Asian Seitan Salad and Scallion Pancakes

Today Zelda had a playdate with her friend who is three weeks older than her -- so we brought over some lunch to share with the other parents. The last vegetables from our share for the week were a head of lettuce and the green part of the spring onions. I decided to make a salad topped with seitan made with Asian spices and a similarly-themed dressing -- plus scallion pancakes on the side.

The scallion pancakes were mostly the same as last time, but with a bit of whole wheat flour used in place of some of the all-purpose flour. I also had more spring onions, so I doubled the recipe to make two big scallion pancakes instead of one.

For the seitan, I used the seitan o'greatness recipe with modified spices. Instead of the listed spices, I used ginger, garlic, Chinese five-spice, and red pepper flakes; in place of Worcestershire sauce I used an additional two tablespoons of tamari. In retrospect, the tomato paste should also have been replaced. The tomato-y flavor that came through in the finished product detracted from the seitan's Asian feel. Still, the seitan turned out deliciously.

The dressing was also sauce for dipping the scallion pancakes, and was made of peanut oil, red wine vinegar, tamari, garlic, ginger, salt, and tonkatsu sauce.

Although there is no sauce in the picture, I did drizzle dressing over the salad -- and deposited a spoonful or two on the plate for dipping my scallion pancakes in. My neglecting to take a picture with the sauce can be chalked up to the two tiny humans and the World Cup game that were serving as serious distractions.