Make It Yourself Monday: homemade seitan

As I mentioned previously, I wanted to do a post about making your own seitan. I really don't know why it took so long to post it, or even come up with the idea to do a post about it. We eat seitan on a regular basis, it's kind of a remnant of the time when we had to live very frugally out of necessity when we didn't really have money. Seitan is insanely cheap to make, it's probably the cheapest protein, even beating dried beans. The only downside is that it's not suitable for those with gluten sensitivity/celiac disease. Fortunately, we can just tolerate gluten normally. Even though we don't have to live insanely frugal anymore, I've kept a lot of frugal practices that just make sense to me, and making my own seitan is one of them. 

 This is what seitan looks like (for those new to vegetarian cooking)

So, here's what you need for a big batch of seitan: 

Flour 

Water

And a whole lot of patience 😅

Start off by mixing 2 KGs of white, all purpose flour with approximately 1 liter of water- it could be a bit more or less. Knead it like you would knead a regular bread dough. If it's too sticky, just add in a bit more flour. 

After kneading for at least 10 minutes (kneading well is essential as the dough has to develop the gluten), leave it to rest in a bowl, cover with a damp tea towel. Leave it rest for at least 3 hours. 

Then after 3 hours, take out the dough (it's probably become slightly stickier, but that's ok) and put it in a colander in the sink. Now it will become a bit repetitive, but I'm ok with that. You'll need to rinse the dough under the tap. As you're rinsing your dough, knead gently, just to make sure all sides of the dough are being rinsed equally. 

In the beginning, it will look like this: 

Then after a while, it will look a bit more like this: 

The only way I can describe it really are brains 🤣 As you keep rinsing, the rinsing water becomes less white (like milk coloured) and more white transparant. Keep rinsing until the water is totally clear. By then, the dough has more of a spongy consistency, rather than looking like brains. 

Then it's time to cook your seitan. There are various ways to do this, but I prefer to cook the seitan in a broth. I've also tried to steam it, which is fine too, but it will really stick to the steaming basket and has a bit less flavour, since the seitan gets most of its flavour from the broth. So to cook it, put the seitan/dough in a pot and cover it with cold water, then add salt and whatever seasonings you like. You can keep it simple using salt, pepper and some bay leaves, or you could really go fancy. It's all a matter of preference. Put it on low heat for 45 minutes, it should be simmering and not boiling. The lower the better. After 45 minutes, when it looks like this: 

You just leave it cool down in the broth, preferably with the lid on the pot. This takes quite long and for this reason, it's not advisable to make seitan to use that very same day. I always make seitan in advance. When cooled down completely, get your seitan out of the broth and process it further. I usually cut it in small chunks, similar to meat, and then fry it or cook it. You could also make bigger cutlets, and I've read that some people grind it, similar to mince (but I'm yet to try that!). 

The other day, I made a simple pasta with small chunks of seitan, a jar of red sauce that I canned last summer and some vegetables that were in the fridge and needed to be used up. Everyone loved it! 

• Seitan is very versatile, you can use it in about everything you'd use meat. Some suggestions; pulled seitan, seitan cutlets, pasta and rice dishes, stews, soups, and many more.

• Keep in mind that this recipe is for quite a big batch; for our family, we use it for two main meals, and even then it's still a big quantity per meal. Since seitan freezes very well, just portion how you'd prefer it for your family size. Or just halve the quantities. 

• Also, don't throw away the seitan broth! It's quite tasty and can be used as any other broth.

• Don't waste money on whole wheat flour for this recipe. Since all the starches are going to get rinsed out, using whole wheat is kind of pointless. 

Homemade vegetarian "deli meat"

The other day I baked dinner rolls to have as a simple supper with Gouda cheese that we got from a relative abroad. After being deprived from Dutch cheese for so long, there's nothing better than just a bun or sandwich with cheese! 

And then I thought of something else we regularly had on a bun/sandwich, especially in our leaner periods. That was deli meat. Only, I usually made it myself. "Real" deli meat was quite expensive, especially the ones that weren't heavily processed. And we wouldn't eat just any meat anyway for religious reasons, the ones suitable for us were either ultra processed or expensive. There were also the vegetarian substitutes, which were ok but still quite processed. So after some trial and error I came up with my own homemade version. While we can afford more now, and having moved to Tunisia, there are no issues with supermarket meat anymore, I still like to control what's in our food I guess 😀 So I decided to make us some deli meat to have alongside the cheese. 

It was a long time ago (as in, years...) that I made these and I don't think I've written down this recipe, I tried to do my best to come close to my own original recipe and it really worked out well. 

