Brussels Sprouts with Seitan, Kale Chips (not shown) (No Added Fat)

We had a visitor from Mexico City coming tonight to spend two nights with us. He's not vegetarian, so I thought I'd make something with seitan to let him try a food he likely hadn't had before. I made a waterless Brussels Sprouts dish. Here is what I did:


Ingredients

• 1 cup onion cut into approx. 1/4" x 3/4" half moons (I used about half of a medium Vidalia onion)
• 1 clove garlic, finely (1/8") diced
• 2 cups (12 small-medium) Brussels Sprouts, halved
• 1 1/2 cups button or crimini mushrooms cut into quarters (I used 8 crimini)
• Kernels stripped from one cob of corn (maybe 3/4 cup?)
• 3 leaves bok choy, each leaf halved and then cut into 3/8" pieces
• 8 ounces seitan, slices or cubes
• 10 leaves fresh oregano, roughly chopped into approximately quarters
• 1/2 t salt
• 1/2 t freshly ground black pepper

Process

1. I put, in this order, the onion, garlic, Brussels Sprouts, mushrooms, corn, bok choy, and seitan into a large Saladmaster stock pan. I cooked waterlessly - i.e., I covered the pan and heated it on medium high until the vapor release started jiggling, then I reduced the heat to low till the jiggle stopped. I let it cook for about 20 minutes.
2. I then mixed in the remaining ingredients and served.

I also served brown rice (which our friend loved), watermelon radish, and heirloom tomato. My daughter made kale chips, which I served separately just before serving the rest of the meal.

I recently gave my daughter an excellent book by Ruby Roth, The Help Yourself Cookbook for Kids: 60 Easy Plant-Based Recipes Kids Can Make to Stay Healthy and Save the Earth. It's colorful with easy and healthful recipes. She loved making kale chips a few weeks ago and did that again. It's really easy - kale is roughly hand torn into 1 1/2" or so squares, patted dry, then hand mixed with some nutritional yeast and salt in a preheated 400 degF oven for 20m (I found that 15-17 minutes was enough tonight).

Results

Dinner was great - our guest seemed to enjoy it all. I was quite pleased with the main course; it came out even better than I had hoped.

Ideas for the future

I am always happy when I cook waterlessly. I should do it more regularly! A few days ago, I took my daughter to Remedy Diner in Raleigh, NC; they had an interesting special Brussels Sprouts sandwich. I want to try a sandwich with Brussels Sprouts sometime soon.