I can’t believe that it is already Friday. For some reason this week is going by super fast. Earlier in the week I mentioned that I am trying to use up all my pantry ingredients before leaving next week and I am still working my way through it. I found so much flor de jamaica {dried hibiscus flowers}. I bought way too much a few months ago. I think I got 1 kilo, which is a lot considering that we haven’t used much of it. I started thinking about different ways of using it all up and then I remembered that I had pinned a taco recipe from Pati’s Mexican Table that used dried hibiscus flowers in a marinate. I quickly went to check it out and was inspired to create a vegan version. Instead of making steak tacos, I used seitan as the main component of the tacos. I also just so happened to have some seitan in the freezer that I needed to use up as well!

The marinate for the tacos uses reconstituted dried hibiscus flowers. It is a little time consuming, but not much work at all. After the hibiscus has be rehydrated and cooled, sugar and lime juice is added. The sugar might seemed a bit odd, but it is needed to balance the tartness of the hibiscus. Without the sugar, the marinate would be way too tart to eat. This can be made a day or a week ahead of time.

The marinate needs to cook down before getting together with the seitan. The hibiscus liquid goes back into a saucepan with the addition of bay leaves, cloves, jalapeno, salt and pepper. The mixture will take about 30 minutes to cook down and reduce. It should be thick and syrupy-like. Be careful; this stuff can stain and get all over.

After the marinate is cooked and all syrupy, it gets together with the seitan. The seitan is baked in the oven and absorbs all the hibiscus flavor.

The seitan doesn’t need that long took in the oven; just about 15-18 minutes is all. So easy!

I recommend serving immediately with warm corn tortillas, avocado slices and chopped cilantro. I think the avocado and cilantro really make all the marinate flavors pop. This is definitely a different + interesting type of taco. If you like hibiscus flavor or looking for a new taco recipe, I hope you try these Oven Roasted Seitan Tacos.

 Recipe is adapted from Pati’s Mexican Table recipe. 

Yield: 4 Serings

Oven Roasted Seitan Tacos with Hibiscus Marinate

Print

Dried hibiscus flowers are reconstituted and the liquid is made into delicious marinate for seitan. Most of the cooking time is inactive and these tacos are easy to make. Serve with corn tortillas, avocado slices and cilantro. Perfect Vegan Tacos for Taco Tuesday!

Prep Time 30 minutes

Cook Time 1 hour 30 minutes

Total Time 2 hours

Ingredients

For the marinate:

• 1 Cup Dried Hibiscus Flowers {flor de jamaica}
• 4 Cups Water
• Juice of 1 small lime
• 1/2 Cup Sugar
• 2 Bay Leaves
• 2 Cloves
• I Jalapeño, cut in half and seeded
• 3/4 Tsp Sea Salt
• 1/4 Tsp Black Pepper

For the seitan:

• 1 lb Seitan
• Corn Tortillas
• Avocado Slices
• Chopped Cilantro

Instructions

For the marinate:

1. In a non-reactive saucepan, add the hibiscus flowers and water. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Reduce heat to medium once boiling and let simmer for 10 minutes. Turn off the heat and let the liquid cool for about 30 minutes-1 hour.
2. Once the liquid had cooled, use a fine-mesh strainer to strain the liquid into a glass storage container, bowl, or pitcher. Stir in the lime juice and sugar. If not using right away, store in the fridge.
3. If using right away, add the liquid back into the saucepan. Add the bay leaves, cloves, jalapeño, salt and pepper. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat then reduce heat to low. Cook until the sauce has thickened, about 30 minutes. It should be thick and syrupy.
4. Once the sauce has thickened, using a fine-mesh strainer, strain the sauce into a bowl. Set aside.

For the seitan:

1. Preheat the oven to 375 F.
2. Cut the seitan into thin strips about 1/4 inch thick.
3. In a 11 X 7 glass baking dish add the reserved marinate. Add the the cut seitan to the sauce, making sure that all the seitan pieces are evenly coated.
4. Bake in the oven for 15-18 minutes. Stir the seitan once or twice during the cooking process with tongs. Once cooked, transfer the seitan using tongs to a serving platter. Transfer any leftover marinate into a little serving bowl.
5. When ready to serve, heat the corn tortillas over medium heat on the comal or nonstick skillet for 30 seconds-1 minute on each side.
6. Serve the seitan immediately with the warm corn tortillas, avocado slices, cilantro and reserved leftover marinate.

 I hope that you are having a wonderful week! 
XO 
Jeni