Seitan Tikka Masala FTW

 
I looooove masala sauce! It's so creamy and tomato-y and flavorful! Oh lord, I could not be happier about the way this dish turned out! Mike had a version of this back on my birthday at Star of India and I'm pretty sure I ate most of it (along with the rest of my dish and... all of the rice... ha, did I mention Indian food is my weakness?)

Anyways, I had been please with all the Indian dishes I had made thus far but none of them even came close to this! The best part was how easily it came together! It couldn't have been a better night Mike and I rocked out to some Shivaree as I cooked... ahhh so fun :)

(P.S. DO NOT skip the marinade, it adds sooo much to this dish)

Seitan Tikka Masala: (serves 4)

Marinade:

• 3/4c plain soy or coconut yogurt
• 1T  fresh minced ginger
• 2-4 cloves of fresh minced garlic
• 1T lemon juice
• 2t cumin
• 2t cinnamon
• 1t coriander
• 1t paprika
• 1/2t turmeric
• 1 1/2t cayenne
• 1t black pepper
• 1t salt
• 12-18 oz seitan, cubed

 Masala Sauce:

• 3 fresh garlic cloves, minced
• 1 jalapeno pepper, diced (for less heat remove the seeds)
• 1/2c onion, diced
• 2t cumin
• 2t paprika
• 1t salt
• 1T Earth Balance, or oil
• 1 8oz can tomato sauce
• 3/4c lite coconut milk
• 1/4c fresh cilantro, chopped 

Marinade: Combine all ingredients expect for seitan, together in a bowl. Pour into ziplock bag and add the seitan. Allow mixture to marinade in the fridge for at least 1 hour.

Take a baking sheet and cover it with a sheet of aluminum foil (you can skip the foil if you want but it helps create less of a mess). Remove seitan mixture from the fridge and empty contents onto foil in a single layer. Bake 425 for 20 minutes, flipping once halfway through.

Masala Sauce:
While the seitan is in the oven, chop up your garlic, jalapeno, onion and cilantro and toss in bowl with your spices. Heat Earth Balance (or oil) in a skillet over medium heat. Empty contents of prep bowl into skillet and saute 2 or 3 minutes.

Add tomato sauce and coconut milk stir well, reduce heat and simmer for 10 minutes. Remove sauce from heat and pour into a blender, puree thoroughly and pour back into skillet. When the seitan is finished, return the sauce to the skillet with the baked seitan and simmer additional 5 minutes. Serve over basmati rice (and/or with naan bread)

So it may not look like anything special but trust me, it's sooo amazing!

Also, I made this figuring that I would have left overs for lunch, during the week... yea, that didn't happen... ha