Vegan Steaks

1 1/2 cups vital wheat gluten
1 cup canned garbanzo beans, white beans, or lentils
1/2 cup vegetable broth 
2 tablespoons nutritional yeast
2 tablespoons tomato paste
2 tablespoons soy sauce
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1 teaspoon chili powder (optional)
1/2 teaspoon liquid smoke (optional)

For the marinade:
2 tablespoons olive oil/melted vegan margarine
2 tablespoons soy sauce
1 tablespoon maple syrup or agave
1 clove minced garlic
Pinch crushed red pepper
Variation: use your favorite vegan steak sauce

Mash the garbanzo beans/white beans/lentils into a paste and mix with remaining ingredients except the vegetable broth. Knead the dough while adding the vegetable broth until combined. Do no over-knead, the more you knead it the tougher it gets. Just enough to combine everything together.

Cut dough into 8 equally sized pieces. If you like larger steaks you can only cut into 4 pieces. Flatten, but again be careful because flattening is also a form of kneading. I've used a potato masher to flatten or for the larger ones, I've flattened squishing two greased cookie sheets together.

Fill a pan with an inch of water and steam steaks in a steamer basket for about 25 - 30 minutes. If you don't have a steamer basket, a metal colander that fits in your pan also works.

Blend marinade together or get out your steak sauce. Cover steamed steaks and let set for at least 30 minutes to marinate.

Grease the bottom of a frying pan (olive oil or vegan margarine are great, or excess marinade if using the recipe and not steak sauce) and cook steaks over medium heat turning once until browned lightly on both sides. I like cast iron grills for those fun cook lines.

Serve with roasted green beans, broccoli, roasted or mashed potatoes and gravy. Also good for steak tacos ("carne asada"), BBQ sandwiches with your favorite BBQ sauce, etc. Also feel free to play around with flavors. You can use more herbs (thyme, sage?), you can really ramp up the garlic, etc.