Ingredients
Roux
- 1 cup (250ml) all purpose flour OR 1/2 cup roasted flour
- 2-3 Tbsp vegetable oil
Produce
- 1 bunch celery (4-5 stalks, leaves and all), diced
- 1 green bell pepper, diced
- 2 medium brown onions, diced
- 1 bunch fresh parsley, finely chopped
- 2-3 cloves garlic
- 1-2 fresh tomatoes, diced
- 1-2 cups fresh okra, sliced (optional)
Protein
- 5-6 vegan sausages, smoked and sliced
- 450 - 500g firm tofu, torn into small chunks
Seasoning
- 2 - 3 Tbsp chicken stock powder (salt reduced)
- 1-2 Tbsp Cajun seasoning
- 1 Tbsp Old Bay seasoning
To Serve
- White Rice
Equipment
- Large enamel coated cast iron pot.
- Medium cast iron, shallow skillet.
- Utensils...
Instructions
Preparation
- Use roasted flour if you have it, if not, put flour into a dry shallow pan (cast iron), and cook on low until the colour changes white to beige, set aside.
- Dice celery, onions, (tomatoes if using) and bell pepper, set aside
- Slice sausages and okra, separate and set aside.
- Finely slice parsley and garlic, set aside.
- Tear tofu into small chunks (fresh or frozen and thawed works well), toss tofu pieces in 1 tsp of chicken flavoured stock powder and set aside.
- Measure out seasonings into a bowl.
Cooking
- In the skillet, we make the roux - heat the oil on medium low, add the flour and stir or whisk, you want it smooth without lumps. The roux needs to cook into a cookie dough consistency without burning, so, slow. Remove to a bowl off the heat. Clean the skillet.
- In the cleaned skillet, on medium high heat, cook the sausages, okra, then tofu all separately and return to their preparation receptacles. If the sausages are not fatty, you may need to add a little oil, just to avoid them sticking to the pan. (The goal is to seal the ingredients, to preserve their texture and hopefully gain a little extra flavour from any charring that takes place.)
- In the Large Pot, cook the vegetables (and tomatoes?) in the stock, (5-6 cups of water) for a few minutes.
- Add the garlic, parsley and roux, Reduce heat if you are unsure and stir to combine making sure the roux has dissolved fully.
- Once the roux is dissolved, add the tofu, sausage and okra (if using) and all remaining seasonings, and bring the pot to a boil. Boil for 5-6 minutes.
- The Gumbo should thicken up to a rich, viscous but pourable consistency. If it's not thick enough by the time you're ready to stop cooking and eat it (roughly when the rice cooker is done...) Add 2-3 tsp of cornstarch, dissolved in roughly a 1/4 cup of cold water and stir thoroughly. Allow a minute or two to thicken further and serve over hot rice (white rice is nice, but brown or alternate starches work well too (I usually just eat it as a stew without the extra carbs...), You do you, Enjoy.
Notes
- So, I love this, and the smoking is definitely essential...
- The preparation time is so long because of all the setting aside - but its worth it...
- I really recommend roasting the flour - because I love this recipe, I make up a big jar of roasted flour (just put your flour in a shallow dry pan and heat over low, stirring occasionally or put in a warm oven if its winter... it's done when the powder is a warm beige colour.
- Gumbo is essentially a hearty vegetable stew with optional meaty toppings in my book, but every recipe I have seen needs andouille sausage (a smoked, cured pork product). So I decided to smoke my cheapest most neutral tasting vegan sausages using a stove top cookie tin smoker - and now we make gumbo...
- I say the okra is 'optional', but really thats just to make me feel better when its not in season... Okra doesn't have a very strong flavour, its the seeds inside that provide a thickening to the stew, but i just love their little star shaped pieces.
- I haven't tried GF flour yet, but as I have multiple coeliac family members now... I'll update this when and if i get around to it, not sure they would like my giant bowl of brown with all its green vegetables anyway...