Parsnip with a twist - Vegan dumplings

Winter season is offering us a wonderful variety of yummy root veggies that perfectly go with the season. Take parsnip for example, with its sweet flavor and warming thermal nature it is a terrific ingredient for your soups, stews and oven roasts. Especially now with a full moon coming up that affects our large intestines, this can be your ‘go to’ veggie for the coming days.

White vegetables contain high amounts of fibre which help to improve your digestion by increasing the health of your intestines. Parsnip in particular lubricates your intestines as well and helps to reduce wind or air which we can experience as uncomfortable bloated bellies. 

We have dived into our cooking books to find a parsnip recipe with a twist and we found a really delicious one. We adapted an Ottolenghi ‘Parsnip Dumpling’ recipe to make it vegan and gluten free and the result was so good. This is not your regular hand held blender creamy soup and it will take a bit more prep time, but you will love it! All the fresh ingredients together make it an absolute boost for your immune system. 

Ingredients (serves 4)

For the homemade vegetable broth

• 3 tbsp of olive oil
• 3 carrots, cleansed and cut into slices
• 5 stalks of celery, sliced
• 1 big onion, sliced
• ½ a celeriac, cubed
• 7 cloves of garlic, peeled
• 5 sprigs of thyme
• 2 little bunches of flat-leaf parsley (save some for the garnish)
• 10 black peppercorns
• 8 dried prunes
• Salt and pepper to taste

For the dumplings

• 2 medium sized floury potatoes, peeled and cubed
• 2 parsnips, peeled and cubed
• 2 cloves of garlic, peeled
• 1 tbsp of coconut oil
• 1tbsp of baking powder
• 1 tbsp of arrowroot powder
• 1 tbsp of ground linseeds
• 2 tbsp of corn groats (polenta)
• 2 tbsp of gluten free flour (we used chickpea flour)
• 1 handful of nuts (either walnuts or almonds)
• Salt and pepper to taste

Preparation

Broth 

• Heat the olive oil and add the vegetables and garlic and stir fry them for a few minutes until they slightly start to become golden. 
• Add the herbs, spices and dried prunes and a liter of cold water. Leave to simmer for about 1,5 hours, if foam starts to form on top, scoop it out. 
• You can add a little water if necessary to make sure you have enough stock for 4 people.
• You can use the veggie broth immediately or leave to stand overnight for extra taste, in that case leave the veggies and herbs inside.
• Pour the broth through a fine sieve and set aside.

Dumplings

• Boil the potato, parsnip and garlic in salted water until cooked. 
• Drain them and dry the pot you cooked them in. 
• Put the pot back on the stove, add the coconut oil and stir fry the potatoes, parsnip and garlic for a few minutes on medium heat. 
• Mash them with a potato masher and then add the dry ingredients. Stir well to combine. You can use your hands if you like. 
• Put the dough into a container with a lid (or cover with plastic foil) and leave to cool in the fridge for 60 minutes (we left it in the fridge all night).

Putting it together

• Heat the broth 
• In another pot boil water with salt to cook your dumplings.
• With your hands make little dumpling balls of the dough, a little less of a table spoon per dumpling, they shouldn’t be too big. Use your hands to squeeze them tightly.
• Put the dumplings in the boiling water and wait until they come floating on top, leave them for another 30 seconds and then carefully remove them and add them to a bowl of hot veggie broth. Serve 5 to 6 dumplings per person. Garnish with the flat-leaf parsley. 

Buon appetito! 

PS: You can use the prunes in delish veggie tagine, and the veggies can be used for another soup like the Dutch Snert recipe, no need to waste them 🙂