Any ideas for really nice tasty veggie gravy?

Question

Have combined many various cupboard ingredients with varying success e.g. either too tomatoey;salty etc. Occasionally very good - but looking for e.g. nice gravy with lentil and veg loaf.

Answer 1

This one is very basic:

Fry up (in water or oil) finely chopped onions, garlic, celery, a bit of carrot until fully cooked. Add water, and vegetarian bullion. If you like, add some dried mushroom at this point as well. Bring to a boil, and treat like regular gravy, by thickening with flour/water paste.

Very simple, but approved by non-vegetarians.

Edit: Thyme is really nice with this one

Answer 2

I have a very simple veggie gravy recipe that tastes great on veggie loafs, mashed potatoes, etc.

If you can find it, McCormicks makes bouillon cubes that are "chicken" flavored but contain no animal products. That makes the best gravy, but you can also use other bouillons (vegetable works nicely as well). Take one cube and combine it with one cup of boiling water (stir well) and set it aside.

Next, melt 2 tbsp margarine in a pot (on low), then whisk in 2 tbsp of flour, and 1/4 tsp poultry seasoning (it's just spices - it contains no meat) OR instead of the seasoning I will often just add some thyme and maybe some summer savory. Gradually add the prepared broth and mix well. (Adding it slowly and mixing well with a whisk will prevent clumps from forming). Heat this mixture for a few minutes and you have great 'gravy'!

Answer 3

No such thing. Gravy is based on the deglaze from a pan in which meat has been cooked.Gravy, and jus, are terms that can only be applied to meat-based cooking.

I'm not anti-veggie! I'm making a point of order in view of my profession - I'm a chef!!

A mock-gravy (I call it moquejus), is to partly cook beetroot and a small amount of chopped celeriac.Remove from the pans, strain and puree in a liquidiser and reserve both the puree and the juices from the straining. Caramelise an onion, chopped fine, or preferably, grated. Remove the caremelised onion from the pan, add a small amount of boiling water to the remaining onion liquid. Place the celeriac and beetroot puree to a roasting dish, add the the onion liquid, a dash of balsamic vinegar, a teaspoonful of the onion and a little arrowroot if you need to thicken the moquejus.

You can then use this as a finish for something like a roast of aubergines (eggplant) and peppers, either by applying as a sauce, or by finishing the roasting of the veg by placing the veg in a pan with the jus. Add a little honey or orange juice to the jus and cook for 5 mins at 220C.

Answer 4

After roasting a prime joint of British Beef, pour off any fat and deglaze the pan with some of the water you have boiled vegetables in. Mix a little of the liquid with a teaspoonful of corn flour and an OXO.and add to the liquid in the roasting pan. Bring this to the boil and simmer until the liquid thickens slightly. This is GRAVY. There is no such thing as vegetarian gravy. What you are looking for is a sauce with some taste to liven up your dull vegetarian meals. Try HP or Tomato ketchup.

Answer 5

I buy a vegetarian brown gravy mix at Safeway. It's sold in the "healthy living" area with the other vegetarian and organic products. It's a dry mix. I also discovered that McCormick (the spice & sauce mix giant) has a vegetarian mushroom gravy. Thier plain mushroom gravy is NOT veg, but their "Mushroom gravy for Steak", ironically, IS. Both are very tasty.

Answer 6

Try carmelizing a mess of onions. Remove onions and blend/puree. Meanwhile, do up a lightly-cooked roux (with butter and milk if that's ok with you, or try a light olive oil and some water) in the same pan. Stir the onion puree back into the roux.

This can be seasoned with any of various seasonings like powdered celery seed, onion powder, garlic powder, vegetable bouillon, sauteed mushrooms, etc. Add spices you like. Do not salt or add hot spices until you have everything else done and tasted.

Another option is to just stew up a bunch of veggies, lots of what you like, with a small amount of water. Keep covered until it's all really well cooked. You can then strain this to make a broth that can be spooned over your dish or you can thicken with one of the following - a roux, some of the cooked veggies blended/pureed, or some corn starch.

Answer 7

Have you considered doing some kind of mushroom gravy with like a portabella and some red wine? I really like to carmelize some onions and celery with a pinch of brown sugar and some beef stock. I add just 3 table spoons of flour and get it browning and then slowly slowly slowly add the stock a 1/4 cup at a time. Usually about 2 cups in all depending on how much and how thick you like.

Answer 8

I made a great veg onion gravy.

Sautee a cup of chopped onions in some butter, then add in a roux (equal parts flour mixed with melted butter, just a Tbsp or so will do). Mix this in with the onions and butter in the pan. Add a couple shakes of soy sauce, then add a couple cups of low sodium veggie broth, and simmer it (stirring frequently) until the mixture thickens.

It has a great color and taste, and gets a perfect gravy consistency too.

Answer 9

Look at the question about Marmite. Vegetarian and tasty. A teaspoon in a cup of boiling water, and if you want you can thicken it with cornflour.
Australians might prefer Vegemite - I'm not brave enough to suggest it's the same thing.

Answer 10

How about boiling some of your favorite vegetables together (with water) to eventually become a broth, add a vegetable bouillon for flavor. Remove the vegetables from the broth, then add a little corn starch to the water for thickening...don't add a lot, though! It all depends on how much vegetable stock you've just boiled. A little corn starch goes a long way, and can be used in many other liquids to build thickness.