Thursday, July 24, 2008

Brown Gravy (Gluten Free, Dairy Free)

We love a good gravy now and then for potatoes or as a replacement for "cream of" type soups in casseroles. A good vegan replacement for the dairy in this sauce comes from sunflower seeds, thickened with arrowroot. (Pictured below is brown gravy I made today with added oyster mushrooms.)

Brown Gravy


1/2 cup water

1/2 cup raw sunflower seeds (no added oil or salt)

1/4 cup arrowroot

3 Tablespoons soy sauce* (I use Bragg's Liquid Aminos)

1 Tablespoon onion powder

4 cups additional water

Put all ingredients into blender except the additional water. Pour into a 3 quart (or larger) saucepan. Rinse out blender with the additional water, adding it to the saucepan with the rest of the ingredients. Lightly boil, while stirring (a whisk works well), about 10 minutes, until thick. If you want a thinner sauce, add more water.

Use as a gravy on potatoes, sauce for casseroles, with vegetables, over homemade baked fries, or on whole cooked grains.

Add mushrooms & extra water for a "cream of" mushroom soup.

*If you use this for a soup, you may want to use only 2 Tablespoons soy sauce at first, adjusting it to taste when ready to serve for more "salty" flavor.

2 comments:

David T, MN said...

I'm new to gluten free cooking, but I think soy sauce is a no-no because it has a wheat base. And I'm suspicious of the Arrowroot, it might be one of the non-wheat grains like rye and barley that are trouble.

Loretta said...

I'm glad you commented because it made me look at the recipe again.

You are right about most soy sauce containing wheat. However, if you use Bragg's Liquid Aminos, then it would be gluten free, since no wheat is used. You could also use wheat-free tamari.

The arrowroot is actually from a plant and is a tuber. I looked up arrowroot and found this page to be very helpful: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arrowroot

Thanks for making me check this again. Keep reading. =)