Vegan Biscuits & Gravy

I made some vegan biscuits and gravy for Veggie Supper Club last night.  Our theme was “Breakfast for Dinner.”  We also brought a vegan version of Amish Baked Oatmeal (with fresh blackberries from our backyard) and sparkling white wine, OJ & grenadine for breakfast cocktails. :)  If you stumbled in here from a recipe search; well, this blog is mainly music related, but here’s a past recipe I did: Spiced Biscotti.

(picture courtesy tinybites.ca)

Preface: The biscuit recipe below is adapted from Jo Kaucher’s Chicago Diner Cookbook.  If you’re ever in Chicago, you must go to the Chicago Diner.  It’s in Wrigleyville, and it has flippin’ amazing good food.  http://www.veggiediner.com/

The gravy recipe is adapted from Mark Reinfeld & Bo Rinaldi’s Blossoming Lotus’ Vegan World Fusion Cuisine cookbook.  If you’re ever in Portland, OR, or Kaua’i, HI, you must go to Blossoming Lotus.  The one in Kaua’i is fancier, I’ve heard.  The one in Portland is in the Pearl district and connected to a cool yoga studio.  I go there at least once everytime I’m up there.  http://www.blossominglotus.com/

Vegan Biscuits

Makes 20-24 biscuits

Ingredients:

• 5 cups unbleached flour
• 1 1/2 tbl baking powder
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 1/2 sticks (or .75 cups) soy margarine
• 2 1/2 to 3 cups soymilk (unflavored)
• 1 tbl lemon juice (or white vinegar)

Steps:

1. Preheat oven to 425F.
2. Mix three dry ingredients together. Cut in margarine until mixture resembles peas.
3. Combine soymilk & lemon juice, and stir into dry ingredients until the flour clings together.
4. Turn out onto a floured board or countertop, and knead until smooth.  This was the trickiest part for me. I had my wife help with adding additional flour, as the dough was VERY sticky.
5. With a rolling pin, roll out the dough to 1/2-inch thickness, and cut with a cookie cutter, biscuit cutter… or use a small juice glass if you don’t have one of the aforementioned items around. :)
6. Place on ungreased cookie sheet, and bake 12 to 15 minutes.

Our biscuits turned out great… but sticky to make… so good luck!!

Vegan Mushroom Gravy

Makes 6-7 cups (double batch when compared to the book)

Ingredients:

Roux~
increased from the original recipe for a lighter color/texture

• 8 tbl spelt flour (we used unbleached flour)
• 8 tbl olive oil
• 4 tbl filtered water

The roux with unbleached flour worked fine.  The spelt flour is probably better for you, or maybe lends a different flavor.

Gravy~

• 2 tbl olive oil
• 1 small-medium sweet onion, diced
• 1 1/2 cups shitake mushrooms, sliced thin
• 4 cloves of garlic, pressed/minced
• 4 cups of vegetable broth
• 1/2 cup soy sauce / tamari, or to taste
• 1/2 tsp nutmeg, ground
• 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper

Steps:

1. Create the roux by combining the three ingredients and mixing until in a thick paste.  Set aside.
2. Using the olive oil, saute onion and garlic for 5 minutes on medium-high heat, stirring occasionally.
3. Add mushroom and cook for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.
4. Add remaining ingredients except roux mixture and cook for 5 minutes on low heat, stirring occasionally.
5. Add roux mixture and cook until gravy has a thick consistency, approximately 10 minutes, stirring frequently.
6. If the gravy is not thick enough, you can add additional flour, but make sure to whisk it in slowly to avoid clumping.

It’s a great recipe from the lovely Blossoming Lotus folks.  And it worked great on the Chicago Diner biscuits… yum!

~Dan – np: Tanya Tagaq – Auk/Blood