Seitan Roast with vegan Gravy and Christmas Side Dishes

It's done! This seitan roast was really nerve-wrecking. Rarely does a recipe go through as many rounds of testing as this recipe (except for Julia's baumkuchen bites, which probably tops the roast). I've been tinkering with this recipe since the summer, but now winter and especially Christmas can come because this recipe can (finally) be shown off!

Unfortunately, my experiences with homemade seitan products have not been the best so far. They usually had a tough consistency and tasted like nothing. That's why my expectations for this roast were particularly high because I wanted to finally understand how to process seitan properly in order to get both a really good taste and the perfect consistency.

So before I started developing the recipe, I read everything I could find about seitan and how to prepare it. After reading about 100 articles, I was probably just as smart as before, as there are (very) many ways to prepare it: from steaming to boiling to frying and baking, and then there are the various combinations of these methods. After many attempts at steaming, I finally decided to bake it. Fortunately, I had the best helper at my side when I was developing the recipe, without whom the recipe would not be so perfect today. Shout-out to Anni, who diligently helped with the testing and contributed creative ideas.

For a hearty flavor, sautéed onions, garlic and smoked tofu are added alongside pimento seeds. The latter, together with cooked sweet potato, is also responsible for the consistency. Beet juice is added for the reddish color, as the sweet potato would otherwise turn the roast orange. During preparation, it is very important that you follow the recipe exactly. First, mix all the ingredients listed below into a homogeneous mixture (without chunks!) and then put the mixture together with the seitan powder in a stand mixer and knead for at least 5 minutes. If you don't have a stand mixer, you can either do this by hand or try using a hand mixer.

As you already have a lot to do with the roast, today's side dishes are easy to make: glazed carrots and dumplings. The good thing about the carrots is that they can be baked in the oven together with the roast. If you want to prepare dumplings quickly, you can use pre-packaged dumplings (watch out; there are often some with animal products in the ingredients list). However, if you have a lot of time on your hands, we also have a whole host of dumpling recipes to make yourself on our blog.

A really good gravy is a must for a good Christmas dish. How good that Isa created the best gravy in the world a few years ago. I have changed it a little (but really only very slightly) because we need a fruity gravy to go with the hearty roast, so we add the Hygge Punch Apple Blueberry from Voelkel. Voelkel uses carefully selected ingredients from organic and organic-dynamic cultivation. Children's punch is the non-alcoholic version of mulled wine and, therefore, perfect for the whole family. You can easily swap the red wine in the recipe for the punch if you wish. You can buy the juice in the online store from Voelkel, where there are also other varieties, all of which are packaged in environmentally friendly reusable bottles. There's also a really great fundraising campaign: For every bottle sold, Voelkel donates 5 cents to Deutsche Kältehilfe.

Do you still need a dessert for your perfect Christmas menu? How about our baked apple, speculoos tarts or a classic tiramisu?

But enough theory now. Let's get into the kitchen so that Christmas can finally come!