Vegan Gyro Spring Rolls w/ Dairyfree Tzatziki Sauce

Difficulty: 4/5 (5 being hardest)
Spice Level: 1/3 (3 being spiciest)

Prep & Cook Time: 90 minutes
Servings: 8-10 spring rolls

The Challenge: Gyro Spring Rolls

Gyros + spring rolls....uh what? Haha. And vegan? Dude, you whack.

A friend of mine knew that I wanted to try my hand at gyros as I have had them at several vegan restaurants over the years; however, I had never made them homemade. His idea to me was turn them into something a little more unique like egg rolls or spring rolls with a tzatziki dipping sauce. When he mentioned that I was like...OH HELL YA. Handheld gyros were perfect.

Plus, I am doing all Super Bowl themed recipes this week before the big game, so it seemed like the perfect time! For the gyro meat, I decided to do seitan. I was kicking around mushrooms (and as a side note I think they'd be great), but I've been playing with seitan more recently...and thought it was a better fit for the spring roll.

To "spring roll" this dish, we used some more authentic ingredients - cabbage, onions, and carrots. We blended that with ground seitan gyro meat, wrapped it in a spring roll skin and baked it.

I don't have a fryer, and I think its a cop out way to cook food (but very tasty). Baking makes this way healthier and allows you to carefully control how crispy these rolls are.

Let's get into it.

Ingredients:

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Gyro Meat

• 1⁄4 white onion, diced
• 1 garlic clove, minced
• Spices: 1 tsp rosemary, 1 tsp basil, 1 tsp oregano, 1⁄2 tsp black pepper, 1/2 tsp garlic powder, 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 tbl olive oil
• 1 tbl tahini
• 1.5 tbl coconut aminos
• 1.5 tbl tomato paste
• 1/2 tsp liquid smoke
• 3⁄4 cup water
• 1 1⁄4 cups vital wheat gluten

Gyro Filling

• 1 tbl olive oil
• 1/2 cup white onion, diced
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1/2 cup green cabbage, diced
• 1/4 cup carrot, fine diced
• Spices: pinch of salt, basil, oregano, thyme, onion powder, garlic powder, rosemary, cinnamon

Tzatziki Sauce

• 1/3 English cucumber
• 3/4 cup plain dairy-free yogurt
• 1 tbl dried dill (2 tbl fresh)
• pinch of pepper + salt
• 1 tbl lemon juice

Other

• 8-10 spring roll wrappers
• chia egg, for sticking together wrappers (1 tbl chia meal + 1/4 cup water)
• olive oil, for baking

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Equipment You'll Need:

Mixing Bowls . Aluminim Foil . Medium Frying Pan . Large Frying Pan . Whisk . Pastry Brush . Food Processor or High Speed Blender . Spatula . Grater . Strainer 

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Before You Cook:

• Preheat oven to 350F
• Wash + chop fresh ingredients

1. Start by adding all ingredients under "Gyro Meat" to food processor sans wheat gluten. Blend in food processor for 10-15 seconds until smooth. 

2. Next, add the wheat gluten to a medium mixing bowl. Pour the liquid from processor or blender on top of the gluten. Stir with a spatula till well mixed then knead a bit with your hands till you have one firm solid mixture and all ingredients are incorporated.

3. Next, form your seitan into a long log shape on top of aluminum foil sheet, leaving room on both sides to tighten as in the picture above. This helps keep the seitan set while baking. Place the seitan into the pre-heated oven and bake at 350F for 60 minutes.

4. While the seitan bakes, we will begin work on the tzatziki sauce. First, grate the cucumber into a mesh strainer over a small bowl. If you don't have a strainer, grate onto a paper towel, cover with the paper towel and wring out the water over the sink.

5. Once the cucumber is grated and strained, whisk it together with the remaining sauce ingredients. Cover and set in the fridge.

6. As the seitan continues to bake, we will work on the rest of the spring roll filling. Add oil, onions, garlic, and cabbage to a large frying pan. Cook over medium heat for 3-4 minutes, add carrots and continue to cook for another 3-4 minutes.

At this point, mix together the chia meal and water, set aside.

7. Once the seitan is done cooking, unwrap carefully and slice into into thick chunks. Add to the food processor and pulse 4-5 times to create ground beef like texture...ground seitan gyro meat! Turn the oven up to 425F once the seitan meat is out of the oven.

8. For the spring roll mixture, mix together 2 cups of the seitan gyro meat, 3 tbl of tzatziki sauce, and the filling. You can add more gyro meat or sauce as you see fit. 

9. Finally, we are ready to form our spring rolls. Fill each wrapper with 2 tbl of the mixture until you run out. I made about 9 (8 and a wee one). 

10. To form the spring roll. Place the 2 tbl of mixture into the center of the wrapper. Fold the top and bottom so that its just covering the mixture. Using a pastry brush, paint on the chia egg mixture to one end of the wrapper. This will act as a sticking agent like an egg wash. The final step is a little tricky but YOU CAN DO IT. Take the end without the chia egg and fold it over the mixture to just below the egg wash, then begin rolling so the spring roll wrapper sticks to the chia egg.

11. Stack your spring rolls into a baking dish...try to have just one layer. If you have more than this, use another baking dish. Before placing into the oven, coat the wrappers with olive oil lightly using the pastry brush. Cook for 15 minutes, flip them, cook another 10 minutes. Set aside to cool.

12. Serve with tzatziki sauce and ENJOY. You worked hard...eat them all in one sitting!!