Vegan Gumbo

Vegan Gumbo

I whipped up this vegan twist on my go to gumbo recipe in honor of celebrating Mardis Gras today. Serve the gumbo over rice and with your favorite toppings.

-1/4 cup canola oil

-1/2 cup flour

-1 onion, diced

-4 stalks celery, diced

-2 bell peppers, diced (any color combination)

-4 cups vegetable broth

-1 (29 oz) can diced tomatoes

-1 (15 oz) can corn, drained

-2 bay leaves

-1 tsp Cajun seasoning (such as Tony's)

-1 tsp thyme

-2 cups frozen okra

-1/2 Tbsp file powder

-2 Tbsp hot sauce

-cooked rice

- desired toppings such as parsley, scallions and/ or hot sauce

Before you start cooking the roux make sure that you have all of the ingredients chopped and ready to go. Heat the oil in a large pot over medium high heat. Add the flour and cook, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon, until the roux turns a chocolate brown color, turning the heat down to medium around the time that it reaches the color of peanut butter. This whole process should take around 10 minutes. Once the roux is chocolate brown remove the pot from the heat and allow to cool for 5-10 minutes. Place the pot back over medium heat and add the diced onion, celery and bell peppers, sautéing and stirring for about 5 minutes. Add the broth, diced tomatoes with their juices, drained corn, bay leaves, Cajun seasoning and thyme. Bring the gumbo to a boil, then reduce the heat to medium low. Add the okra and simmer 10 minutes. Remove the gumbo from heat and stir in the file powder and hot sauce. Serve over rice with your toppings of choice.