The Casual Vegan

Oh, Gravy

Gravy was one of the things that I missed going vegan. With Greg’s help and a modified recipe from the internet, I’ve been perfecting my vegan gravy, and I have to confess that I’m kind of obsessed with it at the moment. Greg doesn’t seem to mind eating it, and even takes the time to make it for me, but he’s never really been into comfort foods like I am — I think it’s AWESOME. I’d be curious to know if anyone else finds it awesome too. It’s making it super easy for me to eat my greens. I highly recommend it for mashed potatoes & steamed broccoli and cauliflower. Yummmm.

special ingredient

I realized that a lot of the flavor I’ve been into with my soup and this gravy is a direct result of the veggie broth powder I’m using; it’s got quite a potent flavor, so I have to recommend it, not just in a scheme to get you to order things on the internet, but really — the friend I served my bean chard soup to the other day tried to make it at home and said it didn’t turn out as well. So for the record, I use Rapunzel Organic Vegetable Soup Broth. It’ll run you about $5 in the store per bottle, but it lasts for awhile. Believe me, I looked for bulk veggie broth/bouillon. No dice at our Co-op. (*edit* Okay, I was getting some chili mix in the bulk section and noticed that veggie broth powder was under “B” and not “V.” I’m better at finding books in libraries… but I’m going to give this stuff a shot later.) I suppose I have the option to either compile some spices together for my own mix, or to make some veggie broth with my veggie scraps that I started collecting in the fridge for this purpose (broccoli stalks, bok choy base, carrot ends…).

Onto the vegan gravy recipe!

vegan gravy recipe

This recipe serves two hungry people. Doubling this recipe is hard logistically, as gravy is a delicate process of heating and cooling. So here are the basics.

Add these ingredients to a nice sauce pan or a wider cast iron pan:

1 or 2 tablespoons of Rapunzel Organic Vegetable Soup Broth, or veggie bouillon of your choice, cubes or powder
2 tablespoons of nutritional yeast
1/2 teaspoon of onion powder
A few generous dashes of soy sauce
A couple globs of yellow mustard

(The ingredients above are not exact. They can be modified to taste. I like a lot of veggie bouillon and sometimes put in 3 tablespoons of nutritional yeast because it’s yummy and is fortified with B12.)

Add 1 cup of water to the pot and mix ingredients well before turning on the heat. I advise using your largest burner so that the gravy will heat evenly.

Once the mixture is bubbling, slowly add 1/2 cup of whole wheat flour. I mean, really slowly. A tablespoon at a time. Kinda shake it on in there and then quickly whisk constantly to make smooth. After you add a bit of flour, add a bit of water and whisk, and repeat this process until you’ve added the whole 1/2 cup of flour and 2 cups of cold water.

Greg likes to use corn starch, and the principle is the same except you use much less corn starch, only 2 tablespoons.

exact science

The idea with gravy is that you stir A LOT, and you keep a good balance between simmering for a second while you add the flour/corn starch, and then adding that cool water bit by bit, heating it up again and cooling it down. And in the end, it should magically be thick and fairly smooth.

Related:

• Interesting South East Asian Vegan Recipes
• Sunday Breakfast – Vegan Whole Wheat Blueberry Pancakes
• Kitchen Dances
• Fava Beans
• Nutrition Labels Lie

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