Best Vegan Onion Gravy

The savouriness here comes from one thing above all others, which is time in the pan. Onions cooked properly slowly break down and caramelise, and that sweetness is what stops a meat free gravy tasting thin. Marmite and a spoon of balsamic go in at the end to put back the deep, slightly bitter note you would normally get from meat juices.

Ingredients

Makes about 600ml, enough for six generous ladles

• 3 tbsp rapeseed oil
• 600g (1lb 5oz) onions, halved and thinly sliced about three large ones
• 1 tsp caster sugar
• 2 cloves garlic, crushed
• 2 tbsp (30g) plain flour
• 1 tsp Marmite or other yeast extract start with less if you are nervous
• 1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
• 700ml (1 1/4 pints) hot vegetable stock
• 2 sprigs thyme
• salt and black pepper

Kit

• Heavy based saucepan
• Wooden spoon
• Whisk

Method

1. Warm the oil in a heavy based pan over a medium heat, tip in the onions with a good pinch of salt and stir to coat. Put the lid on and leave them for 10 minutes to sweat and collapse, stirring once halfway.

2. Take the lid off, scatter over the sugar and turn the heat down to medium low. Now cook them for 30 to 35 minutes, stirring every few minutes, until they are the colour of strong tea and sticking to the pan between stirs.

3. Those sticky brown patches on the base are the flavour. Every time the pan looks dry and dark, splash in a tablespoon of water and scrape it up with the wooden spoon, then carry on.

4. Add the garlic and cook for one more minute until you can smell it, then stir in the flour and keep it moving for two minutes so the raw floury taste cooks off and coats every strand of onion.

5. Pour in about a third of the hot stock and whisk hard. It will seize up into a thick paste. Keep whisking and add the rest of the stock in two goes, so it stays smooth.

6. Drop in the thyme sprigs, bring to a gentle simmer and cook for 10 minutes, stirring now and then, until it coats the back of a spoon and no longer tastes floury.

7. Take the pan off the heat, fish out the thyme and stir in the yeast extract and the balsamic. Taste it now. It should be savoury and slightly sweet with a dark edge. Add salt and plenty of black pepper, and loosen with a splash of hot water if it has gone too thick.

Tips worth knowing

• Do not rush the browning stage. Twenty minutes of onions gives you a pale, sweet gravy. Thirty five gives you the one people ask about.
• Yeast extract is salty as well as savoury, so put it in before you season and you will not oversalt.
• If your onions catch and go black rather than brown, tip them out, wash the pan and start again. Burnt onion is bitter all the way through and there is no rescuing it.
• Most vegetable stock cubes contain celery. If you are cooking for someone who reacts to it, check the packet or use a celery free bouillon powder.

Keeping and reheating

Keeps for four days in a sealed tub in the fridge and freezes well for three months. Reheat gently with a splash of water and whisk as it comes back up to a simmer.

Questions people ask