Meaty Meatless Boeuf Bourguignon

This vegan Beouf Bourguignon is absolutely delishious and would fool a meat eater any day.

The recipe is for 8 portions, yeah I know its much but this is so good that you'd probably eat everything before having any left to freeze even if you're a one person household plus it's a good recipe to share at festivites.

The cooking time is about two hours with about 45 minutes of active work time.

It is served best with boiled or mashed potatoes, a side salad and some crisp bread.

Soy pieces* 600g / 1.33 lbs

Smoked tofu** 150 g / 0.33 lbs

Red wine*** 5 dl / 2 cups

Water 7 dl / 3 cups

Veggie stock 2 tablespoons

Soy sauce 1 tablespoon

Tomato puree 4 tablespoons

Flour 3.5 tablespoons

Small onions or pearl onions about 15

Large Carrots 3

Champignon mushroom 500 g / 1.1lb

Bay leaves 5

Raw cane sugar 1 teaspoon

Dried thyme 2 teaspoons

Parsley

Cloves of garlic 5

Salt and ground black pepper

Rapeseed oil / Sunflower oil

*The soy pieces I use are Anammas vegobitar. I think they only exist in Sweden and they are not the freeze dried version of soy chunks. If your using freeze dried soy chunks, you should use about about a third of the weight, let it soak in boiled water for a couple of minutes, then lightly squeeze out excess moisture before adding them to the stew.

**The tofu can be omitted, but it adds another texture and the smokiness is wonderful. I used yinpins Alder smoked tofu. Also a swedish brand.

***I've been using this wine which made the stew quite strong and rustic but I'm sure you could use what ever wine you want.

Dice the smoked tofu and fry it off until golden with a fair amount of oil on medium high temperature. During the all the following frying steps, don't be afraid to use a quite a lot of oil, since the tofu, soy pieces and the mushrooms all are very lean in fat and you need the fat to enrich the flavor of the stew.

I waited before mixing it all together to add the bay leaves in order to not break them.

Let fry for a couple of minutes until the tomato puree starts to stick to the bottom of the pan. Don't worry, it will unstick when we add the next liquids in the next step.

Scrape the bottom of the pot to make sure everything has come loose from it. Add a lid and reduce to low-mid heat.

We will wait with adding salt and pepper until the last 20 minutes or so. The liquid will reduce and concentrate the flavors. We can salt the stew but we can not unsalt it.

Let it boil for 1 hour and 20 minutes. During this time we continue preparing the rest of the ingredients.

We start with the mushrooms with the cleaning. I clean them under running water (I know it's controversial, but the fact is that the will only take on water about 3 % of their weight which amounts to about 30 seconds more in the frying pan later. I think it is worth it getting the most dirt away that way.), rubbing them down, to remove most of the dirt.

Remove the rest of the dirt, cut the end of the foot away then quarter the mushroom.

Continue frying them in a frying pan in medium high heat with oil. And while you're doing that, multitask by peeling the onion. Cut the ends of both sides and remove the peel and do the same with the garlic.

When the mushroom has gotten a nice color, do the same with the onions and the garlic.

If you time it correctly you could probably throw them all in, knowing that the mushroom will take the longest time, followed by the onion and then the garlic. I did them separately.

Peel and shop up the carrots.

If you've been effective in the last step, you probably have some time to rest while the stew simmers under the lid.

Take some fresh air, have a snooze, write an instructable.

After 1 hour and 20 minutes, add the carrots. Stir to make sure they are covered. Add the lid back on and wait another 20 minutes.

(If you have potatoes, at the end of the 20 minutes would be a good time to start boiling them.)

Add the mushroom, onion and garlic. Stir to make sure they are covered. Add the lid back on and wait another 20 minutes.

Salt and pepper to taste.

(Here you have time to make a salad and plate the table if you want.)

Stir it around, and congratulations the stew is done!

I enjoyed mine with a glass of the same red used in the stew, potatoes, salad with cherry tomatoes dressed with a balsamic vinegar reduction and some crisp bread.

Have fun!