Simple Stew with Swede Dumplings

Mashed swede is used to make these traditional light & fluffy dumplings, served on a simple leek and bean vegan stew- but any stew would work.

For the stew:

(serves 2)

· Roughly 150g of celery

· 2 large leeks

· 350g of cooked pulses, e.g. chickpeas, white beans etc. (any will do, PFMG sell a great selection of Hodmedod’s beans and peas)

· Around 2L of vegetable stock

· Nutritional Yeast

· Tomato Puree

· Fresh thyme

· Paprika or smoked paprika

· 3 cloves of garlic

· Rapeseed or vegetable oil

· Salt

· Pepper

1. Slice the celery finely and wash. Slice the green parts of the leeks thinly and wash. Keep the white parts of the leek for later

2. In a little oil, sweat the leeks and celery with a little salt until very soft. Add 3 peeled, crushed, cloves of garlic too

3. Once the leeks and celery are soft, add 1 heaped tbsp of tomato puree and 2 tsp of paprika and a handful of fresh thyme sprigs

4. Cook everything together for a couple of minutes

5. Add the cooked pulses and cover with stock

6. Boil for around 25 minutes until the sauce thickens slightly- but not reduced too much. The stew will be baked with dumplings, which will soak up a lot of liquid

7. Meanwhile, take the white parts of the leek and slice into 3 cm pieces. These can be fried in a little oil until soft and added to the stew at the end, or added to the stew towards the end of cooking to soften. The chunkier bits of leek just add sweetness and texture to the stew

8. Add 1 tbsp of nutritional yeast and plenty of black pepper. The nutritional yeast won’t add a ‘cheesiness’, just a more savoury flavour

9. Remove the garlic cloves and thyme sprigs and discard

10. Taste the sauce, add more salt or pepper as necessary

11. Add the dumplings (see next recipe) and bake in a pre-heated oven (200°C) for 25 minutes until the dumplings have expanded and browned on top

For the dumplings

· About 150g of swede mash (see below)

· 100g self-raising flour

· 45g of hard fat (vegan butter, baking fat or vegetable suet).

· ½ tsp of bicarbonate soda

· Salt

· Pepper

1. For the swede mash, peel and chop around 150g of swede. Add to a saucepan and cover with cold water and season with salt. Simmer for around 15-20minutes until the swede is really soft. Drain and leave to cool. Blend the swede with a hand blender or food processor to make a swede puree

2. For the dumplings, chop up the fat into small pieces and mix into the flour with your fingertips to make ‘breadcrumbs’. This can also be done in a food processor, which is much easier! If using suet, just mix into the flour

3. Add ½ tsp of bicarbonate of soda and salt & pepper. Mix in

4. Add a spoonful of swede puree at a time and mix into the flour. Keep adding more puree until a soft dough (not to wet) is formed

5. To form the dumplings, flour your hands and form 8 equal size balls. Flatten them slightly and add them to the stew. They will expand when cooking so space them out.