Here's the recipe: 

Half a cup of water

2 eggs

3 heaped spoons of chickpea flour 

3 heaped spoons of all purpose flour (or whole wheat) 

2 bullion cubes for a somewhat meaty taste (for a stick vegetarian version, use vegetable or mushroom bullion)

1/3 cup of oil of your choice, I used olive oil to make it healthier

A spoonful of tomato paste 

More seasonings: onion powder, ground cumin, dried parsley, black pepper, garlic paste 

Dissolve the bullion cubes in very hot or boiling water. Then add to that the chickpea flour and stirr well (using a whisk) until there are no lumps. Then add the eggs, the oil, seasonings and tomato paste. Mix well. Then add the flour. The mixture should still be a bit liquid but not too runny, probably similar to a pancake batter. Then take some plastic wrap (about 50 cm/19 inch long) and pour it onto the wrap, then wrap it tightly, make a knot on the sides so that no batter can come out. Cover the plastic wrap with aluminum foil, and let it steam for around 45 minutes. Let it cool off completely before taking the "sausage" out of the wrap. 

Then use however you like- it's not limited to sandwiches: I used it a lot in pasta salad, for example. There you have your meat alternative without all the weird ingredients. 

Doesn't it look delicious? 

After slicing

Tightwad tip: ditch the teabag

I'm a tea drinker. I absolutely hate coffee, no matter how it's made (trust me, I've tried so many forms of coffee over the years), but tea it is for me. Like most people, especially in Europe, using tea bags was just a given. Tea comes from a bag, it's that simple. Or is it? 

It might be the usual way for tea to be sold in Europe, but that's not to say it's like that everywhere in the world. Here in Tunisia, they do sell tea bags, but they're 1) outrageously priced, and 2) less tasty. One box of tea bags costs the same as 3 bags of loose leaf tea. Only that loose leaf tea contains much more - making it nearly 6 times as expensive! The other day I read an article on Sri Lankan and Indian tea, and how they usually use "rejected" tea (which isn't suitable for exporting to countries where they generally drink loose leaf tea) for tea bags. That does explain why the tea from tea bags here don't taste nearly as good as the bags of loose leaf tea. 

And then there's the issue of environmental impact. I really don't like unnecessary packaging. Each tea bags box has a plastic wrap covering the box, then each tea bag is in a small paper wrapper, and to top it off, there's the tea bag itself. That's a whole lot of packaging! Compared to just one bag of 200 grams of loose leaf tea- I don't need scientific studies on which one is worse for the environment. But packaging isn't the only reason. Apparently, even though tea bags are meant to be paper bags, they still contain microplastics. Do I really want microplastics in my cup of tea? Yikes! 

Yes, I know a tea bag is apparently more convenient, but it's really a matter of adjustment. For me, using a small tea sieve is just as convenient as putting that bag in a mug. It may be a few extra seconds of work, but that's fine - I'm a slow living advocate anyway. I've probably saved hundreds of €€ already by just switching to loose leaf tea, and I'm protecting myself from getting even more unnecessary microplastics. 

Homemade sandwich spread

Years ago, I ate a lot of Heinz sandwich spread- it was a good vegetarian option in a time when there was not a lot to choose from besides cheese. Being frugal as I was, I later switched to the generic brands when they developed their own version. Even though I wasn't vegetarian anymore, I still liked it, and still didn't eat meat on bread. Now I make my own, as they don't sell anything like this around these parts. The homemade version is obviously healthier, but I find it way more flavourful as well. As it's quite perishable compared to the store bought version, I don't make large batches at once. Or I only prepare the vegetables so I can mix in the remaining ingredients on the spot. This past week, I made a batch sandwich spread to have on baguette with lentil soup. There was some leftovers for the next day. When it comes to perishable foods, I'm always a bit anxious not to make too much as I'm so cautious about wasting anything. 

I always make it a bit different, depending on what's in season and what I have at home. This is how I made it: 

An onion, cut in half and sliced very thinly    Grated carrots, turnips and courgette              Some homemade sauerkraut                            Seasonings: salt, red pepper flakes, dried parsley, and garlic

Mayonnaise and double concentrated tomato paste 

Sautee the onion and then add the carrots, sautee this with the onion for about a minute, then add the seasonings, turnip, and courgette. Stirr well and cover your pot with a lid. The turnip and courgette will release liquid so don't add any liquid. After about 10 minutes, check the doneness and if it's tender but there's still some liquid, let it evaporate without the lid. Then allow to cool completely and when it's cooled down enough, add the mayonnaise and tomato paste. The tomato paste isn't essential, but it kind of duplicates the store bought version that I liked the most. Then add some well drained sauerkraut. You can add any other fermented or pickled vegetables, this is just what I had on hand. The fermented vegetables not only adds in some extra nutrients, it's also a flavour enhancer- there should be a bit of tangy flavour in this sandwich spread, in my opinion. 

