Gyros (Week 38, Greece)

This recipe is a part of my Global Vegan Challenge where each week I research and develop a recipe from a different country in the world. Many of these recipes are veganized based off their omnivore counterparts. While not all of these recipes are a one for one what you’ll find in their country, I hope you’ll still find them delicious!

Recipe Notes

You’ll need to prepare the tzatziki a day in advance to allow for the flavors to marry. You can prepare this same day, but the sauce won’t taste as strong.

I wish I could take full credit for this recipe, but I can’t. While I did make minor tweaks my friends DataJack and Cavegal were the origins of it. Without them, I wouldn’t have this recipe to share.

The seitan requires multiple steps of preparation — simmering, baking, and broiling. If you want to save time, you can go straight from simmering to serving, but the baking and broiling makes such a difference for the texture I’d keep it if you have time. It’s well worth the wait.

Vegan Gyros

Details

Servings

8 to 10 servings

Prep time

30 minutes

Cooking time

100 minutes

Ingredients

Tzatziki
2 cups Vegan Yogurt (I used Kite Hill plain & unsweetened)
1/2 cup Cucumber, shredded
2 tablespoons Fresh Mint, packed
2 tablespoons Fresh Parsley, packed
2 tablespoons Fresh Dill, packed
1 tablespoon Lemon Juice
1 tablespoon Salt
1 tablespoon Grapeseed Oil (or vegetable oil of choice)
1 teaspoon Fresh Thyme, packed
Seitan
2 1/2 cups Gluten Flour
2 cups Cold Vegetable Broth (I used Better than Bullion No Beef)
1/2 cup Nutritional Yeast
1 small Yellow Onion
4 tablespoons Garlic, minced
3 tablespoons Marjoram
3 tablespoons Rosemary
1 1/2 tablespoon Salt
1 tablespoon Soy Sauce
1 tablespoon Black Pepper, ground
1 teaspoon Thyme
Cheesecloth
Cooking Twine
Simmering Stock
8 cups Broth
2 Bay Leaves
2 Garlic Cloves, crushed
Filling Options
Tomatoes, sliced
Red Onion, sliced
Cucumber, Sliced
Lettuce

Directions

Tzatziki
Prepare herbs. Mince mint, parsley, and dill. Remove thyme leaves from stems. Add to a blender (or food processor).
Mince garlic. Add to blender.
Grate cucumber. Add to blender.
Add yogurt, oil, and salt to blender. Blend briefly to mix ingredients. Refrigerate until ready for use.
Seitan
Mix all dry ingredients in a mixing bowl and mix well. Add onions and garlic and mix well.
Mix liquid ingredients together and slowly mix into gluten mixture. Knead for a couple minutes if using a dough hook, or if mixing by hand knead 5-10 minutes.
Form gluten into a log shape and place on cheesecloth. Roll up tightly, making sure to close the ends. Tie closed snugly with twine to ensure it doesn’t open when simmering.
Bring a pot of vegetable broth to a simmer with crushed garlic and bay. Once simmering slowly lower the seitan loaf into the broth. Allow to simmer for 1 hour. While simmering, slice up fillings of our choice and set aside until ready to serve.
When finished simmering, heat up oven to 325F. Unwrap cheesecloth and discard along with twine. Place seitan on a lightly greased baking sheet and cover with foil. Allow to bake for 30 minutes.
Remove seitan from oven. Once cool enough to handle slice into very thin slices of gyro ‘meat’. Place back on a lightly greased baking sheet and under the broiler on high for up to 5 minutes.
Once broiled, remove from heat and serve in pitas along with tzatziki sauce and fillings as you see fit. Enjoy hot!