Put all of the dry ingredients except the gluten into a coffee mill/herb grinder. Blitz until a fine powder has formed This is chicken seasoning!
Using a blender or stick blender blitz the butter beans, aquafaba (juice from the butter bean tin), lemon juice and 200ml boiling water into a smooth paste. Add the chicken seasoning to this and blitz again.
Tip the wheat gluten into the food processor.
Turn on the food processor then pour the wet ingredients in as it's running and hold on to the top whilst it does its thing. It's going to get really animated, so hold tight when its on!
Now blitz on full for 1 minuteStand for 1 minuteThen blitz on full for 1 minute to finish.(You want to achieve a smooth and consistent dough, so depending on your food processor you may need to repeat the steps for longer.)*since writing this post our newest food processor is less powerful so we blitz for 2 mins x 3 times, the dough will be warm and smooth when it's ready)
After you've made the dough follow this section
Remove the dough and split in half, weigh to be exact.
Make each half of the dough into loaves the same width as your steamer pan and place on to an oiled sheet of aluminium foil. ( It'll be approx 440g per loaf)
Roll each loaf up tightly, seitan will expand as it steams and we want a nice tight texture for shredding! I use three sheets in total to avoid it splitting out of the wrap as it steams.
Both loaves should fit in to your steamer side by side.Steam for 1.5 hours, make sure to top up your steamer every 30 minutes to avoid boiling dry!
When the hour and a half is up, carefully unwrap the loaves (they will be very hot) and place on to a cooling rack for 30 minutes to cool and firm up. I've sliced the ends off here so you can see the texture inside but yours will have rounded ends!Squeeze the loaves, if they feel gelatinous then they will need to be steamed for longer, (another 30 minutes is usually plenty) you are looking for a bouncy consistent texture.(Undercooked seitan is like chewing soft gluey rubber, it's the worst!)
To make strips/shreds just pull open a loaf with your thumbs in the centre, then peel of strips to suit your dish. Watch out it they are still a bit hot!
You can use the chicken pieces in a variety of ways, many of our recipes use it, you can fry it, bake it, stir-fry it and even eat cold as a sandwich slice it's so versatile!Fry the pieces in a little oil to get crispy on the outside, or oven bake at 180°C/350°F fan assisted or 200 °C/390 °F regular for 15 minutes to get crispy without oil.You can also just cook the pieces in your favourite dish without getting crispy first, enjoy!
Quick method
Tip the contents of the tin of chickpeas (including the juice) in to the food processor.