Turmeric Gluten

This is a recipe that I guess-timate from one of my visits to a Chinese temple in Malaysia. It is traditional to eat vegetarian meals in a temple even though you're not vegetarian/vegan out of respect of the Buddhist philosophies. This recipe is suppose to mirror one of Malaysia's famous dish, Satay. My mum refer to this dish as "Satay gluten" but out of technicality it is not a satay because the gluten were not skewered and grilled. I know, I am anal like that.

My parents (and Vance) absolutely love this dish. I usually make a big batch of these for my parents so they can eat it for a few days. I'm making this for Vance for our Chinese New Year Eve Reunion Dinner (actually lunch) tomorrow since he doesn't eat meat. Unfortunately, most meat dishes are auspicious for Chinese New Year and without a doubt I will see a lot of those during the reunion dinner.

16 oz. gluten (I use Le Chang brand gluten rolls)
2 cloves garlic, chopped
2 shallots, chopped
Ginger, about 1 inch, chopped
1 tablespoon oil
2 tablespoon soy sauce
1 tablespoon water
2 tablespoon sugar
1 teaspoon turmeric powder
1 teaspoon curry powder
1 teaspoon red chili powder
1 teaspoon ground cumin
salt and pepper, to taste

2 tablespoon oil (for frying)
1/2 cup water

Slice gluten into thin slices. Mix the rest of the ingredients in a bowl to form a marinate.

Place gluten in a ziplock bag and add in the marinate (Marinate food with turmeric inside a ziplock bag as turmeric stains and it's pretty hard to get the stain off). Let it marinate for at least 6 hours or overnight.

Heat 2 tablespoon of oil. When hot, add in marinated gluten and fry in low heat for about 10 minutes. Stir constantly so it wouldn't stick. Add water, cover and cook for another 10 minutes. If the gluten mixture gets too dry, add more water.

After 10 minutes, take cover off and cook until gluten is dry. Stir constantly. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Serve with white rice or satay sauce (peanut sauce)