Passover ... the Joys of Not Cooking

So passover started on Wednesday night (April 8th), and being vegetarian, and Ashkenazi (of eastern-european Jewish decent) on the same holiday makes things... a little complicated. Fulfilling food becomes something of a commodity, but I figured I'd take advantage and write-up my recipes for my 'beef' and 'chicken' seitan faux-meats. Not doing much cooking makes you stop and think about everything you've already made, instead of the usual strive for something new and excitting... and completely and utterly un-kosher for passover. Four more days and counting...

Chicken Seitan: (makes 4 'breasts')

• 1/2 cup water
• 1/2 cup wheat gluten

Cooking Broth:

• 2 cups water
• 1/4 cup nutritional yeast
• 2 tbsp soy sauce
• 1 tsp onion powder
• 1 heaping tsp sauge
• 1/2 tsp thyme

Prepare cooking broth first, mixing all ingredients in a large pot. Place on stove on high heat and begin preparing seitan; broth should be at a boil once seitan is ready to be cooked.

To prepare seitan, combine water and wheat gluten in a bowl forming a rubbery dough. Knead approximately 2-3 minutes. Cut into 4 equal parts and flatten each with the palm of your hand. Once cooking broth is boiling, reduce heat to a simmer and gently place dough into broth with a slotted spoon. Cover, making sure not to allow seitan to boil as it will become rubbery. Cook for 50-60 minutes or untill the broth has been completely absorbed. This may take as little as 20-30 mintues, while sometimes it may be necessary to partially uncover the pot for the last 10 minutes to allow the liquid to boil down.

Once finished, remove from heat, drain any remaining liquid and allow to cool completely before storing. Keeps in fridge 5 days max, or can be frozen 2-3 months.