Cinnamon-Orange Glazed Seitan

OK let me reiterate how much I dislike "fake meat." Just wanted to put that out there and then say, I enjoyed this dish. It was a hearty meal in the Meatless January line-up. Seitan is wheat gluten, and it's often transformed in to things like "unchicken" and "unBBQ" and a bunch of other un-meats that leave me shaking my head.

I was the sous chef at a vegan restaurants for about 7 months (at which point I was too pregnant to work the line and not be miserable) and in that time I really learned to love vegan and vegetarian food that featured actual vegetables, grains, legumes, nuts, fruits, juices and ANYTHING that wasn't fake meat. Those faux-lobster ball things are about as far as I can go.

For the record I don't consider tofu or tempeh to be fake meat. In fact, in a recent class a couple of the attendees mentioned they'd never tried tofu because it was always presented as a meat replacement. I said, "Take tofu for what it is and don't consider it a meat replacement." It's tofu, it can stand on it's own for what it is. And according to my palate, tofu and tempeh come across much less processed than all of that un-meat. I know there are tons of folk who disagree with me, but I'll take falafel made from beans over a manufactured soy-patty any day.

So you see how deeply prejudiced I am against "fake meat." With that out of the way, let me proudly present this seitan dish. In the picture you can see it was served with a saute of mushrooms and purple cabbage and some jasmine rice.

Cinnamon-Orange Glazed Seitan

1 lb. Chicken Style Seitan (seasoned wheat gluten)
1/4 cup water
1 tsp dark sesame oil
1 Tbsp miso tamari, or organic soy sauce
2 Tbsp orange juice
1/4 tsp ground ginger
1/4 tsp corn starch
1 Tbsp honey
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper

Drain seitan. In a pot combine seitan, soy sauce, water and sesame oil. Heat over medium-high heat, stirring to coat seitan and allowing the liquid to evaporate.

Meanwhile combine orange juice, ground ginger, corn starch, honey, cinnamon and cayenne pepper in a small bowl and whisk until blended.

Pour orange juice mixture into over the seitan, stirring occasionally. Sauce will begin to thicken as it cooks, and when it has a glaze-like consistency it's ready to serve.