Bactroid.net Creamy Vegan Polenta
While watching the True Grits episode of Good Eats, I got a hankering to make some grits/polenta. Forsaking chicken broth and dairy, I marched into my kitchen and started yet another delicious vegan experiment—a savory polenta that will make you swear that heaven is a place on earth. Do you know what that’s worth?
Ingredients
- 30 ml of extra virgin olive oil
- 1 onion, chopped
- 15 g of chopped, minced, or smashed garlic (about 1 tablespoon)
- 120 g of coarse grind whole grain corn meal (about 1 cup)
- 1 liter of water with 25 g of Better Than Bullion vegetable base mixed in(1) (about 4 cups of water with about 4 teaspoons of vegetable base)
- 30 g of vegan margarine (about 3 tablespoons)
- Black pepper (to taste)
- 50 g nutritional yeast flakes
Procedure
- Preheat oven to 175 C (350 F).
- Heat olive oil over medium heat.
- When oil is warm, begin sweating onions slowly.
- When onions are starting to get tender, add in your garlic and sweat for another 1-2 minutes. Your kitchen will start to smell sexy.
- Add your water/stock mixture, and turn stove heat to high.
- When mixture boils, remove from heat and slowly whisk in your cornmeal(2).
- Cover pot with a tight fitting lid and put into your oven.
- Bake for 35 minutes or so, stopping to stir the mixture about every five minutes or so.
- When you remove the polenta from the oven, add in your margarine and some black pepper. (About 10 grinds from my pepper mill made me very happy.)
- Slowly stir in your nutritional yeast. Pour a bit in and fully incorporate it before adding more. I worked in about four stages. Your mixture will thicken as you add the yeast.
- Serve immediately with fresh steamed vegetables of your choice on the side.