Name: Vegetable Gumbo with or without Roux
Yield: Makes 15 cups (3.75 l); 8 main-course servings
Cuisine: Indian
Ingredients: Freshly ground black pepper, to taste; 4 cups (1 l) Chunky Tomato Base, lightly crushed canned tomatoes (not plum), with their juice, or sterile-pack chopped tomatoes; 10 tablespoons (160 ml) vegetable oil if using roux; 6 tablespoons (100 ml) olive oil if not using roux; 2 medium bunches kale, leaves only, cut across into ½-inch (1-cm) strips; 3 medium dried hot red peppers, crumbled; 10 medium cloves garlic, smashed, peeled, and very finely chopped; ¾ cup (120 g) all-purpose flour, if using roux; 1 large onion, cut into ¼-inch (.5-cm) dice; 1½ pounds (670 g) fresh cranberry beans, shelled, or 2 cups (360 g) rinsed and drained canned cannellini beans; Kosher salt, to taste; 2 pounds (900 g) fava (broad) beans, shelled, blanched for 2 minutes, run under cold water, and popped out of tough outer skin, or 1 cup (6 ounces; 180 g) frozen lima beans, defrosted in a sieve under warm running water and drained; Kernels from 2 ears corn; ½ cup (125 ml) red wine vinegar if using roux; 1 tablespoon if not using roux; Hot red pepper sauce, to taste; 1 pound (450 g) okra, stem tips removed and discarded, remaining portions cut across into ¼-inch (.5-cm) slices

Preparation info

Makes 15 cups 3.75 l ) ;
8
main-course servings

Difficulty
Medium

Appears in

Soup

By Barbara Kafka

Published 1998

About

Somewhere there must EXIST Creole vegetarians, although I have yet to meet one. If there is, this soup’s for them; otherwise, it’s for me. I like it so much that I have played with two versions (both in this recipe), one with a roux and one without. Try both and tell me which is better.

I’m afraid I don’t have a kale-stem soup, so the leftover stems had best be made into a vegetable dish or added, cut up, to a potage.