Vegan Seitan Stir Fry with Sesame Garlic Sauce

If you've been reading my blog for a while, you probably know that I'm rather partial to Iron Chef sauces. Most of them are vegan, and they take a heck of a lot of work out of making stir frys.

I'm sure there are some purists that would shake their heads at my little shortcuts, but hey... I'm a working guy with a family. If I can make a tasty vegan meal without spending hours in the kitchen, then by Cthulhu, I'll do it!

Today's recipe is a stupidly simple one, with relatively few ingredients. Aside from steaming the rice, this dish took all of 15 minutes to put together. That gave me plenty of time to play Candy Land with the kidlet, floss my cat, and spend some time on some of my other hairbrained endeavors.

So here we go:

Vegan Seitan Stir Fry with Sesame Garlic Sauce

1 package chicken style seitan, drained
1 large crown (about 2 cups) fresh broccoli, cut into florets
1 bunch scallioned, sliced
1 can Asian style baby corn
1 tbsp olive oil
1 bottle Iron Chef Sesame Garlic Sauce
1/2 tbsp Korean Chili Sauce (It has a rooster on the label - I have no idea why)
2 tbsp tamari or soy sauce
1 cup uncooked brown long grain rice

Cook rice according to package directions. In my world, this actually means according to the little instruction booklet that came with my rice cooker - 1 cup of water in the rice, 1 1/2 cups water in the steamer, cook for about an hour. I tend to start the rice well before I get anything else ready... usually even before I go to the store to pick up whatever ingredients I've forgotten.

Pour olive oil in a wok or large skillet; heat on medium high for 1 minute. Add seitan; stir fry for 2 minutes. Add the remainder of the vegetables. Continue to stir fry for about 5 minutes. (Any longer, and the broccoli tends to get a bit icky.)

Turn heat to low; add chili sauce and tamari. Stir for about 30 seconds. Add Sesame Garlic sauce; stir for another 30 seconds.

Serve over brown rice.

One tip I should give: I listed the measurement of the Korean Chili Sauce as 1/2 tbsp. In case you're new here, I like things hot. Maybe not quite as hot as when I was young and thought I was cool... but hot nonetheless. 1/2 tbsp puts you comfortably in the "my forehead is sweating" range. Any more than that, and you're probably approaching "my head just blew clean off" territory. Just sayin'.

Incidentally, you may be wondering about the egg roll in the picture. Egg roll = "made with eggs" = not vegan, right?

Usually, yes. But Health is Wealth makes a pretty good vegan egg roll. We have a local store called Raisin Rack that carries them; I have no idea where else you can find them. Maybe Whole Foods? If you can find them, though, they're well worth the extra buck or two you'll pay (and if you shop for vegan foods, you should be used to this by now).

So there you go. Vegan Seitan Stir Fry with Sesame Garlic Sauce... just the kick to warm the cockles of your heart as the weather turns downright dismal.

(Irrelevant tangent: I grew up with the phrase "warm the cockles of your heart"... but never really considered what it meant. For an overly nerdy explanation, go visit World Wide Words, where you'll find out more than you ever wanted to know about this weird little idiom.)