TikTok’s vegans may not be able to enjoy some of the app’s most viral recipes nowadays. But afraid not because there is one new, meatless ingredient is having a moment. That particular ingredient is gluten. As in, the protein found in wheat and other grains. Easily said is the thing that so many brands have tried to eliminate for the past decade. Unfortunately, users on the app are having divided reactions and mixed feelings by this recipe.
The questionable trend seemed to begin in the month of February. The recipe is simply by mixing flour and water, kneads the result. Then submerges it underwater and kneads it again. After that, drains the water and adds seasoning before kneading it again. The makeshift meat is then fried with vegetable stock for 45 minutes. The end result looks eerily like real chicken but the taste, not so much.
This might seems like a new trend but actually, this kind of recipe has existed way back in decades. The fake chicken recipe is just another name for ‘seitan’ which is a Japanese word that refers to a decades-old Chinese tradition of using wheat gluten to make protein. ‘Seitan’ is made by combining flour with water, then rinsing the mixture until it loses most of its starch. The result is a ball of protein-rich gluten.
Because of the TikTok trend, the fake chicken recipe has evolved and grown, with users adding all kinds of spices to make their wheat gluten more taste like chicken. Many vegetarian and vegan users have praised the concept as a creative way to make ‘meat’ but without the meat part.
Sources: YouTube emmymade.