Vegan Sausages

• Add canola oil to a pan and sautée your chopped onion and garlic until soft. Add the fennel seeds, thyme, sage, and basil. Let it cook for another minute.
• Using your immersion hand blender or food processor, add the chickpeas, onion-garlic-spices mixture, tomato paste, salt, smoked paprika, soy sauce, and sparkling water. Pulse until it’s saucy.
• Add the vital wheat gluten flour and pulse again until it comes together in a ball. (Since gluten flour is so fine, I like to mix it in a quarter cup at a time. This keeps your flour from flying into the air and making a mess).
• You should now have a somewhat sticky dough. Divide it into 4 equal chunks. Roll each seitan chunk into a sausage shape, then roll each sausage tightly in aluminum foil. (you can use a layer of parchment paper between the sausage and foil, but this is personal preference). Twist the ends so that the seitan is completely covered in foil.
• Fill a large pot with a couple of inches of water and place a steam basket in it. Make sure the water does not go past the steam basket or your sausages will get wet! Bring it to high heat.
• Place the seitan sausages into the steaming basket. Try not to stack them, but a bit of overlap is okay. Let them steam for about 40 minutes, flipping them after 20 minutes.
• Remove them from the foil and parchment paper (they will be hot)!
• Now you can use them however you’d like! Pan frying with a touch of oil is my favourite. Slice them and put them in a tomato or creamy pasta sauce, use them in a sausage paella, or grill them and serve in a fresh bun. You can store them in the fridge for 3-4 days.