Did you miss me? I missed you.
You may have noticed how I was absent last week. No posts at all. Well, the brilliant combo of taking on more days at work, a new trend in burning my dishes, and getting a cold, left me with nothing to post…except for a few sad pictures on instagram and twitter.
Well, the good news is, I am over my cold, I’m not working as much this week, and best of all, I didn’t burn a single dish this weekend. What does that mean? Well, I was able to do a lot of cooking this weekend. Yay! So not only do I have some delicious recipes for you this week, but I have many more to come!
Now onto the show! ….well, food.
It has been cold, and rainy, leaves are blowing, and so was my nose. What to make? Not you, chicken noodle soup! Your flimsy wimp noodles aren’t going to do anything for my cold. I want something rich, full of veggie power, and stick to your ribs delicious. So I made an enormous pot of Hearty Vegan Stew with Dumplings. I packed in a ton of hearty veggies, and made a hearty thick glorious broth with all sorts of hearty yummy spices. Did I say hearty? And the best part is, it definitely doesn’t taste like chicken.
Hearty Vegan Stew:
Makes 4-6 very hearty servings
Glug of Olive Oil
2-3 Pinches of Cumin
2-3 Pinches Mustard Powder
3-4 Pinches Cayenne Powder
2-3 Pinches All Spice
2-3 Pinches Oregano
Salt & Pepper
1 Medium Onion
2 Cloves Garlic
1 Red Bell Pepper
5 Carrots
1 Tub of Mushrooms (or a couple of handfuls)
4 Medium Potatoes
1 Acorn Squash
Splash of White Wine or White Vermouth (optional)
Small Can of Crushed Tomatoes, or Leftover Tomato Sauce
4-6 Cups Veggie Stock (or a couple veggie stock cubes and water)
Couple Handfuls of Frozen Peas
Spoon or two of Cornstarch
Dumplings:
1 Cup Whole Wheat Flour
1 Teaspoon Baking Powder
1/4 Teaspoon Salt
Several Grinds of Pepper
1/2 Cup Almond Milk (or other non dairy milk)
1 Tablespoon Canola Oil
*Super Secret Special Trick* I like to use veggie broth cubes or powder, and the reason I like to do this is, I can add more or less flavour as I please. In fact, I used a cube of mushroom stock, and a cube of onion stock to get ultimate awesome flavour! I recommend picking up a selection of high quality veggie stock cubes to have on hand.
Lets get stewing! Finely chop up the onion, garlic, red pepper, and one of the carrots. These veggies will be to start developing the flavours of the stew.
Chop up the remaining 4 carrots and the rest of the veggies into heartier chunks all roughly the same size. For the acorn squash, I find it easiest to cut it in half, scoop out the guts and seeds (save for roasting if you like). Then use a potato peeler to peel off the skin. Cutting it in half first makes it easier to hold onto while doing this.
In a big stew pot, heat the olive oil over medium high heat. Toss in your onion, garlic, red pepper, and the finely chopped carrot into the pan. You can see in this picture, that my finely chop, is much closer to some peoples rough chop…and that’s just fine. Cause guess what? It’s a veggie stew!
Add all your spices now too. Stir it all around and sautee the spices and veggies. Some delicious aromas will be starting to fill your kitchen.
When the onions start to look golden and delicious, toss in your mushrooms and continue to cook for 2-3 minutes. When the mushrooms have cooked a bit, if you have white wine or white vermouth, deglaze the pan by splashing a in couple gluts, and using your spoon to scrape up any brown bits on the bottom of the pan. Otherwise, you can do this with a bit of broth.
Now dump in the remaining veggies, the crushed tomatoes or about a cup of tomato sauce and all your broth. Bring the soup to a boil, then lower to a simmer and let it cook for about 18 minutes, giving it a stir every now and then. After 18 minutes poke the veggies with a fork, they should be mostly cooked. Add your peas now.
Whisk up about 1-2 tablespoons of cornstarch in a bit of water. Then stir that into the soup. Why do this separately first? If you dump the cornstarch into the soup it will tend to clump and be hard to incorporate. So even though it seems annoying, whisk it with the water in a separate bowl first. Let the soup cook for about 2 minutes, and check to see how thick it is. If you want it thicker still repeat the cornstarch step, testing again after about 2 minutes of cooking.
Now make your dumpling by whisking the flour, baking powder, salt and pepper together.
Then whisk in the Almond milk and canola oil. Lumps are totally cool. Just don’t over whisk this batter.
Use a spoon (I used a tablespoon) to drop the batter onto the surface of the stew. Don’t worry about being neat or tidy, just blob it in wherever there seems to be room. Don’t stir it! Now cover the pot, and let simmer for 15 minutes with the lid on. No peeking! The steam from the stew will cook the dumplings.
After 15 minutes has passed, remove the lid to reveal magic! Look at those glorious dumplings! Are you drooling yet?
Serve it up and enjoy! Hello autumn deliciousness!
Bon Appetegan!