Just use your creativity and remember to use what you have, rather than to run to the store for single items. No mayonnaise? No problem! Make your own, or use yogurt/cream cheese/even leftover bechamel sauce. Use any veggie you like. No fermented/pickled vegetables? Add in some lemon zest and juice, or vinegar etc. 

Using up applesauce and an easy baked oatmeal recipe

This past autumn we were gifted a lot of apples. I think it was more than 20 KG. Of course we shared with family  and neighbours, like most people here do when they have an abundance of whatever is in season. But still, there was quite a lot apples left over and as a small family we couldn't just finish the apples as is. So making applesauce turned out to be a good solution. I don't like the traditional Dutch way of eating applesauce- which is like a condiment with boiled potatoes and vegetables, probably to make all the blandness a little bit more edible. Instead, I just use it as an ingredient for baking. Applesauce is very versatile, it can be used as an egg replacement but also instead of other liquid ingredients. And of course, it gives all your baked good such a nice apple flavour. On top of that, whether you prefer homemade applesauce or store bought- they don't sell applesauce here in Tunisia so if we want to have applesauce you'd have to make your own anyway. I must admit that growing up I didn't like my mum's homemade applesauce and preferred store bought instead. Which is a bit weird if I think about it now. Oh well... My taste buds defenitely have improved a lot. 

The next issue was: how am I going to peel ALL that apples without my carpal tunnel syndrome not instantly coming back? After all, I don't have a fancy apple peeler. Well, after a bit of googling it turned out to be as easy as to cook the apples with their peels on! At times like these, I'm so grateful for having access to the internet and to be able to save time, food and energy. So the only thing I did was coring the apples- which obviously was way less work than peeling. Still it was quite a chore to accomplish. The applesauce turned out a bit browner than "normal" applesauce would have, but it did have a lot of taste! 

So then I just froze all the applesauce. Fortunately I have a big freezer, but still it took up a lot of space. Hopefully next time I'll have enough glass jars to be able to can applesauce and to save precious freezer space. I love making applesauce cake and muffins, or just using some applesauce as a spread on pancakes. But a few weeks ago, I decided to try something new and above all, something a bit more healthy, so I made applesauce baked oatmeal. It turned out to be so delicious. I'm not new to baked oatmeal, but my original recipe wasn't quite a healthy one, so I tried to make a healthier one this time. Here's how I made it: 

 2 cups of applesauce                                             1 cup of milk                                                           2 cups of oatmeal 

That's it, super basic. Just mix this in a bowl and then add whatever flavourings you like. I usually keep it quite basic and only add some cinnamon (for flavour) and desiccated coconut (for healthy fats). But if I think of other add-ins that would be nice: raisins, date chunks, nuts. Then I add it to lightly greased baking dishes- I like to use small individual baking dishes, but you can also use one large one and cut it into smaller portions after baking.                           

I like this baked oatmeal for breakfast, whereas my family members prefer it as a snack. I have tried out multiple ways to eat it, and as for now my favourite way is with some peanut butter and honey in top of it. When you don't eat this right away, I recommend heating it up- which I do in my air fryer, as I don't have a microwave (which might be interesting to do a whole different post about). 

Vanilla sugar

One thing us frugal people are really good at, is making things stretch and dilluting. And I don't mean just adding some water to a nearly empty washing up liquid bottle, but even the less obvious things that necessitate a bit more of thinking outside the box. Yesterday I was "making vanilla sugar" as my youngest daughter called it - essentially, it was just "dilluting" vanilla sugar with regular sugar, with a 1:1 ratio. And then it has to sit for some time in a closed jar, preferably at least two weeks, in order to get as strong as undiluted vanilla sugar. 

Why do I bother to do that? Well, vanilla sugar is quite expensive here- it's literally ten times the price of regular sugar. You don't really notice it when you buy a small package, but eventually small costs add up. That's why I usually look at the price per KG (they don't always display the price per KG here, so I just calculate it myself). It truly makes a big difference. There's also the issue of packaging. Vanilla sugar comes in tiny sachets of 8 gram each, and is being sold per 5 sachets which is packed again in plastic. Eek! I really don't like all that plastic. In fact, I hate it. So when I can avoid wasting a bit less disposable plastic, I'm happy to do so. And of course, vanilla sugar isn't that healthy, I'm totally aware of that. Now I'm not even talking about the sugar (which is obvious), but the chemicals as well. I'd love to switch to real vanilla beans, which I used in the Netherlands but can't find here. Even if it were available it would probably be way too expensive. And vanilla extract is a no no for us because it's alcoholic. So, until I find a better solution, vanilla sugar it is. And I use quite a lot in my baking. So I guess for all the aforementioned reasons, diluting my vanilla sugar with plain white sugar is the next best thing to do- less chemicals, less money and less plastic waste. 

