The TikTok vegan chicken hack that costs 50p
TikTok cooks have been raving about a two-ingredient 鈥榲egan chicken鈥 that costs about 50p to make. The hashtag #veganchicken has racked up over 26 million views on the social media platform and the hype isn鈥檛 diminishing. It sounds pretty epic on paper, but is it all it鈥檚 cracked up to be?
What is vegan chicken?
TikTok may be calling this 鈥榲egan chicken鈥, but seitan is its official name and it has being around for a long time (and we mean centuries). It鈥檚 also sometimes referred to as wheat meat. Now it鈥檚 popping up everywhere online as fried chick鈥檔, nuggets, fillets and more.
You can make seitan using a product called vital wheat gluten, which is flour with the starch removed, leaving behind the gluten. But you can also use plain flour, costing around 50p a bag, in the 鈥榃TF鈥 method. It鈥檚 not what you think. This acronym stands for 鈥榃ash The Flour鈥, as noted by the , and is the original method used by the Chinese monks who discovered how to make it. You literally soak and then wash a ball of dough in the sink. This is how people are making it on social media. So how exactly do you do it?
How to make vegan chicken
Seitan is incredibly easy to make. You just knead together flour and water to develop the gluten and make a springy dough. It鈥檚 then soaked in water for around 2 hours before being rinsed under the tap for 5 minutes or so, until the dough resembles a stringy, stretchy mass that feels slightly squeaky between your fingers. The more starch you wash out, the chewier it will be when it鈥檚 cooked. While it rests for another hour, you can decide how to season it.
This is where you can spice things up. Pretty much anything goes in terms of seasoning, but you want to take into account what you鈥檙e using your seitan for. You might want to keep it simple with salt, pepper and garlic granules if you鈥檙e adding it to a rich sauce. Or you can go big and bold with chillies, smoked paprika or a spice mix such as piri piri or Chinese 5-spice to pack a punch for fried 鈥榗hick鈥檔鈥.
The dish you鈥檙e making will also define how you cook the seitan. A popular method is to tie the dough into a knot before simmering it in stock. This allows you to shred the ball, a bit like you do with pork shoulder 鈥 it works well for pulled 鈥榗hick鈥檔鈥 sliders and in this piri piri seitan. Or you can cook simmered (and cooled) seitan on a barbecue for char-grilled 鈥榗hick鈥檔鈥 or skewers 鈥 either thickly slice or cube it first or cook it whole. Wrapping the seitain in clingfilm and kitchen foil before simmering will result in a much denser product that鈥檚 better suited for a mock-sausage.
Crispy fried seitan commonly appears on TikTok as nuggets, strips or burgers. This calls for a two-step cooking process, as the seitan chunks first need to be simmered and cooled, then fried in a breadcrumb coating or batter, just like chicken nuggets. They can be eaten with ketchup or BBQ sauce, added to sandwiches, or used in a vegan katsu curry in place of tofu.
Taste and texture
Seitan has one of the meatiest textures of all the 鈥榤ock meats鈥. It鈥檚 dense, slightly chewy and looks fairly convincing as a meat. If you鈥檙e simmering it in stock, leaving it to rest in the fridge overnight gives it a firmer texture, but it鈥檚 pretty hard to resist eating it straight away! Without seasoning it鈥檚 pretty bland, but this can be an asset as you can add almost any flavour or sauce, from hoisin or piri piri to gravy.
Is it healthy?
Seitan is low in carbohydrates and fat, and high in protein. However, it is 鈥渁n incomplete protein鈥, says dietitian Anjanee Kohli, as it 鈥渄oes not contain enough of the amino acid lysine to meet your body鈥檚 needs鈥. But you can add other foods rich in this amino acid, such as beans, lentils, quinoa and tempeh. It also contains minerals including iron and magnesium, but it鈥檚 low in fibre, so you need to ensure you鈥檙e eating plenty of fibre sources, as many of us don鈥檛 eat enough of this vital nutrient.