Made this for dinner tonight! Delish! Only problem was cutting up that acorn squash. Yikes. I did par-cook it in the microwave to get the peel off of it a little easier. Next time I make this I would probably cut the squash in half, then bake it fully and use a melon ball scoop to add it to the stew. I absolutely love acorn squash and the flavor it adds to the stew, but cutting and peeling that thing nearly did me in. By the way, my hubby does NOT like acorn squash and I didn’t tell him there was any in the stew. He just filled up his bowl for the second time!!!! Score!
Hahah! Yeah, acorn squash can be finicky. Glad you and your husband loved it!
This was probably the BEST vegan stew recipe I have ever found. A few tweaks to our tastes and my husbands vegetarian tomato sauce and this instantly became my new go-to stew. No more searching. It’s the best. Thank you for sharing, I look forward to more of your recipes!
Yay! So very happy you loved it so much Roxanne 🙂
Hi, I loved the stew. It was so delicious! I had a problem with the dumplings though. They were chewy and tasted a lot like flour 🙁 do you have any idea what went wrong? I followed the directions, but i’m still new to cooking, so….
thanks for the recipe!
Hmm… it’s possible your baking powder may have been a bit old. The baking powder causes the bubbles in the dumplings which would make them fluffier (and not so chewy). If that’s not the case then it’s difficult to know without being in the kitchen with you. Hopefully that helps a little. So happy you loved the stew 😀
I’m afraid of mushrooms. They totally freak me out . . . can I make this without out those scary little guys in there?
Haha! Absolutely! The stew should still be super yummy 🙂
Phew, sweet! I can’t wait to make this stew!
I’m no big fan of mushrooms either, but I used about 1/2 of what the recipe called for and chopped them up pretty small in the food processor. With all the other veggies, you’ll barely notice them. Trust me, if I see a mushroom, I pluck it out of whatever I’m eating. Also be sure to only use fresh mushrooms. Those canned ones are way too slimy.
OMG this is so yummy. I’ve made it twice now, and I have to say, for me and my sweetheart we definitely get more than 6 servings out of it. FYI, squash season being pretty much over, I used yam instead, and it was really good.
Yay! So happy you enjoyed it Eve 🙂
Hi Sam!
I have a cold coming on so I’m looking forward to making this for dinner tonight. I was going to make your Tuscan White Bean soup (I think that’s what it was called, regardless – it’s a favorite in our house) but then I saw this and figured I give something new a try!
How much crushed tomato/sauce do you think should be used? The recipes just says “a small can” so I assumed maybe about 8oz? I’m sure I’ll figure it out but you’re usually so quick about replying I thought I’d ask and see what you recommend.
Thanks!
Yes I think an 8oz can is perfect. I hope you feel better soon Laura. Enjoy the soup!
I really like the sound of this and as much as I want to try it , your Web page is nearly unusable. A huge ad in between every few lines if ingredients then MORE of them jammed into the rest of the recipe makes this nearly unusable for a beginning cook. Just too hard to follow. Thanks anyway.
Oh no! That’s terrible. It shouldn’t be like that. Could you help me solve this problem? Are you using a phone/tablet, or a computer to view my site? Can you take a screenshot and email it to me? sam@itdoesnttastelikechicken.com
Thank you!
super yummy – thank you. I added some miso and marmite to deepen the favors.
Oh great idea! Glad you enjoyed it 🙂
I used the dumpling recipe (made it GF with King Arthur flour) with a soup I made and the dumplings were good, before they dissolved into the soup. I was disappointed, but the dissolved dumplings thickened up the soup and the flavor was good. I’m thinking it’s because of the GF flour. Still searching for a good GF and Dairy free dumpling recipe.
What a bummer! I have never tried this recipe with gluten free flour, and I suspect that it was the cause of the dissolving. I unfortunately, don’t know much about gluten free baking so I am not sure what to recommend. I hope you find a recipe that works for you!
This is the perfect stew! Will be great for wintertime
Thanks Nadine!
I love this ,so does my family. I need a bigger pot though!
Hahah! I know it goes quickly! Thanks for commenting Amber!
I just wondered how many people this recipe would serve? I’ve become Vegan for January and have joined with a group of 8 other like minded individuals in a cooking cooperative, where we each cook twice a month for everyone, and those meals are distributed every week. Making it much easier to get a variety of healthy vegan meals. I’d like to cook this on Sunday, but need it to feed 10 people (my girlfriend will want a portion too). Thank you, Bradley. x
Hi Bradley, welcome to my blog!
Good question. I think this would be about 4-6 servings depending if you plan on serving it with anything else. I would double it for sure. You will probably need two big pots so you have enough surface room for all the dumplings. I love this idea of a dinner swap! so much fun! Enjoy! Sam.
Excellent stew, Sam! I’m making this for my family on this cold weekend in Nebraska.
Thank you Jen! Yes, it is an awesome meal for a cold night! Really warms you up from the inside out. Enjoy!
Oh my, this looks amazing. My boyfriend loves stew so I will definitely be saving this recipe 🙂
Haha, thanks! Andrew also devoured the stew!