) to firm up and chill.
When ready to fry them put the sunflower oil in a pan and warm up, it is ready when bread thrown into the pan browns and fries in 10 seconds or so.
Create a dunking station – one bowl of plain flour, the nutritional yeast mixed with water (add it gradually and stir until you get a thickend wet mix like egg), and in the coating bowl combine the panko breadcrumbs with all the other herbs, spices and brown sugar.
Dunk the seitan pieces (you may want to cut them to size now) in the flour, then the chickpea flour, then coat in the seasoned breadcrumbs. Carefully fry until golden brown and lift out onto some kitchen towel to drain off.
Serve in a toasted bun with vegan mayo, vegan cheese and freshly chopped lettuce! Play around with this and maybe try vegan popcorn chicken too! Enjoy 🙂