Two words that don’t seem to go together but end up giving us the sense of what it means: Vegan and beef.
As I was cooking this dish, I wanted to give seitan a try. Not knowing what the consistency or taste was like, I was delightfully surprised to see seitan can absorb flavors and have a similar text to beef. It is a bit more chewy/tough, but it does the trick.
Ingredients:
Cut the seitan in 2cm x 2cm x 1mm cuts (alternatively, there is a pre-cut package you can buy from whole foods); while cutting the seitan, preheat your wok or pan as the wok is heating up, 15-30ml of sesame oil in the wok with fennel seeds and pepper flakes. As the oil is infused with the peppers and fennel seeds, the seitan should be ready to place in the pan. Once the seitan looks golden brown, it is ready for soy sauce.
I let the seitan simmer while I cut up the jalapenos and green peppers. The jalapenos can be added to the pan immediately, but I like my bell peppers to have a bit of a crunch. I find it best to add the bell peppers in the last minute or two. Looking at the Seitan that is cooking with the jalapenos. Take a moment to see if there is enough balance of flavor before adding sugar. The sugar will balance the dish’s flavors so it isn’t too spicy or salty. But this is the perfect moment to see how everything is coming together. I will typically add a little turmeric to have a little bit more of that spicy flavor that isn’t hot instead of completing the flavor.
At this point, the baby bok choy has been washed thoroughly and placed in the steamer. Bok choy has such a nice flavor that it is better to have a dipping sauce of sesame oil and red pepper flakes than adding salt or pepper to the bok choy.
As the bok choy is steam, at this point, I will go back to the wok and add my brown sugar and peppers. This will give enough time for the brown sugar to caramelize and leave the peppers with a nice crunch.
Give your dish one last try before serving to see if it has enough salt and pepper.
