seitanspicesvegan
I am looking for a seasoning recipe to flavor seitan so that it tastes like gyro.
I have tried products on the market but all have been disappointing. The most successful recipe I have tried is the vegan gyro at the Chicago Diner in Chicago.
Has anyone made this? Any tips on how to get that salty savory depth of flavor?
Umami comes from natural glutamates. Two excellent vegan sources of umami are tomato paste and dried shiitake mushrooms (rehydrate then mince). Fresh shiitake aren't nearly so high in glutamates. They are available very inexpensively at Asian groceries.
If you want vegetarian, but not vegan and can find a rennet-free parmesan-style cheese, they are also very high in glutamates.
You can either get fresh or dried yuba, the dried one has to be soaked.
When I made a tofu turkey I soaked the yuba sheat for about 10 minutes in warm water before wrapping it around the "meat". The tofu turkey had already been baking in the oven for around 1 hour when I added the skin. After applying the yuba I rosted the whole thing in the oven until the skin was brown (maybe 30 minutes), brushing occationally with marinade. Skin came out perfect and had a nice crispyness without coming apart from the tofu or being too brittle.
Oh, yeah, I brushed the tofu alternatively with marinade and with melted vegan butter every 15 minutes or so before adding the yuba. It might have made a difference but I really think soaking the sheats is key. Good luck!
I made a video guide to making a vegan "tofurkey" from tofu. Here is the link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zKIrgls-WCw
Best Answer
Bury it in bread. A meat-substitute burger or kebab meat that has obvious textural or flavor flaws when served bare will often appear near perfect in a pita or bun. Also, you can keep a lot of oil/sauce on it that way, which carries seasonings and juicyness.
Start with baked seitan, made from vital wheat gluten (and 10-20% of another protein flour like lentil or chickpea optimally), and season both in the dough and when sauteing the cut up seitan later - experiment with which seasoning is best added at which time.
Try strong soy sauces (eg chinese light), cumin, smoked salt and/or smoked paprika, sugar, nutritional yeast/msg, flavorful chile pepper powders (eg turkish chile flakes - not just cayenne pepper powder!), garlic, onion. Also add something acidic, eg sumach or lemon.