Gary's Kitchen: Vegan Swedish Meatballs with Gravy

These Swedish vegan meatballs are made with seitan. If you cannot have seitan, use your favorite plant-based meatballs.

For the seitan:

1 cup vital wheat gluten (keep a little more on hand to add if the mixture is too moist)

1/3 cup nutritional yeast

Your favorite spices (my dad uses Italian seasoning, garlic and onion powders, smoked paprika, chili powder)

One jar of roasted red peppers, ground up in a blender (juice and all)

A little water to mix as needed

3 cups vegetable stock for the pressure cooker

Mix the vital wheat gluten, nutritional yeast and spices together in a bowl. Add the blended red peppers with their liquid and mix. Add a little water if needed to make a dough.

Knead the dough for a few minutes.

Add 3 cups of vegetable stock to an electric pressure cooker. Place dough ball in a nut milk back or cheesecloth and tie securely closed, then place in pressure cooker and cook for 30 minutes.

For the sour cream:

1 cup cashews

1/3 of a one-pound block of extra firm tofu

1/2 cup water

2 T vinegar

Dash of lemon or lime juice

Salt to taste

Blend everything in a blender till smooth.

For the gravy:

3 cups vegetable stock

Few spoonfuls of the sour cream

3 T cornstarch mixed in 6 T water (or you can try flour or even potato flakes)

Your favorite jam, about 1-2 T (optional - gives it a tart/sweet flavor - my dad uses homemade blueberry jam, or if you can find lingonberry jam that is more traditional Swedish)

1/2 tsp ground nutmeg

1/2 tsp ground allspice

Heat everything together in a pan over medium heat. Once it's bubbling and starting to thicken, lower heat to low.

For the vegan meatballs:

Ground seitan (you can use freshly made as above, or store bought), about 3-4 cups

Cooked mushrooms, diced (about 1 cup)

1 onion, grated so that it's mushy

2 pieces of bread, crust removed, diced

1/4 - 1/2 tsp ground nutmeg

1/4 - 1/2 tsp ground allspice

1-2 tsp Dijon mustard

Breadcrumbs to bind the mixture

Mash bread and onion puree together so that the bread soaks up all the onions. This will make the meatballs nice and soft inside.

Mix everything together. Form meatballs with the mixture.

Bake in oven at 400F for 15-20 minutes to brown.

To serve:

It's best to not cook the meatballs in the gravy as they could fall apart. We recommend just coating the meatballs in the gravy, topping with parsley, and serving.

The gravy would also be great over mashed potatoes or pasta.