Seitan Char Siu

Last night, I wondered what I should do with the last of my leftover seitan. I could always just use it as slices in stir fry, noodle soups and such. Even simpler would be to just smother it in barbeque sauce and serve it between two slices of bread. Then I started thinking that if this is supposed to be a meat substitute, why not try using it like meat. Why not roast it like Chinese roast pork? In particular, why not try making char siu out of it? So I looked up how to make char siu and substituted the pork with seitan.

I am considering my first attempt to be a failure. Although the marinade tasted okay, the seitan texture and taste just didn't seem right. I used the leftover seitan from Mark Bittman's cookbook, How to Cook Everything Vegetarian and a basic char siu marinade. The resulting marinade is more brown than red, which is because I didn't add any red food coloring.

I have never made char siu before, even with pork. My mom always used to just buy it and that was that. Of course, I've had it enough times to know what it's supposed to taste like. It is one of the foods that I loved as a child and still enjoy in moderation as an adult. 

After the initial disappointment with the result, I looked online for "seitan char siu." Silly of me not to think of looking it up before I decided to make this attempt, but oh well. It didn't take me long to find this:
http://community.livejournal.com/vegancooking/2694496.html

The I've never thought to add peanut butter or tahini to the seitan recipe. I am very curious to try it as I'm sure the peanut butter will have an effect on the flavor and texture of the seitan. If it will make the seitan more tender, I'm all for it!

In the end, despite my disappointment in the result, I am willing to try it again with a different recipe. There is actually hope that this might work. If so, then I might try "red cooking" the seitan. One my mom's specialties was "red cooking" cubes of meat. My hubby was treated to some when we visited one day and I know that he liked them very much. I always thought it was a shame not to be able to cook the dishes my mom cooked because I was cutting out meat. Now, I feel like there is hope that I may not have to give up making some of my favorite childhood dishes after all!

Sorry if this post rambles a little. I'm writing this late at night on almost no caffeine. The last thing I want to say now is that my hubby seems to have eaten much of the seitan char siu while I wasn't looking. Perhaps it's not as much a failure as I thought it was? Lol!