Vegetable stew with herb dumplings

Categories: March

Ingredients

• 25g butter
• 1 onion, chopped
• 1 leek, thickly sliced and washed
• 3 carrots, roughly chopped
• 2 celery sticks, roughly chopped
• 3 tbsp plain flour
• 600ml vegetable stock or water, hot
• 410g can mixed pulses, drained and rinsed
• few sprigs of fresh thyme
• 225g self-raising flour
• 110g vegetable suet
• 2 tbsp fresh thyme leaves

Directions

1. Melt the butter in a large saucepan over a medium heat. Add the onion and cook for 5 minutes, until softened. Add the leek, carrots and celery and continue cooking for a further 10 minutes, stirring occasionally, until softened. Stir in the plain flour, then gradually stir in the stock or water. Add the drained pulses and thyme sprigs, cover, and simmer for 20 minutes.

2. Meanwhile, make the dumplings. Mix together the flour, suet and thyme, and season to taste. Add about 125ml cold water to form a soft, slightly sticky dough – add a touch more water if it seems a little dry.

3. Drop large spoonfuls of the dough into the simmering stew, pushing them in so they’re just poking out – you should have 12 dumplings. Cover again and simmer for a further 20 minutes, until the dumplings are risen and no longer sticky. Serve with seasonal greens.

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