Vegan Stew and Dumplings

Step 1

Wash and chop all your vegetables.

Step 2

Warm up olive oil in a large cooking pan. Add chopped onion and crushed garlic. Gently fry for 5 minutes.

Step 3

Add carrots and celery and gently fry on low heat for another 15 minutes until softened.

Step 4

Then add all remaining ingredients except cornflour. Bring to a boil and simmer for 15 minutes. Keep an eye out on the bottom of the pan to make sure your veggies don't stick to the bottom.

Step 5

After 15 minutes of simmering, it's time to thicken your stew. Dissolve 2 tbsp of cornflour in 2 tbsp of water. Add to your stew. Stir well and keep simmering until your vegetables have cooked thoroughly - about 15 to 20 more minutes.

Step 6

Don't forget to stir the bottom of the pan occasionally to prevent vegetables from sticking to the bottom. You will also need to add a splash of water to your stew if it gets too dry.

Step 7

In the meantime, use a separate bowl to make your dumplings. Combine all your dry ingredients (flour, salt, baking powder, nutritional yeast and herbs).

Step 8

Little by little, add vegan butter. Make sure your vegan butter is at room temperature as this will help it dissolve better. Try to mix in your butter with your dry ingredients as much as possible, using a spoon to press the butter against the bowl's edge. Then add your unsweetened plant milk and stir well.

Step 9

Using a spoon or a measuring cup, scoop out your dumpling mixture and add to your simmering stew. I usually use a ⅛ measuring cup which will create 6 dumplings (as original recipe is written - adjust if you've altered the batch size).

Step 10

Place your dumplings on top of the vegetables in order to prevent them from sinking. Cook for 8 minutes uncovered, then add some more water to your stew (100-200ml - adjust if making a bigger/smaller batch than original recipe) and cook covered for 12 minutes.

Step 11

Make sure to gently stir the stew around your dumplings to prevent it from sticking to the bottom of the pan. Don't be afraid to move the dumplings around if you need to.

Step 12

Once your dumplings have cooked thoroughly (you will notice they've become hard and changed colour), serve your stew with some extra fresh thyme.