Vegan Sweet Potato Gumbo

That's right, vegan. We love our food in all forms here at the Basin and Range Project, so we are not afraid of delicious, hardy, vegan recipes. 

Over the weekend we had a wonderful time swimming, playing and camping with some friends near Lake Tahoe. For dinner, we had pork loin and sausage to throw on the grill, so I thought it be great to add a vegan dish to the mix. And it turned out beautifully!

So here you go!

Ingredients:

• 2 cups uncooked wild rice
• 2 medium sweet potatoes--cubed
• extra virgin olive oil
• 1 large yellow onion--cubed
• 4 garlic cloves--minced
• 2 celery stalks--chopped
• 1 large green bell pepper--cubed
• 8-12 mushroom--cubed
• 2 cans kidney beans
• 1 tablespoon dried thyme
• 1 tablespoon paprika
• sea salt--to taste
• ground pepper--to taste
• cayenne--a pinch or more depending on how spicy you like it
• 1 can diced tomatoes
• 1 small can tomato paste
• 1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
• 4 cups vegetable stock
• 2 bay leaves

Optional garnishes:

• ½ cup chopped scallions
• hot sauce

Directions:
This recipe will be a bit easier if you have two Dutch ovens, because if you do you can roast your sweet potatoes while you work on the rest of the gumbo, if not you have to roast your potatoes first--which will add to the cooking time. Or roast them a bit at home before you head out into the back country.

1. Toss your sweet potatoes in olive oil and salt to cover. Place in Dutch oven at 400 degrees F and roast until browned and slightly caramelized (30-40 minutes depending).
2. In a separate pot cook wild rice according to packaging (next time I think I'll try cooking the rice in the gumbo, but since we were feeding friends I was a little nervous to try it).
3. In your other Dutch oven, over high heat, cook the onion, garlic, celery, mushrooms and bell pepper in olive oil until they're soft. 
4. Add the rest of the ingredients (not garnishes ;) and stir to combine well. Make sure the bay leaves are submerged and bring the gumbo to a boil. 
5. Reduce the heat and simmer for roughly 30 minutes, stirring occasionally.
6. Add roasted sweet potatoes to the gumbo and simmer for a few minutes longer, then remove from heat and discard bay leaves.
7. Place rice in each serving bowl, ladle gumbo onto rice and garnish to your taste.

Enjoy!!

Eater's Report:
This was delicious and was a great group meal! While we had just done some swimming and had a mainly relaxing camping trip, I think this would be even more satisfying after a long hard day, especially in cool weather.