biscuits & lentil gravy with tempeh sausage

Timing tip: To make best use of your time, start by simmering the tempeh for the sausage, cooking the lentils for the gravy and cooking the sweet potato for the biscuits. Your tempeh and sweet potatoes will be done before the lentils, so you can then move on to making up the sausage patties and preparing the biscuits. Move on to make the gravy and then, while the biscuits are baking, you can fry up the sausage patties. 

Gravy

1. Rinse 1 ½ cups dried lentils and add them to a medium pot along with 5 cups vegetable broth (or the equivalent of water and stock cubes), plus 1 Tbsp. dried thyme. Bring the pot to a boil and turn down the heat, cover the pot and let the lentils simmer until tender (about 40 minutes).
2. While the lentils cook, sauté the onion over medium heat until it starts to soften and become translucent. Add water a tablespoon at-a-time if it begins to stick.
3. Add the 2 cloves minced garlic, 1 Tbsp. thyme and ½ tsp. smoked paprika. Sauté for another 30 seconds. Set the pan aside until the lentils are done.
4. In a small bowl or glass jar whisk together the 1 Tbsp. flour, ½ tsp. ground black pepper, 1 cup vegetable broth, 1 tsp. soy sauce, 1 tsp. red wine vinegar and 1 Tbsp. vegan Worcestershire sauce.
5. Once the lentils have cooked, remove them from the heat. Add the sautéed onion mixture, and the flour mixture to the pot. Using an immersion blender, blend all the ingredients until about half of the lentils are broken down (this is up to your desired texture). You can also add all the ingredients to a blender to accomplish the same task. You may need to do this in batches. Your other option is to leave the lentils as they are cooked (this will be a bit chunkier). Just add all the ingredients.
6. Reheat the gravy in the pot over low to medium heat. Adjust the spices and add more broth if it’s too thick.

Biscuits

1. Peel and diced the sweet potato into cubes and place them in a medium pan and cover them with water. Bring the pot to boil and then turn down the heat to simmer. Cook the sweet potato until the cubes can easily be pierced with a fork. Once they are cooked, remove them from the heat and mash them.
2. Preheat the oven to 425⁰F (220⁰C).
3. In a medium mixing bowl, combine the 2 cups whole wheat flour, 1 cup white flour, 2 tsp. baking powder, ½ tsp. baking soda, ½ tsp. salt, ½ tsp. dried rosemary and ½ tsp. dried thyme.
4. In a small bowl or glass, mix ¼ cup plant milk with 1 tsp. apple cider vinegar. Set aside.
5. Add the mashed sweet potato to the dry ingredients and using a fork, mix the sweet potato in until you have a crumbly mixture.
6. Next, add the ¼ cup plant milk and vinegar. Mix this in and continue adding plant milk until you have a dough that will hold together. Note – sweet potatoes can be very sticky, so adjust the milk and flour. It’s comes down to how moist your sweet potato is.
7. Pause to grab a non-stick baking sheet. Line this with parchment paper if desired.
8. Place the dough on a lightly floured surface and roll it flat to around ¾ inch in thickness. Using a biscuit cutter or glass dipped in flour, press straight down without twisting and cut the biscuits. You should end up with 8-10 depending on the size of the cutter you are using (1 ½ inches in diameter is a good guide).
9. Place the biscuits on the baking sheet and bake until the tops are lightly brown, 9-11 minutes.

Tempeh sausage

1. After cutting the tempeh into small cubes, place it, 5 cups vegetable broth (or 2 veggie cubes + 5 cups water) and 1 Tbsp. soy sauce or Tamari into a medium pot. Bring the pot to simmer and simmer the tempeh for 20 minutes.
2. While the tempeh simmers, chop the onion, garlic cloves and mushrooms and put them in a food process with your sharp blade. Add 2 tsp. maple syrup, 1 tsp. soy sauce (or Tamari) and 2 Tbsp. vegan Worcestershire sauce.
3. In a medium mixing bowl, add ½ cup seitan and all the spices. Mix together.
4. Once the tempeh has simmered, drain it and press the pieces against the side of the colander to get more of the moisture out.
5. Place the tempeh in the food processor and process all the ingredients until the mixture is broken down. Don’t process until completely smooth – you just want the tempeh and other ingredients broken down.
6. Add the tempeh mixture to the bowl with the seitan and herbs. Mix everything with a spoon and eventually, you hand. You want a mixture that will hold together to form a ball (and sausage patties), but not too dry or stiff. If the mixture is too wet, add more seitan a tablespoon at-a-time. If the mixture is too dry, add water a tablespoon at-a time.
7. Separate the sausage mixture into small balls and for patties using your hands or a pastry cutter. The number of resulting patties depends on their size (I ended up with 9). If you are going to pan fry them, try to keep them on the thin side so the centers cook evenly.
8. To pan fry, heat a non-stick skillet to medium and add the sausage patties. Cook them at least 5 minutes before you turn them, so they don’t stick. I usually turn them once and then back again until they are brown on both sides.
9. To bake the patties, heat the oven to 425⁰F (220⁰C). Place the patties on a non-stick baking sheet or one lined with parchment paper. Bake the patties for 10 minutes, flip and bake for an additional 5-10 minutes until they are brown.