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A warming, hearty, vegan dumpling stew recipe packed with delicious winter vegetables, done in under 40 minutes.
Warming winter vegan dumpling stew
During the colder months, the supermarket shelves are full of colourful squashes and root vegetables. It is easy to stock up on these delicious vegetables especially if you have a few simple dishes in mind to prepare. Turnips and swedes make incredible mashes which you can pepper up to the hilt for really tasty sides for vegan sausages or vegetable loaves for example. There are the staples that normally fill vegetable baskets and fridges too, such as bright orange carrots, spicy leeks, crispy celery and of course onions or shallots which are the base of so many sauces, soups and stews. Sometimes only a half or a quarter of these vegetables get used so, like most we end up with leftover fresh vegetables. Of course, you can just use them up individually on the side of your usual dinner options or blend them together, with or without leftover cooked vegetables to make wonderful winter soups. With this vegan dumpling stew recipe, we have made the ultimate nutritious winter warming hearty stew with added easy and quick-to-make herby dumplings. Proper nice!
Vegetables that cook together nicely at the same time
To make a real plant-based treat which will feed a family of four easily for lunch or dinner, with a little leftover (which can be blended to make a great soup) you will need about a kilo and a half of winter vegetables so don’t be alarmed with the number of vegetables in the ingredients list, you’ll either have them already or, the beauty of this is that all these vegetables can be interchangeable depending on what you have in the fridge and your vegetable baskets.
Of course, you may be just bringing all of these roots from your garden, so feel free to choose your favourites. This is a winter vegan dumpling stew, so try to avoid fresh Mediterranean vegetables such as bell peppers, tomatoes or aubergines and globe artichokes as these will alter the finish of your winter dumpling stew and won’t cook well enough either to showcase their best flavours and qualities. The beauty of cooking with similar winter vegetables in the same dish is that they will all cook together nicely at the same time.
How to make the best vegan stew with herby dumplings
To start we make a simple and tasty batch of dumplings. We add 50g of vegetable suet, chopped herbs, salt and nutritional yeast to 100g of plain flour and bring it together with a little cold water to make a dough. Cutting the dough into four equal pieces then each piece in half again you will get 8 equal portions. Then roll each piece between cupped hands to make equal bite-sized dough balls to set aside until you're ready to add them to your stew.
As well as the winter root vegetables, we have the classic mix of onions, leeks and celery which are roughly chopped into small pieces to fry off in olive oil in a heavy-based casserole dish. Because we are using celeriac which adds much of the light aromatic flavour, you can add an aniseed flavour using fennel instead of celery, but of course, as with many recipes, many ingredients are interchangeable. This classic "mirepoix" combination of vegetables is the base for many classic French dishes.
Carrot is sometimes added for colour but as we are using larger cut carrots for texture, we do not need them at this stage, although we do add a little garlic. Once translucent and slightly browned we stir in a touch of tomato puree and yeast extract which will add a depth of flavour to the finished stew and also a nice deep rich colour. As this is a vegan dumpling stew we cannot rely on the sauce to thicken naturally with the addition of gelatin that would come from meat proteins in a non-vegan stew, we need to add a roux made from margarine and flour. Then in goes some decent vegetable stock and a glass of red wine, then a little simmering for a few minutes is all that is required before adding the chopped root vegetables. At this point, arrange the dumplings over the stew and put a heavy lid on top. Place in a pre-heated oven for ten minutes with the lid on then a further ten minutes with the lid off. This way the dumplings and vegetables poking out of the luscious gravy will brown but the vegetables will cook perfectly.
What other vegetables can be used and variations
If you don’t have access to all of these vegetables then, by all means, use either normal potatoes or sweet potatoes or a mix of both. You could add beetroots which will create sweetness and deep colour. Adding horseradish or red radishes will turn up the spiciness or adding Jerusalem artichokes, for example, would bring a luscious smoothness to the stew. As long as you follow the cooking instructions and cut the vegetables into bite-sized pieces taking care to remove any tough skin and stalks you will end up with a hearty, healthy stew with an awesome taste and great texture. And remember, if you have leftovers, then you can simply add a little more stock and blend together for a super warming bowl of soup. This is a vegan dumpling stew that will keep on giving.
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Vegan dumpling stew recipe
Ingredients
For the stew
- 300 g or 1 small winter squash, peeled weight about 200g
- 100 g or 1 onion
- 200 g of carrots
- 150 g of parsnips
- 100 g of asparagus
- 200 g of celeriac
- 200 g or 1 fennel
- 200 g of cauliflower
- 100 g of leek
- 150 g 1 small turnip
- 2-3 garlic cloves, peeled and finely chopped
- 1 tablespoon of tomato puree
- 1 teaspoon of yeast extract
- 750 ml or 3 cups of vegetable stock
- 200 ml or ¾ cup of red wine
- 3 tablespoon of flour
- 2 tablespoon of margarine
- A few sprigs of fresh rosemary, sage and thyme (alternatively, use 2 tablespoons of dried herbs)
For the dumplings
- 100 g of plain flour
- 50 g of vegetable suet
- 5 tablespoon of cold water
- 1 tablespoon of nutritional yeast
- ½ teaspoon of salt
- 1 tbs of chopped rosemary, sage and thyme
- 1 tablespoon of grated fresh horseradish (optional)
Instructions
Start with the dumplings
- Sift the flour into a mixing bowl and add the salt, nutritional yeast, herbs, horseradish and suet. Stir together then add 5 tablespoons of cold water and combine together to form a firm dough.Divide into 8 equal pieces and roll into balls. Set aside.
How to make the stew
- First, peel all the vegetables, remove any seeds and stalks and chop them into rustic bite-sized pieces. Dice the onions, leeks and fennel more finely.
- Add the onions, fennel and leeks to a heavy-based casserole dish with a little olive oil and fry for 5-6 minutes until slightly browning. Add the garlic and stir in the tomato puree, yeast extract and cook for another minute.
- Add the flour and margarine and stir in thoroughly.
- When the vegetables start to stick together add the red wine and whisk to stir out any lumps. Bring the wine to a boil and add the stock and herbs and add in all the chopped vegetables and simmer for 5 minutes.
- Take off the heat and arrange the dumplings over the stew. Place a heavy lid on the casserole dish and place it into a pre-heated oven at 200℃/392°F for 10 minutes. After 10 minutes remove the lid and place it back in the oven for a further 10 minutes.
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