# Is seitan a complete protein?



## sassy (Sep 7, 2005)

Or does it qualify as a grain and should it be combined w/beans to make a complete protein? thanks!


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## Erin Pavlina (Nov 11, 2001)

You don't need to combine foods to create a complete protein. That's old information. The way it works is that the body will store the amino acids from a food, then when another food with the rest of the chain of amino acids is eaten, it will combine with the first amino acids, make a complete protein, have a party, and go on about it's merry way.









Eat a varied diet and those aminos will come.


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## sassy (Sep 7, 2005)

thanks. I thought they had to be eaten in the same day though -- not necessarily in the same meal.


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## toraji (Apr 3, 2003)

Seitan comes from wheat, so counts as a grain (albeit a refined one since you lose all the bran etc.)


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## kaydee (Aug 13, 2004)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *toraji*
Seitan comes from wheat, so counts as a grain (albeit a refined one since you lose all the bran etc.)

Wouldn't it also count as a protein source, as well?







A serving of the one of the brands of seitan I use has 31 g of protein (but only 1 g of fiber), while the other one I use has 20g protein and 10g fiber. I usually see seitan listed with tofu and beans under protein rather than under grains.


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## NYCVeg (Jan 31, 2005)

Seitan is wheat protein. The kind I use has 22g of protein and 2g carbs per serving. I certainly count it as a protein source!

And ditto what Erin said on the protein combining--the author who originally came up with that theory has since retracted it.


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## toraji (Apr 3, 2003)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *kaydee*
Wouldn't it also count as a protein source, as well?







A serving of the one of the brands of seitan I use has 31 g of protein (but only 1 g of fiber), while the other one I use has 20g protein and 10g fiber. I usually see seitan listed with tofu and beans under protein rather than under grains.

Yes, it does count as a protein source. But the origin is from grain, which is why I said that. It would be like eating a loaf of bread, and you would still need the missing aminos to make a complete protein.

Basically (for those who don't know how seitan is made) you just take wheat flour, add water and form a nice elastic dough (like making bread), then knead/wash/knead/wash in a bowl of water until you just get the rubbery gluten separated from the starch. The gluten is your seitan. You can form it into balls or flatten them out and make "strips", cook in either a stock or pan fry (make sure to season it well!). It's kind of fun to do the whole process to make seitan from flour though I'll admit to only having done it that way a few times because it takes a long time. When I was eating it a lot I'd just use the vital wheat gluten flour which made it a lot quicker.


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