Ingredients
Soup Base
- 4 brown onions, medium/ large
- 3 Tbsp vegan 'butter'/ rice bran oil
- 1 cup Guinness/ stout beer of choice
- 1 tsp Worcestershire sauce
- 4 tsp beef flavoured stock powder
- 4 cups water
Toppings
- 4-6 pieces of bread
- 1/2 batch vegan mozzarella
Optional
- fresh thyme leaves
- nutritional yeast (the crappy kind)
- 1-2 tsp miso paste (shiro / awase)
- green onions to garnish
Instructions
Preparation
- Peel onions and slice in half length-wise, slice into fine half moons and transfer to a large soup pot.
- Measure out the 'butter' or oil and add to the pot.
- Decide which optional ingredients you want to add if any.
Cooking - Soup
- Heat the soup pot with the onions and 'butter' over low to medium heat. Once the 'butter' is dissolved and stirred through, cover the pot and cook for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally. (the mixture will brown to the base and side of the pot, but this is fine, it's not burning, this will come right off when you add the liquids and it helps create colour and flavour. Also, add the thyme to the onions at this point if using - if usuing dried ones, this gives them a chance to re-hydrate).
- Set heat on medium-high. Add beer and cook, uncovered, for 5-10 minutes, or until beer is reduced by about half.
- Add the stock powder and the Worcestershire sauce. Heat the soup mixture until it boils. Reduce the heat to low. Cover the pot and simmer for about 30 minutes. (add the yeast or miso if using - ensure the miso dissolves fully before covering)
- Assess the soup, if it needs to thicken, either cook uncovered for another 15 - 20 minutes or add a cornstarch slurry.
Toppings
- Choose your bread and toast it. I would suggest using 1 1/2 pieces per serve, 1 to top with cheeze and grill on top of the soup, but the other 1/2 should be cut into small croutons and stirred through the onion soup before topping, it helps to thicken the soup and makes for a great texture, but you do you.
- Dress the toast with cheeze of choice (pre sliced vegan cheeze works just fine too), Serve up the soup and place a piece of cheeze toast on top - it has to touch the soup.
- Put the soup bowls in the oven under the grill, heat until the cheeze melts and starts to brown.
- Serve hot, add green onions or chives if you like, enjoy.
Notes
- I usually make a double batch... mainly because the Guinness or Murphy's stout that i get comes in 500mL cans...
- I use the Mozzarella recipe from thebuddhistchef.com and i make my own worcestershire sauce (means it can be both vegan and gluten free).
- This recipe if unlikely to be able to be GF, even if you change the bread, the worcestershire sauce, check the cheese, Guinness is not GF, and in my experience GF beer tastes more like fruit cider... but french onion soup usually includes brandy/ sherry or white wine, so maybe its fine :)
- Original recipe uses 'texas toast barlic bread', which i tend not to use as we can't get it here, but you could use the garlic ciabatta you can buy pre-made in the fridge/ freezer section of most super markets. The soup is quite mild, so i find it better to use plain toast with cheeze on top... but you could also add garlic to the soup if you think its necessary.