Homemade "soy" sauce

Being a from scratch cook, I'm always up to challenges to make food more frugally and using substitute ingredients that otherwise aren't available where we live. Here in Tunisia they aren't big on Asian foods - there's no such thing as an "world food aisle", or however you want to call it, in the supermarkets here, like we were used to in the Netherland. Maybe this is different in the capital city, but certainly not around these parts. And to be honest, having adapted to the local cuisine I don't really miss Asian foods either, as the local cuisine is just as delicious. Epecially after minimising the variety in dishes I cook, there's not a big need for most "foreign" ingredients. However, there are some dishes I use soy sauce for, and soy sauce isn't a thing that's available here. Recently, I saw a web shop that sold soy sauce for an absolutely ridiculous price, and I wasn't tempted to order it. Especially since I make my own, much cheaper, alternative! After moving here I initially just made do without, but then I found some recipes online and adjusted some things here and there until I perfected my own "soy" sauce recipe! 

For one batch* you'll need: 

4 heaped spoons of plain white rice, the cheapest you can find                                    

Half a spoon of fenugreek seeds                 

One spoon of cocoa powder                              

3 cardamom pods        

Some black peppercorns and cloves (not really counted them, not too much, probably about 4 cloves and 10 black peppercorns)

A teaspoon of ground ginger

A teaspoon of black tea 

3 tablespoons of sugar 

4 vegetable or mushroom bullion cubes (I use vegetable as mushroom cubes aren't available here, but I guess mushroom would enhance the flavour quite a bit. But vegetable bullion cubes are OK too) 

Half a teaspoon of salt, or a bit less, since the cubes are already quite salty 

2 spoons of vinegar 

3 cups of water

Boil the rice in the water. Now I usually cook rice using the absorption method, but not for this specific recipe, as you'll need the starchy rice water. So boil the rice in 3 cups water. When it's done, drain the rice. Now to the rice water, add in all the remaining ingredients. Start off by mixing in the cocoa powder using a whisk, since it can become quite lumpy, and then add in all the other ingredients with no specific order. Let it simmer until around half of the water has evaporated and let cool. Once cooled down, strain the sauce (preferably using a mesh sieve) and discard the whole spices. 

Just some notes: 

*By one batch I mean I can fill several small (250 ML) bottles. Since this sauce doesn't keep very long in the fridge, I usually freeze my sauce and just keep in the fridge the amount that I'm using right away. 

By 'teaspoon' and 'tablespoon' I don't mean the ones that are used for measuring, but the ones we eat with. One "eating tablespoon" is somewhat bigger than a "measuring tablespoon". 

You can leave the tea out- it's just there to enhance the brownish black colour - I used only cocoa powder at first, but I've found that using some tea along the cocoa, it made a better colour. But you can leave out the tea if you prefer or use a brown/black colouring instead. 

Homemade broth can be used instead of the cubes, although the results might vary. I've used different types of broth for this, but the cubes really give the best results in my opinion. I'm not very fond of using a lot of bullion cubes because of the MSG they contain, I must admit, so I don't use them a lot. In fact, this is one of the very few ways I'm using them for. 

Make sure you use your rice! Whether it's added to a soup, or making rice pudding out of it... Whatever you feel like making with the rice, just don't discard it, ok? 😬

Of course, for most people soy sauce is easily available, so this probably isn't everyone's cup of tea. Still, I'd probably be making this even if soy sauce were available here (and decently priced). Because it's easy, tastes just as good (in my opinion, anyhow!), and I just like making my own foods I guess. It's also good for people who avoid soy for health reasons, which is also why I still wanted to share this recipe. 

Homemade golden syrup

Living in a country where you can't buy everything you were used to can be a challenge. Sometimes you just make do without, whereas other times you might be able to make your own homemade alternatives. Sometimes the alternatives you make at home aren't exact duplicates of the ones you were used to, but that's a matter of adjustment. 

The syrup we used for pancakes in the Netherlands can't be easily duplicated, but golden syrup seems to be a decent replacement. It's easy to make and shelf stable for a long period, not to mention it's cheap to make! 

