I have long been fond of the Buddhist-style mock meats made of wheat gluten, and our local Vietnamese restaurant serves a black pepper gluten that is one of my favorite things. We've had good luck with the stuff you get in a can at the Asian market, often labeled "mock duck," but I wanted to experiment, and I have a jar of gluten flour around for baking purposes anyway, so I thought I'd give it a try. The first time I did, it was okay. Kneading the dough was fun, and it came out looking remarkably like the seitan you buy in a package at the whole-foods shop. Unfortunately, it was also squeaky-rubbery like the seitan you buy in a packet. I wanted to try for something else.
Here's what I did: I mixed together a quarter cup of water, a dash of soy sauce, a drizzle of sesame oil, a splash of rice wine, a little salt, and a little cocoa for color. Then I added a quarter cup of gluten, and mixed quickly with a fork. I kneaded it quite lightly and let it rest a few minutes. Then I dumped it out on the counter and dimpled it all over with my fingertips until it was about half an inch thick.
Then, into the frying pan it went. After both sides were browned, I added some water, a clove of garlic, another splash of rice wine, and covered it up for about half an hour or forty minutes of braising. I checked on the water level every ten minutes or so, topping it up when necessary. It absorbed quite a bit of liquid at first, and then settled down. At the end of the braising, I took off the lid and cooked down the liquid to a nice pan sauce.
I sliced this into thin little strips and it was cripy on the outside and tender and juicy within. We had it in an okonomiyaki, and it was very nice, though the strips I pinched and ate on their own were tastier yet, unobscured by all the other stuff.
