面筋 (miànjīn) · wheat gluten, seitan

Measure Word

一块面筋 kuài

Meanings

1 wheat gluten
2 seitan

About the ingredient

粮食 Grains and noodles

Chewy, springy wheat protein with little taste of its own, so it soaks up sauce. It is sold as hollow fried balls (油面筋), as steamed rolls, or as spongy 烤麸, and street stalls grill it on skewers.

Contains wheat

Used in 2 dishes

凉皮 liángpí

罗汉斋 luóhànzhāi

Characters

Examples

HSK 5

这道菜里有油炸面筋。

Zhè dào cài lǐ yǒu yóuzhá miànjīn.

This dish contains fried wheat gluten.

HSK 7-9

素菜馆常用面筋代替肉。

Sùcàiguǎn chángyòng miànjīn dàitì ròu.

Vegetarian restaurants often use seitan as a meat substitute.

Tips

culture

面筋 is the chewy protein left after washing starch out of wheat dough. It's a staple in Buddhist vegetarian cooking and predates Western 'seitan' by centuries.