The Absolute Best Vegetarian/Vegan Gravy

This is the best damn gravy I've ever had! It's vegan/vegetarian/gluten free too!

To make the Absolute Best Vegetarian/Vegan Gravy you will need:

3 tablespoons olive oil

~2.5 lbs onions, chopped (about 4 medium, or 3 large)

3/4 cup cashew butter

1/2 cup soy sauce

2 cups water

1/4 teaspoon pepper

1/4 teaspoon sage

I'm going to let you in on a secret: everyone lies about how long it takes to actually caramelize onions. I've seen recipes that say 20 minutes (a blatant lie!), ones that say 1 hour (still liars). It took me 2 hours and 15 minutes to caramelize these onions! You want to go low and slow.

I heated up a pot with the 3 tablespoons oil, then added the onions. For the first 10 - 15 minutes, I had the heat on high and stirred the onions often, they release some juice and the high heat helps evaporate it. Once they get drier, I turned down the heat to medium/low, and stirred about every 5 minutes, adjusting the heat as necessary to keep the onions from burning. After about 1.5 hours I kept the flame on low. They were done in 2.25 hours.

Once the onions are carmelized, add in:

3/4 cup cashew butter

1/2 cup soy sauce

2 cups water

1/4 teaspoon pepper

1/4 teaspoon sage

Keep the heat on low and stir until everything is heated through and the cashew butter is incorporated.

Finally, the gravy is carefully blended in the blender. When blending hot liquids, I remove the center piece from the lid of the blender and place a folded washcloth over it, that allows steam to escape a little.

The gravy is done! I like to freeze it in small jars. This made about 3 cups total.