My recent Mardi Gras / Lunar New Year dinner party (see prior post for background on the unlikely pairing) was anchored by two vegetarian versions of New Orleans favorites – a tofu gumbo and a vegan red beans and rice (post forthcoming). The tofu gumbo turned out much better than I expected, though I'll admit that my impression is that it's far from the "real" thing. I use the term "my impression" though because as a vegetarian, I've never actually tried a traditional gumbo!
I used a Vegetarian Times recipe for the occasion, and largely followed it with a few notable exceptions. First, I didn't quite like the way my roux was turning out (probably because I eyeballed the ingredients), so I used only 1 tablespoon of it leading to more of a soup than heavy stew consistency. I also didn't have any dried thyme on hand, so I substituted some shakes of Italian seasoning instead. Finally, I also subbed olive oil for the peanut oil because of my allergy, but I don't know if that would have made a difference in the final result given the volume of flavors in the dish.
You start the dish by marinating cubed tofu in an onion / garlic / dijon mustard mixture for 2 – 24 hours.
After the tofu is mostly marinated, start prep on the main dish which starts with sautéing your Cajun trinity mix in olive oil before adding in canned tomatoes, stock, and a few herbs.
As this mixture starts to cook down, you then individually saute the chopped okra and tofu in a separate pan and add them each to the gumbo after they brown.
The final result had lots of rich herb and tomato flavors, making it a likely recipe repeat. To offset the potential lack of roux in future attempts, I may add in some beans or lentils to give most heft to the stew. Heresy, I imagine, for gumbo lovers (both "lack of roux" and "lentils") but I've gotta work within my constraints!
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