Total time: About two hours. I probably could have done it a little faster if I did more of the other vegetable prep while the okra was being salted.
Source: The Complete Plant Based Cookbook
Serves: 8 or so
I chose this because collard greens were on sale. I’m so glad I did.
Gumbo is an issue for me because I have a shrimp allergy, and while I know there are gumbos out there without shrimp, I get especially excited when I see a vegetarian gumbo. I love the flavors of gumbo, but I’d rather let our meat dishes be about really showcasing the meat, so I was eager to try this one.
This recipe gets the flavors exactly right. I could have slipped shrimp and sausage into this and they would have felt right at home, but it didn’t feel like they were missing. There was just enough heat to it without it being overwhelming, and all of the different greens melded together so well.
There was a decent amount of vegetable prep, but nothing too overwhelming, and definitely nothing complex. The most complicated part was probably the roux at the beginning, and that’s just because it had to be stirred for six minutes. I’ve never cooked a roux until it looked like chocolate, though, and it was fun to watch the colors change!
Testing the Test Kitchen 