Tuesday 6 November 2012

Vegan Turkey Style Deli Slices

Vegan Turkey Style Deli Slices

Now, I don't work with vital wheat gluten much. Anyone who lives in the UK or Ireland will know why - it's almost impossible to buy the stuff! Online only as far as I can see and I like to keep my foodstuffs ordered online to a minimum  That being said I do order vital wheat gluten mostly so I can make my Vegan Rullepølse, which is an absolute Christmas essential for me :-) 

Since I had some about I thought I would have a go at some turkey style deli slices. This was inspired from 2 sources, first - the turkey style broth for seitan in La Dolce Vegan and Vegan Dad's Corned Beef.

I once tried the broth in La Dolce Vegan when I got brave one night and attempted to make my own wheat gluten (nightmare, I don't recommend it!) but I loved that broth, the sage and onion flavouring really was reminiscent of Christmas turkey and I actually continue to use a variation of it as a gravy. Then I made Vegan Dad's corned beef which is steamed rather than boiled and I was so impressed with the texture: tender, not too chewy and when it's cold can be sliced really thin.

So I thought I would combine the two, adding the flavourings from the broth in La Dolce Vegan with the steam and bake method Vegan Dad uses. I am so happy with the end result, well, for someone who rarely uses vital wheat gluten I am! If you know those sage and onion slices by Redwood foods this is very close, and I love those. (Just a note, I noticed that Vegan Dad also has turkey style slices but he uses flavourings I can't buy here so figured I would stick with La Dolce Vegan's flavourings).

In the same way any meat style dish features in my life it's for one reason only - memories. Good food memories. For me, leftover Christmas turkey was only consumed one way: thinly sliced in buttered white bread with lots of mayo and a bit of salt and pepper. Yes. Sliced white bread - gasp! So, that's exactly how I had this (with vegan butter and mayo, of course) and it reminded me so much of my old favourite. That being said I can also see this working as a roast, thickly sliced while warm and served with the usual trimmings.

Vegan Turkey Style Deli Slices

Vegan Turkey Style Deli Slices:

• 100g (1/2 cup) canned white canellini beans, drained and rinsed.
• 1 Tbsp olive oil
• 1 cup water
• 2 Tbsp soy sauce
• 1/2 tsp vegan worcester sauce
• 3 Tbsp nutritional yeast
• 1 tsp onion powder
• 1/4 tsp smoked sea salt
• 1/2 tsp dried sage
• 1/2 tsp dried thyme
• 1 1/2 cups vital wheat gluten

I prefer to do all of this in a mortar and pestle but you could use a food processor if you prefer or even by hand.

In a mortar and pestle add the nutritional yeast flakes, onion powder, salt, sage and thyme and grind until the yeast flakes are like a powder and the herbs get crushed. Remove and set aside.

Add the beans to the mortar and pestle and mash until really creamy. Transfer to a large bowl.

Mix together the water, olive oil, soy and worcester sauce in a pyrex measuring jug then whisk in the yeast and seasonings. Pour a little over the beans and whisk to incorporate, slowly add the rest of the liquid whisking all the while until mixed. 

Add the wheat gluten and mix well until it comes together. Sprinkle some more wheat gluten onto a surface and knead a few times until you have a large, wide oval loaf. I probably kneaded in a couple tablespoons more gluten here but the loaf will be on the wet side. That's good as you won't end up with dry deli slices, although it is probably the reason for the holes in the end product there. Still, I wouldn't change a thing here as the taste and texture was lovely!

Wrap the loaf up in foil, sealing the edges well and steam for 1 hour. Do check the water levels now and again as it can easily boil dry!

Preheat the oven to 180C when there is about 15 minutes left of steaming. Place the foil wrapped loaf directly in the oven and bake for 30 minutes. Remove and let cool then it's ready to be sliced thin for sandwiches.


Vegan Butter Grilled Turkey and Mustard Bagel

Furthermore, I used the slices to make another variation on my Vegan Butter Grilled Bagel Toasties. This one had the turkey slices, vegan mayo, black pepper and Dijon mustard and was amazing! Possibly a new favourite here :-) Just toast using the same method as the other bagel toasties in the post there.


Vegan Butter Grilled Turkey and Mustard Bagel



Nutritional Information: per 100g

Calories: 196
Fat: 2.8g
Sat Fat: 0.3g
Fibre: 1.8g
Protein: 23.9g
Carbs: 16.8g
Sugar: 0.4g
Sodium: 422mg

You Might Also Like:

Vegan Rullepølse
 Vegan Butter Grilled
Bagel Toasties

36 comments:

  1. Fantastic. I've been trying some of the steamed seitans from Vegan Diner and they are so eay with great results. I love the sound of this turkey style seasoning. i think this might be the thing to make for this year's Christmas dinner!

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    1. It would make a great Christmas dinner! The flavouring is really nice and festive :-)

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  2. I've never made faux meat before, but just might have to try it now.

    How much worcester sauce do you need? I assume 1/2 tablespoon?

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  3. Would you be able to let us know 1/2 of what of the worcester sauce?

    Thanks! Looks great!

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  4. Thanks for the heads up on the worcester sauce there everyone! It's 1/2 tsp - I've updated it now :-)

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  5. That looks amazing, I love trying new seitan recipes and I can't wait to try this one.

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  6. I’m impressed with how thinly you were able to slice it, it looks great! How did you find the flavor? Does it have a very strong gluten taste?

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    1. Thanks Maggie! It did slice up nice and thin all right. I loved the flavour, mostly sage and onion like and I didn't find it too gluten-y at all, I think the other flavours in there help with that maybe.

