I live in Montreal where we have a great assortment of vegan products. There is a company that makes my favourite faux meat products including their sausages. Unfortunately they are a little expensive so I decided to make my own using vital wheat gluten and other items.
Whenever I use vital wheat gluten I am always experimenting with certain added ingredients such as lentils, beans, mushrooms or certain flours. This time I wanted a sausage kind of resembling Mexican chorizo, but these were not totally authentic. Even still I was extremely happy with the outcome.
Dry ingredients
2 to 3 cups vital wheat gluten
1 1/2 cup textured soy protein
1/4 cup tapioca starch
2 tablespoons salt or more to your taste
1 tablespoon onion powder
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon chipotle powder
1 teaspoon smoked paprika
1 teaspoon fennel seeds
1 teaspoon mixed peppercorns
1teaspoon cumin seeds
1teaspoon coriander seeds
3 tablespoons vegetable soup broth powder
1 pinch citric acid (optional)
Wet ingredients
1 onion chopped
4 cloves garlic minced
3 tablespoons ancho pepper paste
3 tablespoons arbol pepper paste
3 tablespoons guajillo pepper paste
1 tablespoon chipotle pepper paste
1/8 cup soy sauce or Braggs aminos
3 tabelspoons oil
1 teaspoon liquid smoke
2 tablespoon agave nectar or maple syrup
1 to 2 cups water
I happened to have purchased these dry peppers from a Mexican grocer near by and soaked them with hot water then blended each one to a paste. If you don't have those particular ones you could use any dry then soaked peppers. This recipe was made up on the fly so there are no rules. However when I do a recipe that I don't like the result of, I won't post it. I was very satisfied with this one. I even liked them better then my favourite ones from the store.
I roasted the whole spice in a pan before I ground them up.
I used a mortar and pestle to crush the spices, which was not very good so I finished it off with a blender.
I started the process by browning onion and garlic in hot oil.
I added all of the spices including the toasted spices to the onion and garlic.
When the onions and spices were mixed and cooked a bit I added the wet ingredients except for the water.
I blended the cooked onion mixture until smooth in my bullet blender.
All of the flour and dry ingredients were mixed together.
I added the wet ingredients to the dry mixture keeping the water aside, to determine how much I would need. It was mixed thoroughly then I added the water gradually until I got a soft dough consistency. Using my hands I kneaded the dough once I was happy with how it felt. It was still fairly soft like a bread dough. Gluten flour has a certain texture and feel to it. It's really elastic different than bread dough.
After kneading for as long as I could stand, and pounding it a bit, I shaped it into sausages
After rolling them in parchment paper tightly I twisted the ends. You could use tin foil as well. I put them in my electric steamer and set the timer for an hour. They swell up quite a bit.
Before serving them I put them on my electric grill for grill marks. We had planned to have a barbecue at the park but the clouds rolled in and in poured rain. Of course it did. It was our day off work. We long for the outdoors but we'll have to wait.
I accompanied the sausages with saurkraut and potatoes even though the sausages were not the typical ones that would be eaten with saurkraut.
The pepper pastes I used were very mild which is why I added ground chili but it wasn't enough to achieve the heat I was looking for. It would be too spicy for some. Next time I'll take it to the next level with some hotter peppers. I like it to hurt.
The flavor was there. I tasted the mix before steaming and added little by little more salt until the dough was salty enough for me. They were perfectly salted. It's the good thing about the fact that it's not real meat. You can safely taste it before it's cooked. I never swallow it anyway. I don't want to eat raw dough.
I made the potatoes cutting them in French fry shapes then blanch them for around 10 seconds in boiling water. They were cooled in cold water, then tossed in oil and seasoned. They were (toaster) oven roasted until tender and golden.
I put mustard on the plate which would probably not be used for a Mexican chorizo sausage but I love mustard. The plate was kind of a combination of Mexican, German, North American. This what comes from a Canadian who had no distinct ethnic food growing up.
Have a great day and thanks for stopping by!
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