Crispy Chipotle Seitan (Gorditas)

This recipe is amazing.  The crispy outside and juicy yet firm insides of the chipotle seitan will call to you in your sleep.  This seitan would be great in many recipes, but works especially well in a gordita style tortilla wrap because of the flavor and texture of it.  It would also be great over rice, veggies, or in any Mexican dish that calls for beef.  I cannot stop eating this.  If this weren't a vegan blog, you might be scared by some of these pictures.  The seitan really, really looks like beef in most of them.  

So, first make some homemade seitan, don't be afraid!  I used the seitan recipe in American Vegan Kitchen, which worked out extremely well.  Here are some pictures of the seitan making process, again, if you didn't know this was a vegan blog, you might be scared!

 Mix the dry and wet ingredients.  The wet ingredients are already in the bowl, I always just sift the dry into the wet like this, so easy, and saves a bowl!

 Knead the dough, let it rest, and shape it into steaks!

 Pan fry your steaks for about 4 minutes a side.  Scary, right??

Now, bake them with the broth.  These steaks are done!  Are you scared now??

I took the steaks out of the broth, patted them dry a bit and stored them in zip lock bags.  I froze half the batch (it makes eight large steaks like this, or about two pounds of seitan).

Now that you have your seitan steaks, get crackin' on Crispy Chipotle Seitan Gorditas!

Crispy Chipotle Seitan Gorditas

Ingredients:

Homemade seitan steaks, dried a bit by wrapping them in paper towels or kitchen towels and pressing gently on them.  This is to remove excess moisture and get them really crispy when you fry them.  You are supposed to dry the outside of real steaks, too, when you saute them, so this is very similar.  

Premade or homemade gordita-style tortillas (these are nice and big, giving you enough room to make a great burrito, and very tasty).  Mine are from Wegmans, but my favorite are from Trader Joe's.  Keep them in the freezer and they last forever.

Chipotle Chili Powder (I used Penzeys) to taste

Fresh cilantro, chopped

Fresh tomatoes, chopped (I use Roma in the winter, they are pretty good)

Sliced avocado (if you like it)

Daiya Cheddar Cheese (shredded)

Tofutti Sour Cream (if you dig)

Hot sauce (whatever kind you like, for Mexican foods, I love Cholula and it can usually be found in any grocery store).

Chopped onions (if you want), whatever else you like in your gordita/burrito.

Salt, pepper, garlic powder (to season your tomatoes and avocado, I always preseason them before adding to the gordita for extra flavor!)

Olive oil for sauteeing your seitan. I used my jalapeno oil for this and it was amazing.

 Here are the key players.

See that little take out container? I just used it to shake up the sliced seitan with some chipotle powder so it wouldn't get too airborne.  

Method: 

So, all you have to do is take your seitan steak that has been dried according to my note above, and slice it up.  Slice on a bias if you want to be fancy and really trick your omnivore friends.  Sprinkle a bunch of chipotle powder on your sliced seitan, you can do this in a closed container if you want to, and just shake it up a lot to evenly distribute the powder (and keep it from getting airborne, because you will cough a lot if you inhale it, it's pepper!).  Or, just mix it up with your hands. Preheat your cast iron skillet for two minutes on medium heat, then add about two teaspoons of olive oil (or jalapeno oil if you have it!).  Add your seitan to the pan and arrange it cut side down.

Fry the seitan on medium heat (about #5 on my gas stove) for three minutes.  I cover it with a lid to keep chipotle smoke from going all over the house :-).  Flip them over, and fry another three minutes to crisp the other side.  Seitan should look caramelly brown with nicely crisped edges.  Stir it all up and fry for another minute to get any parts you might have missed.  

In the meantime while your seitan is frying (set a timer!!) get your gordita ready.  I just microwave mine with some Daiya on it.  Just heat it enough so that the Daiya melts and the tortilla is nice and hot.  Then, when your steak is done, load up your gordita:

 Unadorned, but not for long!

 Loaded up.  I still added Tofutti sour cream and Cholula to it before rolling up!

Roll and go.  BEST GORDITA EVER!!!

I anticipate making this seitan a LOT and using it in a lot of recipes.  Horray for the homemade!