Tomato Okara Gluten Roast with Quinoa, Kale, and Sweet Potato Fries

I had to leave before the dinner was served last night, but the TOMATO OKARA GLUTEN ROAST with Quinoa, Kale, and Sweet Potato Baked Fries was still good when I got home. The photo was taken by one of my three sons, who told me last night that it looked like something-unmentionable-on-a-vegan-blog. My partner said he liked the texture better than the usual roast gluten. My other sons rated it a seven out of ten. Their two friends ate it and didn't complain. 

 

I was happy to get rid of the okara (soy pulp) left over from making two batches of soy milk. After a while, one gets tired of soysage, and I am not yet ready to add it to my compost pile, but my freezer is filling up with it, and a friend who has been taking it (free protein source!) is also getting sick of soysage. I am always looking for new ways to use it up.

Ingredients

4 cups — gluten powder

1 1/2 cups — okara (soy pulp) or substitute tofu or beans

15-ounce can — tomato sauce

1/8 cup — tamari

1 tsp — onion and garlic powder

1/2 tsp — red pepper

1/2 tsp — turmeric

1/2 tsp — cumin

Enough water to turn it into a glossy ball with no dry parts

Method

Pretty much follow the roast seitan recipe found elsewhere on this blog. To four cups of gluten powder add the dry seasonings — I used garlic and onion powder, red pepper, turmeric, and cumin — and to one-and-a-half cups of soy pulp (or blended beans or tofu, I suppose, if you haven't any pulp) add a fifteen-ounce can of tomato sauce, an eighth cup of tamari, and enough water to mix the gluten into a a ball with no dry parts. 

 

Knead it all together and add water as needed. Flatten it into a large glass baking dish that's been oiled, and pour on two more cups or so of water, to which another eighth cup of tamari has been added, or to cover. Bake at 350F degrees for one-and-a-half hours.

Serving Suggestion

Serve with cooked QUINOA (my son appears to have sprinkled his with nutritional yeast and tamari), cooked KALE dressed with balsamic vinegar and olive oil, and SWEET POTATO FRIES. I made the fries in the oven at the same time I baked the roast, drizzling them with olive oil and sprinkling with a touch of salt. I stirred them now and then. If they aren't crisp enough, broil them at the end until they are. I cooked the quinoa and kale in my two part rice cooker. (Nowadays, of course, I would use my air fryer!)

If you aren't allergic to gluten, it is novel to have a chewy roast you can cut on your plate with a knife. So much nicer than that other unmentionable substance.