This is Take Two for the Chili's Make Over. Take One is here.
I won't rehash the fabulous casual dining experience that Chili's offers, but head right into the heart of the blog.
The steak.
I have been wanting to recreate 'steak' ever since, well,... we went vegan. It hasn't been easy and I am not saying this is the end-all to the endeavor, but, damn, it's good! Chili's offers a Cajun Ribeye on their menu which has Cajun seasoning, au jus, and Cajun butter. It is served with mashed potatoes and veggies. I chose this as the first steak to make because it has other components that take the focus off the meat. This would make it more probable that the steak would taste like a steak. Not the steak, mind you, but a steak-like product.
This is seitan in its simplest form - basically vital wheat gluten, tamari, oil, stock and steak sauce. Steak sauce is vegan, ironically. The real secret is not in the gluten itself, but how it is prepared. After the gluten flour is mixed with the liquid it needs to sit for around 24 hours 6 hours. It is then rolled very thin (possible after all that sitting) and cooked low and slow, for about 2 hours.
Now that the gluten has become a SteaK, it is grilled in a grill pan with a good bit of oil. Although most of the oil drips off into the grates, the oil is important because our seitan has practically no fat, but the flesh it mimics does.
Our Cajun SteaK is then topped with au jus and the Cajun butter.
O.M.G.
You WANT this. Really.
It is um-mazing. In fact, the family has informed me that we will be having this often. Even as I write, there is another batch sitting and waiting to be baked.
Onto the contest winner of Fresh From the Vegan Slow Cooker by Robin Robertson.
Random.org generated result is comment #17, in2insight. Email me with your mailing address at veganaide (at) yahoo (dot) com.
Congrats! And everyone, thanks for entering. It really is an amazing slow cooker cookbook. I have her first one and this supreme! It is worth the cost of $11.32.
Cost Breakdown
SteaK:
gluten, oil: $2
stock, sauce, tamari: $4
Total to make 8 thin SteaKs:
$6.00
