Mexican Spiced Seitan Sausages

I have made seitan sausages before but never in the pressure cooker. Since the roasts and cutlets work so well in the pressure cooker I decided to use it today for sausages.

This recipe is a little spicy, but too hot. The texture of the sausages is firmer than traditional pork sausage, which tends to be very soft and fatty. The sausages are easy to slice thin. If you choose to brown them you will need to add fat to the pan since this recipe doesn’t included oil.

I consider this my basic sausage recipe. You can change the spices to suit the dish or use this recipe for many different cuisines. When I run out of chipotle peppers I use rehydrated sun dried tomatoes

Mexican Spiced Seitan Sausages
Makes 8 sausages

Ingredients:

10 ounce box of vital wheat gluten
1 ¾ cups of water
¼ cup of tapioca flour (or wheat flour, or bean flour)
¼ cup of nutritional yeast
1 chipotle in adobo
1 clove of garlic
½ tablespoon of onion flakes
½ tablespoon of cumin seeds
½ tablespoon of fennel seeds
1 teaspoon of kosher salt
½ teaspoon of ancho chili powder

Directions:

Combine the water, tapioca, yeast, chipotle, garlic, onion, cumin, fennel, salt and chili powder in your blender. Puree until everything is completely combined.

Pour the wet ingredients into a large powder. Add the vital gluten to the wet ingredients and combine with your hands. Continue to "smush" and knead until dough forms.

Remove 8 pieces of aluminum foil from the roll that are about 12 inches length each.



Remove the seitan dough from the bowl and move it to a cutting board. Form the dough into a big log shape. Cut the dough into 8 roughly even pieces. One piece at a time roll the dough into a snake (like you did in kindergarten). The seitan snakes should be about 6 inches in length. Put the seitan snake into the aluminum and roll them into the foil like you are covering a candy. Twist the ends to close the sausages. The picture above shows you how to wrap the sausages.

I tried wrapping one sausage with cheesecloth as a test to see if it changed the texture of the sausage. In the end the sausages were much easier to wrap in the foil, and the texture was better. Save the cheesecloth for the seitan that is simmered in liquid (the roasts and lunchmeat).

Put water in the bottom of your pressure cooker until it reaches the bottom of your collapsible steamer basket. Add two bay leaves to the water for flavor. Place the seitan sausages in the cooker and lock the lid.

Cook the sausages under pressure for 10 minutes. Then turn off the heat and allow the pressure to come down naturally. (If you don't have a pressure cooker steam the sausages for 30 minutes on top the stove in a pan with a lid. Don't like the sausages sit in the cooking liquid.)

Remove the sausages from the pressure cooker and allow to cool a little so that you can remove the foil without burning your fingers. This should take about 10 minutes.

Put the sausages in a container with a lid and refrigerate until needed. If you are not going to eat them in 4 days wrap them completely in plastic cling wrap and place them in a zippered freezer bag. I have kept these in the freezer for months and they were fine when defrosted.

You can use these as you would any other sausage. I tend to put them into dishes cut into chunks, but you can serve them on a bun with sautéed peppers and onions if you like.

Nutritional Information:

Amount Per Serving
Calories - 167.22
Calories From Fat (5%) - 8

Total Fat - 0.91g
Saturated Fat - 0.12g
Cholesterol - 0mg
Sodium - 251.14mg
Potassium - 71.99mg
Total Carbohydrates - 10.42g
Fiber - 0.56g
Sugar - 0.34g
Protein - 29.77g

Comments:

I use these sausages in Mexican, Italian or Spanish food. The flavor is not so robust that they won’t work in a multitude of cuisines. If you try them you will understand what I mean. If you want them to be more Italian you can swap the chipotle for sun dried tomato and change the cumin to oregano. For Spanish sausages you can add smoked paprika.