Homemade Vegan Pepperoni

We were actually invited over to our friends' house for dinner tonight (the first time since we moved here in July!). I know that making vegan food can be daunting for omnis (hence our scant dinner invitations) but they served up a delicious meal of black bean enchiladas and salad, with chocolate pudding cake for dessert. What a treat! That means I did not cook a meal today, and I know I said I would post the risotto from yesterday, but I wanted to share today's culinary experiment instead. This pepperoni is totally amazing! You will never buy veggie pepperoni at the store again.

INGREDIENTS

Note: if you want a milder pepperoni, cut back on the pepper and pepper flakes.

- 1/2 cup of white kidney beans, rinsed and drained

- 1 cup cold water

- 1 tbsp olive oil

- 1 tsp liquid smoke

- 1 tsp HP sauce, or BBQ sauce

- 1 tbsp paprika

- 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper

- 1 tsp salt

- 1 tbsp sugar

- 1 tsp whole anise seed

- 1 tsp red peppercorns

- 1 tsp green peppercorns

- 1 tsp crushed red pepper flakes

- 1 1/4 cups vital wheat gluten

METHOD

Get your water on it way to boiling in your steamer

1. Finely mash the beans with a fork. Add water, oil, liquid smoke, HP or BBQ sauce, paprika, cayenne, salt and sugar and mix well.

2. Roughly grind anise seed, peppercorns, and red pepper flakes with a mortar and pestle. Add into mixture. Add in wheat gluten and mix well with a fork.

3. Divide dough into three equal portions. Shape each into a tube and wrap like a tootsie roll in heavy duty aluminum foil. Make sure to wrap it tightly by twisting the ends. Heavy duty foil is needed to keep the pepperoni from bursting out of the wrapping when cooking.

4. Steam for 45 mins. Cool and slice.