Tonight we used the cucumbers for a little salad to accompany yakiseitan and broiled eggplant.
Japanese Cucumber Salad
2 cucumbers
1/4 c. seasoned rice vinegar
1 tsp. toasted sesame oil
1/4 tsp. salt
1/8 tsp. crushed red pepper
1 tsp. black sesame seeds
Peel, seed, and slice cucumber. Toss with the vinegar, oil, salt, and chili. Chill while you make dinner, about half an hour. Sprinkle with sesame seeds before serving.
Yakiseitan (obviously inspired by that recipe that I have vowed never to mention again, and of course by this L.A. Times Article.)
dry ingredients:
1 c. wheat gluten flour
2 Tbsp. nutritional yeast
2 tsp. onion powder
1 tsp. garlic powder
1 tsp. powdered ginger
wet ingredients:
3/4 - 1 c. water
2 Tbsp. tahini
1 tsp. maple syrup
1 Tbsp. tamari
marinade:
2 Tbsp. soy sauce
1/4 c. mirin
1/4 c. sake
thread with:
green onions
Preheat oven to 350 and spray a 9x13 inch baking pan with cooking spray. Whisk together dry ingredients in a medium sized bowl. In a small bowl, whisk together wet ingredients, using just 3/4 c water, you can add more at the end if your dough is too dry. Cut wet into dry with a rubber spatula, and then use your hands to knead for about a minute. At this point the dough should be a wet cohesive mass. You can knead in a little more water now if the dough seems too dry. Spread the glob out onto the baking pan, patting and stretching to spread it out over most of the bottom of the pan. Bake for 25 minutes.
Remove from the oven and let cool for a minute before you transfer it to a cutting board. Tear the seitan up into bite size chunks and toss them into the marinade. The hot seitan will very quickly absorb the marinade, so once you have tossed all the pieces in the sake mixture you are ready to skewer. Thread bamboo skewers with alternating pieces of seitan and green onion. Grill over a hot flame, for about a minute on each side.
The seitan looks a little dry? It wasn't. The cucumber and eggplant look delicious? They were. Stay tuned to see what becomes of the rest of that beautiful bounty.
