Hoisin Glazed Veg*n Ribs. Um, yum.

Sometimes, cravings and flavors just begin to take on a life of their own. Such is the case with this recipe. I was looking for a good smoky, BBQ-esque, Asian fusion kind of dish. That, of course, did not involve meat of any kind. I’ve seen some BBQ shaved Seitan sandwich recipes, and Hoisin Tofu recipes – neither got me too excited. I had a great starter by way of a staple seitan recipe – which can be modified many different ways. But I was still missing that magic…

Last week sometime (the day before I began my Spring fast) I picked up the April 2009 issue of Real Simple Magazine. There was a cool article about Cleaning Your House Naturally that caught my attention, but lo and behold there on p. 151 was a recipe for Ginger Hoisin sauce. Needless to say I knew exactly how to take this and make it stellar! I turned an awesome vegan rib recipe into Ginger Hoisin Glazed Veg*n Ribs.

Recipe after the jump. If you make it that far. Ok. Seriously. Stop Drooling.

2 Cups vital wheat gluten
4 Teaspoons paprika
4 Tablespoons nutritional yeast
4 Teaspoons onion powder
2 Tablespoons Chinese five spice powder
4 Teaspoons garlic powder
1 1/2 cups water
4 Tablespoons Tahini
2 Tablespoons natural peanut butter
2 Teaspoons Liquid Hickory Smoke
3 Tablespoons Tamari
1 Tablespoon freshly minced ginger (optional)
2 Green onions sliced (optional)
2 Cups Ginger Hoisin Glaze

Preheat the oven to 375 and lightly grease a deep roasting pan.

Mix the first 5 ingredients together in a large bowl.

Mix the water with the nut butter, Liquid Smoke, peanut butter and soy sauce (make sure there are little to no clumps) and add it to the dry ingredients.

Stir to mix well and then knead lightly by hand in the bowl for a couple of minutes, until the dough is smooth and keeps its shape.

Roll the dough out to 1/2 inch thickness.

Cut strips out of the dough and roll them out to about a 1/4 inch thickness (dough will spring back).

Place your seitan strips into your roasting pan.

Bake at 375 degrees for 10 minutes.

Then set broiler on high and broil your seitan strips for 5 minutes.

Remove the pan from the oven.

Brush the Ginger Hoisin Glaze onto the seitan strips, and return to broiler for another 5 minutes or until glaze is slightly crispy.

Garnish with green onion, or freshly minced ginger.

Ginger Hoisin Glaze

As seen in the Veg*n Ribs post, this sauce is quite amazing and can be used to glaze Tofu – Seitan – Tempeh – Old Socks – Tires…oops, sorry, got carried away.

Really though this sauce would make year-old Fruitcake taste good.

Ok, wait. Don’t try the Fruitcake thing, please. It was a joke.

1/2 Cup Tamari soy sauce

1/4 Cup water

2 Tablespoons peanut butter

1 Tablespoon molasses

2 Minced garlic cloves

2 Tablespoons minced fresh ginger

1/2 of a small Red Onion, minced

2 Tablespoons fresh lime zest

2 Teaspoons dark sesame oil

1 Tablespoon light brown sugar

1 Teaspoon Chinese five spice powder

1/8 Teaspoon ground black pepper

1/8 Teaspoon salt

1 Teaspoon oil

Put a saucepan on the stovetop on medium heat.

Lightly fry the ginger and garlic in the oil until aromatic (1 minute).

Add the soy sauce and the remaining ingredients.

Cook for 5 – 7 minutes, until the sauce is thick and glossy.

Try not to lick the spoon.

Enjoy!