So what's a proper St. Patrick's spread without corned beef? How about vegan corned beef? I love this bean-and-seitan-based recipe because the corned beef is actually so versatile. You can use leftovers to make a delicious deli sandwich (like a reuben!) or chop it up to make some corned beef hash later on in the week.
Vegan Corned Beef
(Makes 1 'roast')
INGREDIENTS:
1/2 cup chickpeas
1 tbsp oil
1 cup water
2 tsp seasoned salt
1 tsp salt
2 tsp smoked paprika (If you don't have smoked paprika, use regular paprika and an extremely tiny amount of liquid smoke.)
1/2 tsp cloves
1/2 tsp allspice
1 tsp dried mustard
4 dried juniper berries, crushed into powder (If you can find this ingredient, great, but if you can't, you can still make an equally delicious corned beef without it.)
1 1/4 cups wheat gluten (seitan)
DIRECTIONS:
1) Get water on its way to steaming in your steamer. Place chickpeas in a food processor and process until smooth. Add everything else except the wheat gluten and process.
2) Transfer to a bowl and mix in the wheat gluten with a fork. Knead for a minute or so to get everything mixed.
3) Shape into a rectangle (about 8" x 5") and wrap in foil. Double fold the seams so the seitan will steam properly.
4) Steam for 45-60 mins. The seitan must swell against the foil, so make sure that happens before you remove it from the steamer.
5) Let cool and bit, then thinly slice and serve.
