Ingredients
1 lb okra
1/2 cup olive oil
3/4 cup flour
4 cup vegetable stock
1 to 2 cayenne chilis, or 2 t
1 fresh crushed chilis, or
1 whatever is
1 available
1 onion
1 green pepper
1 greens (7 types)
1 if using fresh or canned,
1 i'll assume you know how to
1 handle
Directions
That will make the base. Here is how you do it:
There are three critical tasks:
1)Make the roux. Heat the oil in a small saucepan under low to med
heat, add flour slowly. Stir non stop for about 20 - 30 minutes.
This is made less painful if you have a glass of wine to drink and
some music playing. Don't try to rush it, or you'll end up having to
start all over. When you get a pretty brown color and a nice nutty
smell, it is ready. A suggestion, if you discover you like gumbo,
make extra roux. It can be frozen for later use.
2)Slice the okra crosswise, and saute. It will do something very
amusing. It is called roping - it will look like there are strings of
cheese between pieces. When it stops making "new rope" (that is, a
nice steady state) it is ready.
3)Adding the roux to the hot stock. Do a little at a time, try to
have at the same temp, stir. You don't want the roux to separate. It
always does a little on me, just stir.
Obviously 1 and 2 should not be attempted simultaneously. Unless you
have someone to share the wine and cooking chores.
Stir in the fresh crushed chili. Now you have your base. Time to
make it ready to eat.
The original idea was to use 7 or more greens. The exact
interpretation and balance does not matter. Kale, collard, mustard
greens, parsley, chard, escarole (my favorite), whatever you like.
Saute an onion, green pepper if you like. Throw it all in, and 20
minutes later you have a nice gumbo. Sorry I don't give exact
numbers. Still, a good guess might be 2.5 pounds greens to make this.
A lot depends on personal preference. Gumbo should not be viewed as a
special recipe, it should be a fun experiment. If you would like to
make it more "meaty" than consider using some of the "fake meats"
available in oriental grocery stores. Mock duck, mock abalone, mock
shrimp, whatever, all work.
To serve: put a scoop of rice in a bowl, ladel gumbo over. Have some
spoonbread on the side, or just ordinary cornbread.
From: drm@uniwa.uwa.edu.au (David Maurice). rfvc Digest V94 Issue
#212, Oct. 1, 1994. Formatted by Sue Smith, S.Smith34,
TXFT40A@Prodigy.com using MMCONV.
Servings: 1 servings
Pure Vegan Gumbo Recipe brought to you by Recipe Ideas
Categories: Gumbo; Soup; Vegan; Vegetable; Vegetarian
The History of Recipes
Academics have traced the existance of recipes far back into the far past, in truth as far back as the early Egyptians, and maybe further still. Having said that, sadly, these early cookbooks were just basic hieroglyphic or cunieform instructions for food preparation.
Interestingly, the most ancient recipe discovered, according to Professor Solomon Katz, are a few ancient tablets in Sumerian which show the baking of bread which is then used to make a drink, quite possibly a form of beer as it is recorded as having made anyone who drank it feel wonderful. During Roman times around 25BC a roman called Apicius created a few scripts which described recipes cooked by wealthy roman citizens. In his publication, Apicius recounts how the meals of wealthy Romans were divided into appetizers, main course and dessert, a style of dining still practiced today. This early Roman chef informs us how the ancient cooks were skilled in the use of a good variety of herbs and spices, including some that we all recognise for example thyme, rue and dill. As our culinary historical trip moves on a few more years we find two interesting recipe books dating from the 14th Century - one book published under the title `Forme of Cury`, and another titled `Curye on Inglish`. Perhaps surprisingly, these two books are not about the indian food that is popular today, but instead accounts of the types of food prepared by the chefs of the upper classes of those days. In the fifteenth century, people returning from the crusades brought us many new spices and herbs from the holy land, including coriander, basil and rosemary. These new foods and spices led to an increase in recipe manuscripts, many of which are now in private cookery archives. During the succeeding few hundred years, the families of Europe tried to offer the most exotic banquets, and consequentially the best cooks and their recipes were greatly in demand. Nevertheless, it was during the nineteenth century that fine cookery and recipe collections rose to prominence. The Famous Mrs Beeton in the UK, and the equally famous Fannie Farmer in the USA, devoted much of their lives to collecting, verifying, and writing down recipes common in their social group. By the arrival of the 20th century, cookbooks were starting to become popular mostly due to better eduction, people having more spare time and being a little richer. Like it or not, the introduction of television gave us celebrity TV chefs and the accompanying recipe books. Which brings us neatly up to date and the invention of the internet, allowing us all to access massive numbers of recipes such as those found on our web site. |
We hope you enjoy this Pure Vegan Gumbo recipe.