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  7. That's a good point Maggie - I too noticed how nice and thin the slices looked! What kind of knife did you use? I am going to have to try this soon. Love being able to make unprocessed faux meats without all the extra stuff. Your blog is the best! I'm obsessively checking it :)

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    1. Thanks so much! Glad you like the blog :-) I just used a regular kitchen knife here, I thought I would have to use a serrated one to get it really thin but there was no need. I'll have to fully thank Vegan Dad for the fine texture here, it'll be down to his addition of beans and the steam and bake method I'm sure :-) Well, he is the seitan master after all!

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  8. Hi, you have done it again, impressed me with yet another wonderful recipe. You are truly a gift to the vegan food world. Every single one of your recipes I have tried have turned out beyond my expectations. I make The Seitan Master Vegan Dad's veggie lunch meat on a regular basis and I can see this one becoming another regular (along with your avocado pasta recipe and asparagus pasta recipe, love, love, them both. And with asparagus season just starting here in NZ I am in my element!). Thank you

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    1. Wow. Thanks so much for your lovely comment - it made my day! Hope you like this version too, I'm so thankful for Vegan Dad's work with wheat gluten as it's not something I get to experiment with all that much over here.

      So glad you like the blog :-)

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  9. We made this last night and it's absolutely fantastic! Really simple to put together (we managed it in a matter of minutes) and then it's just a case of keeping an eye on it while it steams and then cooks. We might experiment with it to make other flavours - maybe try a pepperoni-flavour? Thanks so much for the recipe! We might be making this for Christmas dinner :)

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    1. So glad you liked it Christina :-) For another flavour I often make Vegan Dad's corned beef which is really good. Pepperoni is a great idea though, especially for pizza!

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  10. Dumb question: I plan to use canned beans. Do I drain them before mashing?

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    1. Hi! Yes, drain and rinse the beans well before using. (I should have specified there, will update the post - thanks!)

      Good luck!

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  11. I just love making seitan and this one looks beautiful!

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  12. Looks delicious :)
    You think it's possible to freeze it and if for how long?

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    1. Hi! Sorry for the late posting of your question and my response here, I was unwell all weekend... You can definitely freeze it but I'm afraid I don't know for how long, at a guess it should be fine for a few months.

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  13. Holy freakin' delicious! I made this today and it came out amazing! I admit, I was skeptical, but WOW! I am totally amazed and can't wait to do it again and mix up the spices and flavors and play with all the different combinations I have in my head (maybe adding some dried cranberries..mmm)
    The only thing I did differently was using garbanzo beans since I failed to pick up cannellini beans, but I followed everything else to a T.
    Thank you so much for the amazing recipe!

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    1. Excellent! Thanks so much for the comment and I'm glad you liked it :-) It's such an easy recipe to adapt - have fun experimenting with flavours!

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  14. This looks amazing! I'm new to making faux meats. Can you explain how to steam it? I can't wait to try this!
    Thanks!

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    1. Hi Jen! Sorry for taking so long to get back to you! To steam the seitan you place it in a steamer on top of the stove. I never took a photo but Vegan Dad has a picture of one here:

      http://vegandad.blogspot.ie/2008/07/on-steaming-seitan.html

      You place water in the bottom compartment and the foil wrapped seitan goes in the top part, then you put the lid on, heat the water to boiling so that the roll steams. If you don't have a steamer he also tried steaming his seitan in the oven:

      http://vegandad.blogspot.ie/2008/10/on-steaming-seitan-in-oven.html

      It sounds like it would work well, but I haven't tried it myself.

      Good luck!

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  15. Hi,
    Can i replace the ''vital wheat gluten'' by someting else ? and will it works ?
    thank you

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    1. Hi! No, the vital wheat gluten is essential here, it can't be replaced really.

      Regards,
      Deb :-)

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  16. I am glad that I listened to my vegetarian son to keep looking for another recipe to make for Thanksgiving. I have tried two different homemade tofurkey recipes and was not happy with how they turned out. I decided to test this recipe before the big day so I made it for dinner this weekend. I am glad I did, everyone, even the non-vegetarians, said it was very good. Thank you so much for sharing your recipe.

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    1. That's fantastic! Thanks so much for letting me know, so glad it was liked :-) Hope you have a wonderful Thanksgiving!

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  17. Hi there. This was my first time making seitan and I loved the taste. Mine came out very rubbery and dry though. Did I use too little liquid in the dough or do I just need to cook less time? Thanks!

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    1. Hi! Glad you liked the taste but shame it turned out dry and rubbery, it's hard to say why, to be honest I don't work with vital wheat gluten often at all as I can't buy it here (online only) so it's hard for me to troubleshoot as I don't have a lot of experience working with it :-) The proportions of liquid should be just right in the recipe so maybe too much vital wheat gluten got added during the kneading stage? The dough should have been on the wet side and not dry. The cooking time should have been just right as well, unless you have a more efficient steamer than me then possibly that could have been the reason. Might be worth experimenting with :-)

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    2. I might have added too much gluten since it was my first time. I also used my rice cooker to steam and since that has a tight seal then it might be also part of the situation. I'll definitely try again as the taste was fantastic. Think I'll have another slice right now! Thanks!

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  18. Are you able to use other types of beans? If so, what kinds? Sorry, I'm new to all of this...

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    1. Hi! No problem at all! Any type of beans should work just fine, I would stick to a white bean mostly for colour reasons and fairly soft beans - chickpeas, haricot beans (navy beans), butter beans (lima) for example. Hope it works out for you :-)

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  19. Hi. How do I make this gluten free as I have celiac and cannot ingest gluten or wheat?

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    1. Hi, unfortunately the main ingredient in this is the vital wheat gluten which is pure gluten and it can't be replaced.

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  20. Instead of wheat gluten, has anyone tried using soy protein powder or even unflavored whey protein?

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