From: jfrawley@rodan.acs.syr.edu (Judy Frawley)
Subject: Vegetarian Gravies (As Promised!)
Organization: Syracuse University, Syracuse, NY
Date: Thu, 12 Nov 92 14:16:17 EST

Vegetarian Gravies

A few of my own tips.  I always use a whisk to make gravy.  It helps
break up lumps.  (Once the lumps are gone, I use a wooden spoon to
stir.)  When you're in a pinch, you can eliminate the fresh veggies
and just use some broth and thicken with flour/broth solution and
season to taste.  There are *some* vegetarian gravy mixes 
on the market, but they are hard to find.  I think HAIN makes
a few.  I have been making gravy successfully for so long that
my instructions may not be precise enough for you.  There was
a post awhile back with lots of good instructions in it.  I buy
my nutritional yeast at a local health food store.  It is not
available in any supermarkets here that I have seen (Syracuse, NY).


1.  Tamari Gravy (Got this off rec.food.veg a year or so back)

Ingredients

1 small onion, minced
1 carrot, shredded
2 stalks celery, finely chopped
1 Tbsp oil
1 Tbsp tamari
1 Tbsp nutritional yeast
2 Cups Vegetable Broth

My changes

Eliminate celery (I don't buy the stuff)
Add minced mushrooms 
 I used about 6 oz. presliced and put them through the food processor
 to get really tiny pieces
I did not have any vegetable broth handy at the time, so I used
MBT vegetable broth packets and made two cups
You can also use HAIN fat-free vegetable broth, which is very good

Procedure

Saute onion, carrot and celery (or mushrooms) in oil until tender.
(mushrooms should give up some of their liquid OR just adjust the
amount of broth you use)

Stir in tamari, yeast, and broth.  Bring to a boil

Reduce heat and simmer until reduced by 1/3 (about 10-15 minutes?)

Strain or puree in blender until smooth.  (I did this, but I
think next time, I'll leave as is because it looks really nice;
the veggies should be really small though, so if you didn't chop
them small enough, you might want to process them.  I served it
over lentil loaf, and it was *really* good on the mashed potatoes.

2.  Nutritional Yeast Gravy (also from rec.food.veg)

Ingredients

3/4 Cup nutritional yeast
1/4 Cup flour
1/3 Cup oil
1 1/2 Cups water
Soy sauce
Black Pepper

Lightly toast yeast and flour in a saucepan (don't let it burn). 
Stir in 1/3 cup oil, mix it all up.  Add 1 1/2 cups water (slowly); 
stir with a whisk; simmer until it thickens.  Add soy sauce and 
black pepper.

I think it might benefit from the addition
of some chopped onions and mushrooms; puree or not.

3. My own variation of Mushroom gravy.

Warning:  This will not be exact. I don't usually follow recipes.

Chop some onions and mushrooms and green peppers (small pieces)

Saute onions and peppers in a little bit of oil or wine;
add mushrooms after they begin to cook a bit (just a few minutes).

As mushrooms begin to give up their liquid add a glass
of wine (about 1/2 cup).  Stir well to mix up all the
liquid and stuff in the pan.

Make a mixture of flour and water (1/4 Cup flour to 1 Cup water).
Shake or stir until there are no lumps and add to the pan, stirring
slowly.  Adjust liquid as necessary.  (I usually use wine and 
some veggie stock at this point to add a little more flavor)
Season to taste:  I use garlic powder (or you can add fresh garlic
to the cooking veggies; black pepper and salt (if you like that).
You can also use milk in this, which I have done with varying
degrees of success (it is important not to scald the milk).
If it's too thin, add a bit more flour/water or cook down to
reduce liquid.

4.  Good Gravy (From The New Laurel's Kitchen) with tips from me

1/4 whole wheat flour
1 small onion, chopped
1 or  more whole cloves garlic
1/4 to 1 cup mushrooms, sliced
1-2 tablespoons oil ( I try to stay away from oil, so I usually
  saute my veggies in wine :-))

1 Cup soy stock (I don't usually cook soybeans, so I just use 
 vegetable broth)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon marjoram
black pepper
  
Toast and stir the flour in a dry pan until it is quite brown. Remove
the flour and saute the onion in oil, adding garlic and mushrooms if
desired.  Mash the garlic with a fork.  Stir in the toasted flour and then
the stock (If you are not good at doing this without lumps, I suggest
you put the flour in a jar, add some stock (about 1/2 cup) and shake.
Then add the rest of the stock to the jar and shake again to remove
lumps.  Then, add this to the vegetables in the pan.  Bring to a boil 
and simmer for a few minutes, adding the salt, marjoram, and pepper.
Check seasonings.  Thin with water, broth, or more stock if desired.
Makes 1-2 cups.

Enjoy!