What are the recipes for authentic gluten sauce in Xi’an?

Gluten is one of the street snacks in Xi'an. It is often found in primary and secondary schools or in busy commercial areas. Gluten is a classic food in Chinese vegetarian cuisine. The method of making gluten is relatively simple. You must pay attention to every step of the production. For example, you cannot just add water or noodles casually. The recipe of making gluten sauce is particular. What are the recipes of authentic gluten sauces in Xi'an? Let’s take a look at it next.

1. Gluten

Gluten has always been a classic ingredient in Chinese vegetarian dishes, which is recorded in many of the classic novels such as "Dream of Red Mansions".

Traditional roasted gluten is made from gluten obtained by washing flour with water. Now it is made with gluten powder (vitamin powder). The gluten powder is specially molded into spring (spiral) shaped food dough, which is then processed by mixing, drowning, steaming, boiling, and baking, and finally sprinkled with seasoning to become fragrant roasted gluten.

The method of making gluten, the recipes of four flavors of sauces, the method of making vegetarian pig intestines, and the operation photos are simple and easy to learn. You can learn it after watching it. About 500 pieces can be made a day and sold at one yuan a piece. The cost of each piece is about 0.3 cents, and the profit is quite considerable. The total investment is 500 yuan to start the business.

2. How to make gluten

First, let’s talk about the choice of flour needed to make gluten. Generally, gluten flour (also called gluten flour), a kind of flour that has been industrially extracted, is used. Generally, if grain and oil are not sold in other stores, you have to buy them from stores that sell food additives. Of course, you can also use ordinary flour to wash the dough to make gluten. We are now using gluten flour as an example to make the gluten rolls needed for grilled gluten. (Give away the technique of making gluten with ordinary flour: take 2000 grams of high-gluten flour and add 1000 grams of cold water to make a dough, put it in more than 5000 grams of clean water, knead and wash (at least 3-5 times), and when the flour is washed away and it becomes a silky pulp, take it out and cover it with a wet cloth for more than half an hour for later use)

3. Kneading the dough

1. Add water to activate

(1) Pour one kilogram of gluten flour into a dough bowl, add appropriate amount of salt and mix well.

(2) Slowly add water to form a small gluten ball. Then add dry flour layer by layer like rolling a snowball until the flour is soaked in water and becomes a large gluten ball.

2. Add noodles

(1) Pour one kilogram of water into a basin, add appropriate amount of salt and stir evenly. Then add flour to the basin of water little by little until it forms a gluten dough.

Remark:

The dough needs to be rested for half an hour before it can be used. You can choose the method that you think is suitable for you.

4. Cook gluten

1. Put the rested gluten on a plastic cutting board or stainless steel plate. Don't put it on the wooden board, as the wooden board will absorb water and it will stick to the board.

2. Press into dough and cut into strips of about 25 grams with a knife. Of course, the size can be controlled by you.

3. Use your hands to stretch the gluten strips further. Take two angular bamboo chopsticks, clamp one end of the gluten strip, stretch the gluten and wrap it around the chopsticks. At this time, you need to continuously stretch the gluten strips to make them longer, wider and thinner. After wrapping them 5 to 7 times, they will be made into a 8cm long silkworm pupa shape that is slightly thinner at both ends and slightly thicker in the middle. Then use your hands to gently pull the gluten body to allow the gluten layers to fully blend.

4. Prepare a larger pot, bring the water to a boil and then reduce the heat to low. Remove one of the chopsticks from the gluten string and put it back into the pot and cook until the gluten string floats up. Then cook for another 1 to 2 minutes and remove the remaining chopsticks one by one. When the gluten is mature and elastic, it can be removed from the pot. It will take about 15 minutes more.

Remark:

The water should not be boiled too high, just keep it at a nearly boiling level. If the water is boiled too high, the gluten will be full of small holes and will not be chewy enough.

5. Cutting shape

After cooking, put it in cold water to cool thoroughly. The cooler it is, the easier it is to cut. Take a chopstick and thread the cooled gluten roll on it, then take a fruit knife and turn it in circles to cut the gluten roll into spring-like strips. Usually cut 6-7 circles. After cutting, take off the chopsticks and put the gluten roll in cold water for later use.