The 'P' word

Whether you are vegan or not Protein is the most expensive item in your shopping basket. The good thing is you don't need a lot of it, just the right amount of the right types.
But getting it free or as cheap as possible has posed me a bit of a problem.
Again I'm drawn to Chinese cultural cuisine, my father's aunt was Shanghai Chinese so this post is in her honour. Extracting the protein out of wheat as wheat gluten is a very popular vegan product in Chinese cuisine. Wheat gluten is available in tins in chinese supermarkets often in the guise of 'mock' duck or 'mock' abalone, but with a bit of time and a cheap bag of flour (around 30 pence) you can make a batch yourself and save on airmiles as well as funds.

The key to extracting the gluten is water as follows:-

1. You will need half amount of water to flour to make a dough. With a 1kg bag of flour this is probably going to equate to just under a pint of water, but different flours have different absorbancies so add a little at a time.

2. Make up your dough and knead it like your life depends on it. The kneading process helps to draw out the protein, so why not get the family to get involved and work up those biceps - its more enjoyable than a Wii Fit!!

3. I would say after a good 15 minutes knead you need to lay off the dough and give it a break. Wrap in cling film or other suitable covering to stop it drying out and rest it in the fridge for a good 3 hours.

4. After all that kneading you'll probably need a rest yourself. Next comes the washing, you will need a sieve and a large bowl. At this stage we are going to wash off the starch.
Take your dough and place in the sieve over the bowl and in a sink. Now under running water gently knead and wash the dough until the water runs clear. The bowl underneath is to collect the starch which we can either use as thickeber for stews, soups or for making starch sheets for spring rolls. What you have left in your sieve is around 70% protein that you can grill,fry marinade and use in any of your dishes.

The following is a good youtube video of the process.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mRNxKKOncY4&feature=youtube_gdata_player

Its often referred to as Seiten, which if you get into making it, is an interesting experience at parties when you introduce yourself as a 'seiten-ist'

My biggest challenge now is to find a wheat-free equivalent for my partner Jane. I'll keep you posted ...

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