Chorizo (seitan)

This makes one sausage, about 170 x 30. I worked out that it costs no more than a dollar for the vital wheat gluten. Even if you add another dollar for the rest of the ingredients, this is a very cheap chorizo. It tastes just like the real thing and the texture is very similar. I use dried flaked garlic instead of fresh and reckon 1/2 tsp = 1 clove of garlic. This is very hit and miss, however, because the flakes are big and the spoon is small! I smash them up a little bit and the finished appearance is just fine.  Granules would do, but the chunks of flaked garlic look a little bit like the fat that you usually find in chorizo, so add to its verisimilitude.

I can’t recommend this recipe too much, if you like chorizo: it’s dirt cheap, it’s quick, it’s easy and it tastes amazing. It’s also great to have as a tapa when you have friends on board – vegetarian or otherwise.

When you mix this, try to use up every bit of the dough in the sausage so that you leave a really clean bowl. Make sure your tools are clean, too. Gluten and glue have the same root and any dough is a nightmare to clean up, because it sticks to your cloths and scrubbers.

 Makes one sausage, approx 150x 30

Dry Mix

 

½ cup vital wheat gluten (60g)

3 tbsp chickpea flour

5 cloves garlic (See Note)

2 tsp smoked paprika

1½ tsp onion powder

½ tsp cracked black pepper

½ tsp salt

¼ – ½ tsp chilli flakes (See Note)

Liquid Mix

60ml water

1 tbsp olive oil

1 tbsp tomato purée

1 tbsp soy sauce

½ tbsp red wine vinegar

• Peel the garlic and blanch in boiling water for 5 minutes. Drain, leave to cool and then dice into small cubes.
  
• In a large bowl mix together all the ingredients from the dry mix.
• In a separate bowl mix together the ingredients from the liquid mix and whisk them together to ensure that they are well combined.
• Add the liquid mix ingredients into the large bowl with the dry ingredients. Begin mixing with a knife or spatula.  You will probably need to finish by hand: it's not necessary to kned the dough, just mix everything thoroughly.
  
• Put the trivet in the base of the pressure cooker and add ½ cup of water.
• Roughly shape the chorizo into a log that will easily fit in the pressure cooker – about 120 x 50 mm. It doesn’t have to be perfect because the cracks and crevices will disappear during cooking.
• Wrap it in foil or baking parchment, twisting the ends tightly. Place the wrapped chorizo into the pressure cooker, bring up to pressure and cook for 15 minutes. Let the pressure come down gradually.

 

While warm the chorizo stays fairly soft, but it goes harder as it cools, and if left overnight, ends up with a texture very similar to the real thing.  It keeps well wthout refrigeration: up to about a week, as long as it isn't in too moist an environment.

 

 

 

Notes

• If you prefer, you can use dried garlic flakes.  These are really too big, but if you smash them up a bit with a pestle and mortar (or in a blender), after cooking, they end up looking like the fat in a 'real' chorizo.  If you are very patient, you can break them into smaller pieces.  Soak the pieces in a little warm water before using them.  You can also use dried garlic granules, but they are much more even in size and don't look quite as nice.  Use 2 1/2 tsp garlic flakes, or 1 1/4 tsp garlic granules.
• I like my chorizo quite hot, so use 1/2 tsp chilli flakes