benazir's blog

Vegan Gumbo

I have a dear friend who is a vegan and she knows already that I have made this dish and about to make a blog post out of it. There is my youngest daughter also that I told her that I am going to attempt a vegan gumbo before I have executed this recipe. Her reaction was that she flat out laughed me out of here.

That is the funny part and the not so funny part at all is the kitchen mishap I encountered is that I cut my thumb on my left hand while cooking this dish by cutting in to a frozen tomato. The damned knife slipped and it cut in to my thumb nail as well. I was bleeding like crazy and it took me a good while for my thumb to stop bleeding.

True to fasion is I am not a wimp. I also know I had to get dinner going. I have a cousin who is a vegetarian as well and I mentioned this up comming post to her. However I got my stupid thumb to stop bleeding finally and finished what I started. I also ate rice with this too. Cornbread is also very delicious with this gumbo as well.

First you will need Creole/ Cajun Seasoning. You will need this later in the recipie. In a huge pot or coldero add 1/4 cup of either corn, peanut, olive, grapeseed, canola, vegetable, avocado or sunflower oil. Make sure you have the heat on high then add the Holy Trinity which are 1 onion or shallot chopped, 4 stalks of celery, either 5 mini sweet peppers or 1 large bell pepper of any color. These too also have to be chopped.

Chop 1 tomato then add it with the contents in the large pot. Add 3 cloves of garlic chopped, the Creole/Cajun seasoning from the link above 1 packet of vegan sausages. I used Field Roast. Actually this is a recomendation by my friend I mentioned earlier in the post. You can use Beyond meat sausages too. They are made from pea protien and not made from soy also check to see if they are gluten free. This is the first time I am doing gumbo a little differently. I do not want to get ahead of myself and confuse people. I also added 1/2 bag each of frozen sliced okra and mixed vegetables.

Add 1/2 tsp of gumbo file, 1 vegetable bullion cube or 3 tsps of vegan bullion powder, 3 dashes of maggi or knorr aroma, 3 dashes of balsamic vinegar, 1 bay leaf, 1 pinch of thyme, either 1 pinch of red chili powder or 1 drop of hot sauce, either 1 dab of miso or marmite for some unami. Add 1 liter or 1 quart of water and reduce heat. to low and cook for 20 to 30 minutes until vegetables are soft.

Sorry this recipe is for stovetop only. After you see that the vegetables are soft then you can go ahead and make the roux. Now it is time for me to let the cat out of the bag. This is the first time I have used a rice flour roux. Take a medium cast iron skillet and add 1/4 cup of the same oil you used for the start of the gumbo itself. Add either 2 pats of butter or butter ghee, vegans can use vegan butter. Let the oil heat up and add 4 tbs of all pupose unbleached flour is the standard option. Now some people are allergic to wheat or have celiac disease which is an inability to digest gluten. Several people in my mom’s side of my family have it and I do not have contact because they are saditty as hell. Thank God I do not have this.

You can also use cassava starch too and this can be bought at african stores. I went with rice flour and 1 pinch of xanthan gum because you are not using all purpose unbleached flour for the gluten free option. Keep stirring until it turns color and do not take your eyes off of it. Add to the contents of the big pot and stir until the gumbo starts to thicken. Not only you can have it with rice or cornbread, iced tea or lemonade will be a perfect beverage to go along with this dish. Enjoy it with gusto. It was absolutely delicious and I hope this puts the nay sayers your negative Nancy’s in their place. Duces!!!!!

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