Vegan MoFo, Day 10: Spicy Chipotle Seitan Carnitas

Keep on rolling on the spicy train...You know, I've really acquired a taste for spicy foods. Mind you, I'm not talking about ghost pepper-level stuff, but soothing, hot, and spicy. I still consider myself a total wimp, but it's definitely a growing taste.

While looking for more "foodie" dishes to make, I came across carnitas. These had been done before using seitan, unbeknownst to me, but I printed the recipe from The Kitchn and became determined to make it. So glad I did!

I made Spicy Chipotle Seitan Carnitas, A.K.A.:

"Make Your Co-Workers Jealous Carnitas"

serves 4 huge carnitas, plus two big burritos The Hubs made and devoured

1 batch Simple Seitan (pg 131-32) from Veganomicon by Isa Chandra Moskowitz and Terry Hope Romero

*Instead of using the regular cooking liquid, here's what I used, which is a combo of the two recipes:

cooking liquid

4 cups cold water

1 no-chix bouillion cube

1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp cumin

1 tsp black pepper

1/2 tsp oregano

1 tsp cimmamon

1/2 tsp cayenne

1/4 cup soy sauce

2 cloves garlic, pressed/finely minced

3 chipotle peppers in adobo (you can remove seeds if you want, but I just threw them in whole)

1 tbsp tomato paste

1 cup orange juice

1 tbsp cornstarch

2 tbsp water

toppings

1/2 red onion, minced

1/2 tomato, diced

fresh cilantro

vegan sour cream (I used Toffuti brand)

lime wedges

corn tortillas, toasted in a pan

Make seitan per Veganomicon, but do not proceed through the cooking liquid step. Instead, add the water, bouillion cube, spices, soy sauce, peppers, OJ, and tomato paste to a large pan. Add the three balls of seitan, and simmer (don't boil!) for 45 minutes. Remove the seitan from the water and let cool until able to handle.

Slice seitan into small cubes. In an oiled skillet, saute the seitan cubes until browned.

Ladle some of the cooking broth into a small saucepan and heat over medium. In a small bowl, mix cornstarch and water to form a slurry. Add the slurry to the cooking broth. Instant spicy gravy.

In a separate oiled skillet, heat corn tortillas until browned. You could also heat them in the oven.

Top corn tortilla with browned seitan, spicy gravy, diced onion and tomato, a dollop of vegan sour cream, some springs of fresh cilantro, and a squeeze of lime juice.

{spicy goodness}

Holy scrumptious, Batman! This has been one of my favorite recipes to date...of anything I've made for this site before. It even beats the roasted red pepper pasta from last year (which I am also planning to make later this week). I totally brought all the components for the carnitas to work for lunch today. :D

Now what to do with the 5 jalapenos I have on hand...

Jes