Eating Better

Ingredients

For the broth

• vegetable oil, for frying
• 1 onion, peeled and diced
• 1 large carrot, peeled and grated
• 1/2 fennel, diced
• 2 celery sticks, thinly sliced  
• 1 beetroot, peeled and diced 
• 3–4 garlic cloves, finely chopped
• 1 tablespoon mixed dried herbs

For the dumpling dough

• 300g (101/2oz) plain (all-purpose) flour, plus extra for dusting
• 2 teaspoons dried dill
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 3 eggs
• 80g (23/4oz) water

For the dumpling filling

• 1 large potato (around 100g/31/2oz), peeled and cubed
• sunflower oil, for frying
• 1 onion, peeled and thinly sliced  
• 200g (7oz) mushrooms, finely diced
• 20g (3/4oz) butter
• salt and black pepper to season

Method

1. Start with the soup. In a large saucepan, heat the oil and fry all the vegetables, apart from the garlic, with a generous pinch of salt for 20 minutes, or until softened and slightly caramelised.
2. Add the garlic and dried herbs and cook for another 2 minutes.
3. Pour in 1.5l of water, add a generous pinch of salt, bring to a boil, then reduce the heat and let simmer for 15 minutes. When the time is up, take the pan off the heat and let the flavours infuse while you finish the rest.    
4. To make the dumpling dough, mix the flour, dill and salt in a large bowl. In a separate bowl, beat the eggs with the water and pour into the bowl with the dry ingredients. Start my mixing with the fork, then gradually work the mixture with your hands to form a dough. Knead the dough for 2 minutes, cover with clingfilm, and let it rest in the fridge while you prepare the filling.
5. Place the potato in a large saucepan with salted water and cook until soft.
6. Heat some oil in a frying pan and fry the onion with a pinch of salt for 15 minutes, or until caramelised.
7. Tip into a bowl. Add a little more oil to the same pan and fry the mushrooms for 10 minutes. Tip into the bowl with the onion.
8. When the potato is ready, drain well and mash with the butter using a fork. Then add the mashed potato to the bowl with the onion and mushrooms, and mix well.  It might seem like very little, but this is exactly how much you’ll need for the filling.
9. Dust a clean surface with some flour and work the dough for a few minutes to wake it up.
10. Next, roll it out into a large rectangle. We are aiming for as thin a sheet as you possibly can produce, around 3mm. 
11. Trim off the edges to make an even shape (reserve the dough in the clingfilm), then cut it into small squares. You will probably get 8-10 vertically and 16-18 horizontally.
12. Have two lightly damp dish towels ready. Cover the squares with one, and reserve the other for finished dumplings.
13. To shape the dumplings, pick up each square, fill it with 1/2 a teaspoon of the filling and fold it into a triangle shape, pinching all edges closed. Then fold the triangle in half and pinch the two bottom edges together to create a tortellini shape. Place under the other towel, while you finish the rest. Keep going till you run out of dough and filling. 
14. Bring a large saucepan of water to boil, and boil the dumplings for 5 minutes. Drain.
15. To serve, place around 3-6 dumplings into a soup bowl and top with a ladle of soup. Season with black pepper and tuck in while everything is steaming hot.

Download our PDF version of this recipe here.