Vegan Gluten Free Gravy

Making a gravy both vegan and genuinely gluten free rules out most of the usual shortcuts, because Marmite contains barley and ordinary soy sauce contains wheat. What is left is browning, mushrooms and tamari, and honestly that is plenty. Check your stock cube as well, since a surprising number contain wheat.

Ingredients

Makes about 550ml, five servings

• 3 tbsp olive oil
• 2 onions, finely chopped
• 200g (7oz) chestnut mushrooms, finely chopped
• 3 cloves garlic, crushed
• 1 tbsp tomato puree
• 600ml (1 pint) hot vegetable stock check it is certified gluten free
• 2 tbsp tamari brewed without wheat, unlike soy sauce
• 1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
• 2 tbsp cornflour mixed with 4 tbsp cold water
• 2 sprigs rosemary
• salt and black pepper

Kit

• Saucepan
• Small bowl
• Whisk

Method

1. Heat the oil in a saucepan over a medium high heat and cook the mushrooms hard for eight minutes without stirring too much. They will give out water, then that water will evaporate and they will start to brown and stick.

2. Add the onions with a pinch of salt and cook for a further 12 minutes over a medium heat, stirring regularly, until everything is dark brown and sticky. This is your entire flavour base, so give it the time.

3. Add the garlic for one minute, then the tomato puree, and fry it for two minutes against the hot pan until it darkens and smells sweet.

4. Pour in the hot stock, scraping all the browned bits off the base, and add the rosemary sprigs. Simmer for eight minutes uncovered.

5. Remove the rosemary. If you want a smooth gravy, blitz it now with a stick blender. If you want texture, leave it as it is.

6. Mix the cornflour with the cold water until completely smooth, then pour it into the simmering gravy in a thin stream while whisking. It will thicken in under a minute.

7. Cook for two more minutes to remove the raw starch taste, then stir in the tamari and balsamic. Season and serve. Do not boil it hard once thickened, as cornflour can thin out again.

Tips worth knowing

• Read every label. Stock cubes, soy sauce and yeast extract are the three usual sources of hidden gluten in gravy.
• Cornflour gives a glossier, slightly more translucent gravy than flour. That is normal, not a mistake.
• Do not boil a cornflour gravy for long after it has thickened. Prolonged hard boiling breaks the starch down and it goes runny.
• If you need it soya free as well, replace the tamari with a teaspoon of coconut aminos and an extra pinch of salt.

Keeping and reheating

Four days in the fridge. Cornflour thickened gravies can weep a little after freezing, so whisk it hard as it reheats and it will come back together.

Questions people ask