Asian Barbecue Seitan Salad

 I love the Food Network show Chopped. Lately, I've been purchasing one ingredient-X food product during my weekly grocery shopping jaunts. I want to play in the kitchen. I don't want to be reminded that I'm getting dinner on the table every night of the week. So I do things that will incite me into cooking, like pretending that I'm a contestant on Chopped--where contestants are given unfamiliar, difficult , or plain ridiculous ingredients (like smoked oysters and cheese spread ). Chef contestants are under time pressure to cook a "Five-Star-worthy," exceptionally creative dish.

It's Play Time

My most recent "Chopped" play-time-in-the-kitchen was with Seitan. This ingredient-X wasn't new to me (although I had never eaten it). I usually don't buy it because it's made from wheat gluten, and I have a son with autism (many parents of autistic children avoid wheat gluten in their child's diet). However, our son was asleep and my husband and I were craving a late-night dinner. Something light. I decided it was time to "do a Chopped dinner" (as my husband calls it). Here's what I did:

Not A Recipe--A Concept

I consulted Mark Bittman's How to Cook Everything Vegetarian and found the entry on seitan, which is made from high-protein wheat flour, water, flavorings, soy sauce, and Kombu, a mineral-rich sea vegetable. I didn't want a recipe. I wanted a concept.  

My "Chopped" Basket

My Chopped-style basket ingredients were seitan, organic lettuce mix, roasted red peppers, and Asian barbeque sauce. Not very intimidating or difficult ingredients, except for the unfamiliar seitan.

The seitan, also known as "Wheat Meat," can mimic the texture of chicken and beef. Mimicking the  flavor of either depends upon how seitan is seasoned.  Knowing that I would add salty barbecue sauce, I seasoned both sides of the seitan chunks only with white pepper. I grilled the seitan on the stovetop, but it stuck mightily to the pan. Like a Chopped contestant, I quickly adjusted. I peeled the seitan out of the pan and transferred it to the oven. What I wanted was a bit of crunch and caramelization on the seitan.

I knew roasted red peppers would add color and tang to the salad. The Asian barbecue sauce, I drizzled on sparingly. Otherwise, I would have drowned the lettuce.

The seitan salad turned out to be attractive, I thought, and especially with the addition of toasted sesame seeds.

The salad was pretty delicious. Here are the ingredients if you'd like to replicate this dish:

Asian Barbecue Seitan Salad

12-ounce container of seitan

1 thinly sliced roasted red pepper (from a jar or freshly roasted)

Asian or Korean barbecue sauce

White pepper

1 10-ounce package of organic salad mix, rinsed

Toasted sesame seeds (buy the pre-toasted seeds)

Directions:

Remove seitan from liquid and season chunks with white pepper on both sides. Pan fry or grill the seitan in hot canola oil until it browns and caramelizes. (It won't brown completely, so take care not to let it burn.) Remove seitan from pan, place in a small baking dish, and drizzle the seitan with the barbecue sauce. Top seitan with peppers and place in 400-degree oven for 10-15 minutes. 

Remove barbecued seitan from oven and let it rest and become warm. Spoon seitan carefully over salad greens. Sprinkle seitan with toasted sesame seeds and serve. (Serves 2-3)