Thyme, Sage And Caramalised Onion Seitan Sausages

An easy to make, tasty sausage. Perfect for a midweek dinner or as part of a weekend breakfast...

I know vegan sausages are readily available in almost every supermarket these days, but they can be expensive, and not always quite as tasty as the packaging promises they will be,  These have a lovely texture - not too chewy - and the caramalised onion adds a sweet note. You'll need a blender of some description to combine the wet ingredients. This recipe will make 6 decent sized sausages.

Dry Ingredients

1 cup vital wheat gluten (also known as gluten flour)
1/2 cup of Besan (chickpea flour)
2 tbsp nutritional yeast
1 tsp each of dried sage and dried thyme.

Wet Ingredients

1 thinly sliced medium onion
1 cup strong veg stock (the stronger the better)
1 medium sized mushroom roughly chopped
1 tsp soy sauce
1 tsp liquid smoke (or smoked paprika as an alternative)
1 tsp mustard

First cook your sliced onion in a drizzle of olive oil until golden and sticky. 

Place the dry ingredients into a large bowl and mix to combine.

Process all the wet ingredients until you get a smooth mixture. Add the wet to the dry and bring together to form a dough.​ Knead lightly for no more than a minute.

Next, divide your dough into 6 equal portions and form into rough sausage shapes. Take a sheet of foil and lightly oil before laying your sausage onto it. Wrap the sausage in the foil and shape into a kind of Christmas cracker - twisting the ends to make it nice and tight. Repeat with the remaining dough. Place into a steamer over simmering water and allow to cook for about 15 to 20 minutes.

Remove from the steamer and allow to cool before unwrapping. They will be a little pale and uninteresting to look at, so a quick fry in a little oil and butter until they take on a bit of colour will make all the difference. Serve with some sort of potato dish, veg and a red wine gravy or similar. Real comfort food.

Feta, Spinach and Pine Nut
​
As an alternative, I made a feta, spinach and pine nut variety. These were delicious. I used the Oliana Feta as its easy to grate and distributes evenly through the sausage. So we're following the exact same process and just changing up the ingredients slightly.

Dry Ingredients

1 cup gluten flour
1/2 cup Besan (chickpea flour)
2 tbsp nutritional yeast
1/3 pack Oliana Feta coarsely grated
1/2 cup pine nuts (toasted slightly in a dry pan)
2 handfuls of spinach (wilted in a dry pan, cooled then roughly chopped)

Wet Ingredients

1 cup vegetable stock
1 medium sized mushroom roughly chopped
1 spring onion roughly chopped
1 clove garlic
Black Pepper

Combine your dry ingredients in a large bowl. Make sure the spinach gets well distributed through the floury mix. Blitz up all your wet ingredients until smooth and add into your dry mix. Combine the two and bring to a dough. Be gentle and try not to overwork it. 

Then carry on the process as for the original version. Just take care when forming the sausage shapes as they are little more fragile than the original recipe in their raw state. This will make six decent sized sausages.​ 

Smoked Tofu, Seitan and Tarragon

I recently received a gift from a friend of Chef Skye Michael Conroy's Seitan and Beyond cookbook. His use of tofu in his recipes inspired me to come up with a new sausage using smoked tofu. This recipe makes 8 decent sized sausages.

Dry Ingredients

1 1/2 cups gluten flour
3 tbsp nuitritional yeast
1 1/2 tbsp dried tarragon (or any other dried herb of choice)
2 tbsp onion powder
1 tsp ground black pepper

Wet Ingredients

250g smoked tofu (no need to freeze or press)
1 cup strong chickn flavour stock cooled
1 tsp Dijon mustard
2 tbsp Braggs seasoning or soy sauce
2 tbsp olive oil

Place your dry ingredients into a bowl and mix to combine. 

Blend the wet ingredients until as smooth as possible.

Pour the wet into the dry and combine until a dough is formed. Be careful not to overwork the dough. Rinse out your wet ingredient blender with a little water if your dough needs more liquid.

Then carry on the process as for the original sausages above. The only difference is that these need to be steamed for about 35 minutes before cooling in the fridge for a couple of hours. Fry in a pan for a few minutes in olive oil or vegan butter until they take on a little colour. ​