You’d be surprised how easy it is to recreate a classic Philly cheesesteak with all-vegan ingredients. The most important trick to getting this recipe right is making sure that when you take that first bite, the juice pours out of your sandwich and onto everything. If you’re finishing this with a clean shirt, you’ve clearly done something wrong.
Ingredients
For Seitan
- ½ tablespoon canola oil
- ½ large white onion, chopped
- 1 garlic clove, chopped
- ½ teaspoon cumin seeds
- ½ teaspoon fennel seeds
- ¼ cup (40 g) chickpeas
- 1 tablespoon tomato paste
- ⅛ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon thyme
- ½ teaspoon smoked paprika
- 1 tablespoon soy sauce
- ¼ cup (60 ml) sparkling water
- ¾ cup (90 g) vital wheat gluten
For Cheese Sauce
- 2 tablespoons coconut oil or vegan butter
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ⅛ teaspoon turmeric powder
- ¼ teaspoon curry powder
- ¼ teaspoon paprika powder
- ⅓ cup (40 g) all-purpose flour
- ⅓ cup (15 g) nutritional yeast
- ½ cup (120 g) water
How to Make It
-
For Seitan
- In a large pan with canola oil, sauté the chopped onion and garlic until soft. Add the cumin and fennel seeds and cook until the spices are toasted.
- In a food processor, add the chickpeas, onion-garlic-spice mixture, tomato paste, salt, thyme, smoked paprika, soy sauce, and sparkling water. Pulse until saucy, then add the vital wheat gluten and pulse again until it comes together in a ball.
- Add a steaming basket to a large pot and fill with a couple of inches of water. Bring the water to a boil.
- Divide the seitan into 8 equal chunks. Add the seitan chunks into the steaming basket and let them steam for about 40 minutes, flipping them after 20 minutes. For Cheese Sauce
- Heat the coconut oil or butter in a small pot over low heat.
- Add the salt, turmeric powder, curry powder, and paprika powder.
- Add in the flour and whisk.
- Add in nutritional yeast and whisk again until clumpy.
- Add in the water and whisk on low heat for 1 to 2 minutes until the sauce gets gooey. Set aside. If the sauce gets too thick later on, add a little bit more water to thin it out and whisk again. Additional
- 1 white onion, peeled, halved, and sliced
- ¼ green bell pepper, cut into strips
- ¼ red bell pepper, cut into strips
- 2 sandwich buns To Assemble
- Let the seitan cool off a bit before slicing it into thin strips.
- Bring a large pan with olive oil to high heat, toss in the white onion, and let it cook until translucent. Add in the bell pepper and seitan strips and let it pan-fry for 3 to 4 minutes until the seitan is crispy on the edges and the bell pepper is softened. Add more salt to taste.
- Fill the sandwich buns with crispy seitan and top with the cheese sauce. Enjoy!
