Deli-Style Lunch Meat

Any one that knows me, knows that I love a good sandwich. I am a big fan of Subway. A sandwich piled high with veggies is awesome and so very filling. However, while you can get a big sandwich filled with veggies, and maybe some mustard on it, it just isn't the same as making one yourself and loading it with some homemade vegan goodies along, like homemade vegan mayo, homemade vegan cheese, homemade deli-style lunch meat and piled high with a bunch of veggies. Deli-Style Lunch Meat Yield: ~2 Lbs

What you will need:

• 2 cups Vital Wheat Gluten

• 1/2 cup chickpea flour (*might be called gram flour or besan)

• 1/2 cup nutritional yeast

• 1 tbsp smoked paprika

• 1 tbsp dried basil

• 1 tbsp onion powder

• 1 tbsp garlic powder

• 2 cups of hot low sodium vegetable broth

• 3 tbsp lite (low sodium) soy sauce

How to Make The Deli-Style Lunch Meat:

1. Mix all of the dry ingredients together in the bowl of your stand mixer. If you do not have a stand mixer, you can do this all by hand and it will be just fine.

2. In a large bowl or 4 cup measuring cup, mix the wet ingredients and stir well.

3. Using the dough hook attachment, turn the mixer on low and slowly add the wet mixture until you have poured it all in.

4. As it mixes you will see that it will start to form a rough dough ball. Let it knead for a few minutes. If the dough ball is sticky (or even overly wet) add a little more vital wheat gluten. Just sprinkle some in little by little until the dough ball is no longer wet/sticky. The dough ball should still be damp, but it should not stick to your hands. Allow the dough ball to knead for at least 5 minutes.

5. Once done kneading, take the dough ball and form it into a log and wrap it tightly with foil. You want it to look like a big Tootsie Roll, with the tightly twisted ends.

6. If you have an Instant Pot, you can steam it in there (as long as it will fit) or in a stove top steamer. If you use the Instant Pot, put the steaming rack in, add 2-3 cups of water, put the wrapped dough in and set it for HIGH PRESSURE at 120 minutes. If you use a stove top steamer, set it up over HIGH heat and get it steaming. Once it is, put the wrapped dough in and steam for 2 hours.

7. When its done, carefully remove it from the steamer and unwrap it. The foil will be HOT, so be careful.

8. Let it fully cool before slicing it.
   

Tip: I like to double the recipe, split it into 2 logs, and then steam one on the stove top and the other in my Instant Pot, so I can freeze one of them when done.