Carne asada tacos are a staple of Mexican cuisine. Made with grilled marinated beef and popular at taquerias across the country, they’re many things: meaty, rich, worthy of a guitar serenade. One thing they’re not, though, is vegan.
Well, unless you’re Meriel Armitage. The chef and founder of London vegan restaurant Club Mexicana has found a way to make carne asada without the carne—and all it took was a little seitan worship.
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RECIPE: Beer-Marinated Vegan Tacos
Meriel makes her own seitan—the wheat gluten meat substitute—using a devilishly easy combo of flour, yeast flakes, and soy sauce kneaded into a dough and boiled until firm. She slices the boiled seitan into thin pieces and covers in a mix of beer, lime, garlic, and chili to marinate for up to 24 hours.
Once the seitan slices have soaked up all that beer-y goodness, they’re fried until crispy and uncannily meat-like, before being loaded onto warmed corn tortillas and topped with pickled red onions, chilis, coriander, and vegan sour cream.
Get thee in my mouth, seitan.
WATCH: How-To Make Beer-Marinated Seitan Tacos
