Vegan Gumbo

¼ cup vegan butter or oil

¼ cup gluten free flour or rice flour

1 cup diced green bell pepper

2 celery stalks, diced

1 onion, diced

2-3 cloves garlic, finely sliced

1 cup sliced mushrooms

2 cups vegetable stock or water

1 head cauliflower or Romanesco, in large florets

1 tablspoon gumbo file

Dash of liquid smoke

2 cups okra, cut into ½ inch rounds

2 cups diced tomatoes

15 ounce kidney or other dark bean

The trick of making the dark, deep flavor of a gumbo is to cook the flour in the fat until it turns dark brown and smells very toasty. Keep an eye on it so that it doesn’t burn, but it should take 10 or 15 minutes (rice flour may toast faster).

When it is nice and dark, remove the roux to another bowl, add a little more fat back into the same pan, and sweat the pepper, celery and onion (called “the Holy Trinity”) just to soften. Add in the garlic and mushrooms with the vegetable stock and cook just until the mushrooms are soft. Then add in the rest of the ingredients with the cooked roux. Stir to thicken and simmer until all the vegetables are soft.

This can easily be made with some vegan sausage as well.

Serve over plain white rice