Vegan Seitan Stew

Vegan Recipe of the Week from the House of Mor-Gor

Using this cold and rainy day to make my Seitan Stew.
Want to make it for yourself? Here's how you do it:

1. Get your slow cooker! (I prefer to make stews in a slow cooker, the flavors come together better, but you can do it in a big soup pan if you want, just brown the onions, carrots, celery, mushrooms first, add the other ingredients, the liquid last, cook on medium until it comes to a boil, then med-low for another hour, simmer beyond that).

2. Saute 1 large yellow onion (diced) and 5 chopped (1/2 inch) stalks of celery, in 1 tbsp of olive oil, on the stove until the onion becomes slightly browned.

3. Take 1 small can of organic tomatoes paste, put it in a bowl with 3 cups of boiled water, 1/4 soy sauce--I use Braggs, 2 tbsp wine vinegar, 1 tbsp cumin powder, 2 tbsp smoked paprika, 1 tbsp thyme.

4. In your slow cooker, layer the food in the following order:

2 tbsp olive oil
1.25 pounds of potatoes (cut into 2 inch wedges)
8 ounces of Turnips (I cut them into "french fries")
6 carrots (cut into 3/4 inch pieces)
Add the sauted onions and celery
10 ounces of sliced white mushrooms
2 Cups of petite or regular size peas (I use organic frozen)
16 ounces of Seitan (make your own or use Upton's Naturals)
Add the tomatoes paste mixture

5. Fill the slow cooker with cold water so that the water level comes 1/2 inch from the top

6. Cover and seal

7. Cooking time: High for 5 hours and Low for two if you want it to eat it on the same day you make it. If not, it can go on med-low (not warm!) before you leave for work or before you go to sleep, and be ready to eat when you come home from work, or to put in the fridge and re-heat, on the stove, when you come home. On low it takes at about 10 hours to cook. This stew gets better the longer it sits so I will often make it the night before, put it in the fridge in the morning, then put it into a soup pan when I come home to cook it quickly for dinner.

8. Serve with bow-tie pasta (we use whole wheat), vegan egg noodles, french bread, French/Italian crackers, a scoop of vegan sour cream if you want to make this more "Eastern European."