Unbeef Stew

[katronmaster]

At first, I was iffy on this. I sampled it half-cooked, and called mom to pick up a frozen pizza.

But after it was fully cooked, holy cow! I'm in love! I only used 3 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce, instead of five, and I'll use less pepper next time. I think it'd be great with some celery in the mix, too. I actually got my mom to eat tofu by cooking this!

It's even better the next day, pity potatoes don't freeze well, or I'd make up tons of this in advance for a 'lazy day' winter meal.

[neumes]

  BEWARE!! Most worchestershire sause contains anchovies in it!!  You can find vegan worchestershire in the natural isle of most grocery stores.

[redjen]

I made this stew for a pot luck and everyone loved it!  I thought the proportions were right.  I added a half of bag of frozen organic green peas cause that is what my mom used to do and I was told the peas were a great touch.  Delicious and easy.

[dornorozeto]

Excellent!  I always start missing meaty-type things in the Autumn, so I decided to make a nice beefy stew for dinner today.  This really hit the spot and made for a very filling, extremely tasty meal.  I did make a few changes, though: I used about a cup of TVP chunks instead of tofu, only used about 1 tablespoon of margarine, added 2 tablespoons of nutritional yeast, used Bragg's instead of tamari, decreased the Worcestershire sauce and cornstarch to 4 tablespoons each, added some frozen corn and peas, and used my own blend of spices.  If I remember correctly, I used 1/2 tsp mustard seeds, 1/2 tsp cumin seeds, 1 tsp dried basil, 1/2 tsp dried diced garlic (in place of fresh garlic), and about 4 whole peppercorns.  I put them all together in my "spice mill" (an old coffee bean grinder) and whirred until everything was chopped up and blended.  The end result was fantastic and, served with fresh Irish soda bread, was gobbled up greedily by me and the Mister.  The kids weren't impressed, but they're hard to please.  I will most definitely be making this again!

[majicka414]

I made this in my crockpot last weekend. I modified it a bit, using "beef flavored" bullion in addition to the veggie broth to give it more of a "meaty" taste. I also cut down on the worscheshire since I don't like it all that much.

very good recipe!

[Jaeska]

This was wonderful! I made a few small changes to the recipe that I thought really added to it:

-3tbsps worscheshire sauce instead of 5 (plus I only had 3)
-No tofu (I didn't have any), instead I added a can of garbanzo beans.
-Added some celery
-Added frozen peas 1 hour before I estimated stew to be finished
-Also put in a little italian seasoning

Even my non-vegan friends thought this was excellent, albeit a little peppery.

[CherBear]

I walked into our apartment after work yesterday and was greeted by the most amazing aroma!  This recipe is soooo simple & tasty - I actually chopped all my veggies the night before then when I got up in the morning I threw everything in the crockpot & that was it! 

These were my additions/changes:
I didn't have tofu on hand so it was omitted
I reduced the worchestershire sauce to 3 tbs.
added frozen corn & green beans which made it more of a veggie stew rather than "unbeef"

Great recipe!   

[apstaats]

This is really good.  I used TVP chunks instead of tofu and threw in some broccoli stalks I needed to use (and used only 2 potatoes to accommodate them).  I also didn't have worcestershire sauce, so I used 2 T soy sauce, 2 T balsamic vinegar, and 1 T blackstrap molasses.

[corbet]

This was my first slow cooker stew, and it was very tasty. I followed the suggestions of several people and cut back on the veg worcestershire sauce (to 3T)...I think that's a good change. I simmered on Low for around 8 or 10 hours instead of cooking on high, because I couldn't be around to keep an eye on it. This worked well. The 3T of cornstarch that worked for others wasn't enough for me, but the full recipe amount of 5T worked perfectly. I added two parsnips in place of one of the carrots, and a single fake beef bouillon cube. These were tasty additions, though I'd cut back on the salt a bit next time.

[uhblondie]

I'm starting this recipe now, but I am not using a crock pot (don't own one), so I'm just putting it in a big stock pot and cooking it on the stove. Does anyone know if the stew will need more or less time to cook because of this?

[apstaats]

It should take less time with a regular pot.  Probably a *lot* less time.  Just keep an eye on the potatoes and carrots.  Stick a fork in them every half hour or so to see when they're done.  You don't want them to get too mushy.

[uhblondie]

This tasted just like those Campbell's chunky soups from way back in the day. I added a package of chopped seitan (in addition to the tofu), about a cup of peas, and some broccoli; to make up for this, I only used 2 potatoes, and even so it was very potato-y. I used more garlic, 4 Tbsp of Worcestershire sauce, 2 Tbsp of Liquid Aminos instead of tamari, no salt, added 2 bay leaves during cooking, and 1 Tbsp of balsamic vinegar at the end. Since I cooked it in a stock pot on the stove (instead of a crockpot), it only needed to cook for about an hour. Oh, and I started at 3 Tbsp of corn starch but needed the entire 5 Tbsp. Pretty good, basic recipe. 4 stars.

[yabbitgirl]

Boy the photos really shout "cook this dish!" don't they? I can only hope mine will come out as well as apstaats! I'm thinking about tossing in a can of seitan (mock chicken) instead of tofu cuz I'm out...I'll let you know.

[vegcooking]

This stew was really good, although it was wayyyy too salty.    Next time I make it I will (at the least) cut the salt in half.  Otherwise, it was delicious and filling!  Great recipe!