Vegan Seitan Kiev (Kyiv) Recipe
This vegan seitan kiev recipe has all the flavours of a traditional chicken kiev, but is completely animal-free. They make an absolutely delightful cheat/treat meal, simply serve it with some hand-cut chips and a side salad for the perfect finishing touch.
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This buttery, garlic infused kiev recipe is perfect for a satisfying vegan dinner.
The total recipe time is longer than most recipes because you’re making the seitan from scratch, but the mouthwatering outcome is completely worth it.
What’s a kiev?
A kiev is traditionally a deep-fried chicken breast stuffed with herby butter.
It’s very similar to katsu, but is thicker and has a buttery inside. In this recipe, we use seitan filled with garlic butter.
Seitan is great as a vegan meat alternative for this meal because the pliable dough form is ideal for stuffing with the frozen garlic and parsley butter which will melt pleasingly when cooked.
The traditional chicken kiev is a Russian dish and was refined by a Ukrainian chef who came from Kiev (Kyiv), hence the name of this popular dish. It’s now a staple all over the world and is an option in many restaurants.
Why is seitan good for making kievs?
In this recipe, we use seitan as the chicken alternative.
It’s made from vital wheat gluten, which is the gluten left behind after processing the flour-like ingredient.
Once steamed with the butter inside, the seitan will become dense and hold together well, ready for coating in breadcrumbs and frying for that perfect golden crispiness.
Tips for frying
One way to tell if your cooking oil is hot enough is to use a wooden spoon. Once you’ve heated up your oil, stick the end into the oil and if bubbles form, your oil is ready to fry in.
If there are a lot of bubbles, it might be too hot! Just let it cool off slightly before you add your kievs, otherwise they’ll burn.
The space in the frying pan can also have an effect on frying food. If the pan is overcrowded, it can reduce the temperature. So, use a big enough pan or fry in small batches to ensure each kiev is cooked to perfection.
Total Time: 4 hours and 20 minutes
Prep Time: 3 hours and 30 minutes
Cook Time: 50 minutes
Calories: 391
Servings: 5
Rating:
%20Recipe)
Total Time: 4 hours and 20 minutes
Calories: 391
Servings: 5
Ingredients
Method
Ingredients
(Servings: 5)
- For the seitan
- 28 28 g extra firm tofu
- 0.2 0.2 tbsp miso paste
- 0.2 0.2 tbsp vegetable oil
- 30 30 g vital wheat gluten
- 36 36 ml vegetable stock
- 0.4 0.4 tbsp nutritional yeast
- 0.2 0.2 tsp dried sage
- 0.4 0.4 tbsp plain flour
- For the breaded coating
- 20 20 g plain flour
- 20 20 g breadcrumbs
- 24 24 ml water
- oil, for frying
- For the garlic butter
- 0.6 0.6 tbsp dairy-free butter
- 0.6 0.6 cloves garlic, puréed
- a handful of parsley, chopped
Method
- Firstly, for the garlic butter mix all of the ingredients together and split into 5 pieces. Shape into small ovals, place them onto greaseproof paper and freeze for at least 3 hours.
- For the seitan, add the tofu, vegetable stock, miso, nutritional yeast, vegetable oil and sage to a blender and blend until smooth. Then put the vital wheat gluten and plain flour into a bowl and pour in the liquid mixture. Mix this together to form a dough.
- Knead the dough for 5-6 minutes until the dough becomes stretchy.
- Split the dough into 5 pieces, then wrap the dough around the frozen garlic butter, being sure to seal the dough well around the garlic butter.
- Wrap the seitan tightly in cling film, then steam them for 40-45 minutes until cooked through. Allow them to cool before removing the cling film.
- Once the seitan is cool, for the breadcrumb coating whisk together the plain flour and water to make a batter. Dip the seitan into the batter, then into the breadcrumbs, making an even breadcrumb coating around the seitan.
- Heat the oil in a frying pan over medium heat and fry the kiev on both sides for 3-4 minutes until golden.
Each 142g kiev provides:
13g Fat, 2.1g Saturates, 36g Carbohydrate, 1.7g Sugars, 3g Fibre, 34g Protein, 1.7g Salt.
Are you ready to convert? Check out some of the best vegan seitan recipes!