For one jar, you'll need: 

1 1/4 cups of water, plus 3 tablespoons

3 cups of sugar

One slice of lemon 

In a saucepan, bring 1 1/4 cups of water to a boil.* Then in the meantime, in another saucepan (preferably with a thick bottom) mix 1/2 cup of sugar with 3 tablespoons of water. Let it simmer until it starts to brown. Then slowly and carefully, add the boiling water, and the remaining sugar. Also add the lemon. Let it simmer uncovered for about 45 minutes. Then let it cool down completely. 

It may be too thick when cooled down, in that case just reheat it and add some more water. I like to add a few tablespoons very strong brewed black tea to give it a nice brown colour. To pour it in a jar, it's advisable to reheat it a bit anyway, in order to be able to pour it more easily. 

If the syrup isn't too thick (some people prefer it thicker whereas some like it runnier), but you still want that brownish colour, you can also add a teabag for a few seconds after reheating. Or add one spoon of brown sugar. Since we don't have brown sugar here, I just use the tea method. (We don't use tea bags though- which is probably worth a seperate post...)

Oh, and this is essential: don't skip the lemon, as it keeps the syrup from crystalizing! 

*You can use your electric water kettle too. I don't really use it, which is why I just heat up water on the stove. 

The most versatile fruit

I must admit that I'm not a fruit lover. There's only a few fruits that I really like, and most other (but certainly not all!) fruits, I will tolerate. On top of that, I have some allergies with certain kinds of fruit. 

If we had a lot of veg sitting around in the fridge that would need to be used isn't really an issue for me, as I believe vegetables can be used in a variety of ways anyway, plus I prefer them over fruit. But with fruit, that's another issue. Especially fruits that you cannot buy a small quantity of, and if there's a risk that it's not a "good" one... Well, that's an additional thing. 

My husband and children LOVE watermelon.  I don't; I dont even really like them but I'll eat some if it's a good one. Only if its a good one! Unfortunately, that's not always the case. Some just thate terrible. And I was so fed up with throwing out watermelons (that even hubby and kids wouldn't eat), BUT fortunately I found quite a few solutions to that problem. Ironically, despite watermelon isn't really appealing to me to eat as is, the "alternative ways" to use them up are usually scrumptious. So, what do I do with watermelons? 

- Jam making. Jam making is something I do a lot, especially during the summer months, and I found that most fruits are suitable for jam making, even the fruits you wouldn't expect to be good jam bases! So last year I tried to make watermelon jam and it was absolutely scrumptious. Whenever we had a "bad" watermelon, this was one of the things I did with the fruit. I made jam a few weeks ago, using a very big watermelon. It was so big that it didnt fit in my 8L pot at once, and we gifted some of the jam to family members. Jam always makes such a nice gift, in my opinion! As for the taste, it doesn't really taste that watermelon-y anymore, it's a bit like a cross between strawberry and fig jam. 

- Dehydrating fruits. My kids love dried watermelon as a snack. Its very sweet, even if using a "bad" watermelon that isn't too sweet. Dehydrating especially comes in handy when you have a LOT of watermelon because it shrinks a lot. 

- Juice/smoothies. I don't have a juicer so I just use half watermelon, half water and some additional sugar. I don't really like this but my kids do. Since we only drink water and tea, juice or a smoothie every now and then is really a treat for them. You could also make syrup, just like the jam but thinner, and then dilute it with water. Syrup should stay good for a long time in the fridge. 

- Cold soup. Also known as gazpacho. Usually this is made with tomatoes, but mine is watermelon based. Adding a bit of onions and herbs, this is really a refreshing drink. I do add some tomato paste just for the colour but that isnt really necessary. 

- Fry them up! Yes, even that is possible... Apparently, it's a vegan alternative to fish that's used in sushi. I'm not a vegan but I do like these kind of tricks if that means I can save produce from going to waste. Again, this is something you can't really taste that it's watermelon. 

I'm not done yet! All of the above was only about the flesh. The rinds are totally edible too; although I wouldn't recommend to eat it plainly,  I've successfully used the rind in various ways. I love fermenting so that's what I'd regularly do with watermelon rinds. I also just boil them and use that as additional "vegetables" to any meal. Yes, technically it's fruit and not a vegetable, but since they resemble vegetables in taste, I treat those rinds as a vegetable. Not very different from how I'd treat a tomato, which, in the end, is fruit as well. 

I think I haven't heard of a fruit that is that versatile in terms of using them other than eating plainly, hence the title of this post! Now I certainly don't really mind if there's a sub par watermelon in our fridge.