Soup. No joke (although people make jokes about me), is eaten in my house, at lunch and sometime even at dinner. Every. Single. Day. There is just no going wrong with a big pot or veggies, spices, sometimes beans, sometime not. I make it in big batches, in small batches. Sometimes it’s more a bisque, or a chili or a stew, or just a really really spicy broth. Whatever I have in the fridge or freezer, the stuff that might not be great eaten fresh, sad spinach…. It all turns in soup.
Does that make me some kind of weird soup freak? Maybe, but I am ok with that. And to those who see me walking down the street and yell silly things about me having to get home to eat my soup (it happens more then you know) well, you know you are just jealous and secretly wish you were eating soup with my too. So 😝.
Are you a soup person too? I mean, who isn’t, especially right now that is is fall time and it’s getting chilly and darker out and all we want to do is hibernate. Definitely a soup time if there was ever a specific time for soup. And this soup, made even more hardy and comforting with the addition on dumplings. I actually made it specifically for the mr because, well just because I love him and thought he would enjoy it. And well, he loved it because dumplings of course. Light and slightly chewy, soup thickening dumplings with hot and comforting soup. A perfect end to a day of him working outside in the cold.
So soup. Make it. Dumplings. Add those too. You will be a winner with food, and in life.
To the soup and dumplings!
The stuff. A few stalks of Swiss chard, a couple carrots and a few potatoes. An onion, dried navy beans, some cherry tomatoes. Then there is flour, with salt and baking powder, a little oil, plant based milk, and salt and pepper.
Veggie chopping time. Dice the potatoes, the onion, the carrots, and the stalks of the chard into small mouth sized pieces. Cut the cherry tomatoes in half and the chard leaves into small ribbons. Set the tomatoes and greens aside.
Dump the carrots, onion, chard stalks, and potatoes into a very large pot, add all the spices, a good pinch of salt, lots of black pepper, and a few splashed of water. Cook on medium high heat for 5-7 minutes to just kind of sweat the veggies a bit.
Add in beans and water. Bring pot to a boil then reduce heat to medium and let cook for about an hour. Just give it a stir once in a while.
After an hour check the beans. If they seem close to being done (almost squish in between fingers), then add in the tomatoes, the chard greens, and a few more cup of water. Keep on heat and start the dumpling batter.
Dumpling batter. Mix together the dry ingredients then add in the wet. Mix until combined.
Soup. All nice and looking just about done. The vegges are soft and tender, the beans are cooked. Check and season for salt now then get ready to drop dumplings.
Drop the dumplings. Tablespoons of batter go right into the soup. Thencook, with a lid slightly covering pot, for about 15 minutes.
Look at that. Soup with soft, fluffy, dumpling ready for consumption.
Now all you have to do it serve it up and eat it up.
Soup all day. Every day. Dumplings too!
-C
Vegetable Dumpling Soup
makes 4-6 servings
For the soup
1/2 cup dried small white beans
1 large onion
2 carrots
2 small red potatoes
3 Swiss chard leaves and stalks
handful of cherry tomatoes (about a cup or so)
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon dill
1 teaspoon thyme
1 teaspoon ginger
1 teaspoon marjoram
1 teaspoon ground mustard
1/2 teaspoon sage
1/2 red pepper flakes
12 cups water
salt and pepper to taste
For dumplings
1 cup all purpose flour
1 tablespoons oil
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon black pepper
1/2 cup warm water or plant based milk
Couple quick notes. I use water but if you really want, use veggie stalk. I find stalk overpowers soup and makes it taste salty, even when it is low sodium. Plus water is there and free but again, use stalk if you want. Also, you can use just about any veggie that you like so if you want to replace chard with celery and spinach or throw some red peppers into the soup, go for it.
Start by small dicing the potatoes, the onion, the carrots, and the stalks of the chard. Dump it all into a large pot, along with all the spices and a good pinch of salt and pepper, and place on the stove on medium high heat with about 1/2 cup water and cook for a few minutes. Cut the cherry tomatoes in half and cut the chard leaves into small ribbons. Set aside.
Once the veggies and spices have had a few minutes on the stove, add in the dried beans and 10 cups of water. Bring the pot to a boil then reduce to a medium heat. Cook for about an hour, giving it a stir once in a while. After an hour, check beans for doneness but removing one or two and pinching between fingers. . They should be close to done by now. If they are still really heard, cook for another 20 minutes, if almost cooked through, toss in the tomatoes, the chard greens and the other 2 cups of water. Keep cooking.
In the meantime, make dumpling dough. Mix the dry together then add in the oil and milk. Mix until just combined. Set aside.
Once the soup is done (the veggies are all soft and tender, the beans are cooked through which should take a total of 1 1/2 hours), it’s time to dumpling. Turn the soup up to a medium high heat and carefully drop tablespoons of the dumpling batter right into the soup. The batter will float. Once all the dumplings are in, half cover the pot and let the dumpling cook for 15 minutes or until the dumplings are big, light. and fluffy.
Remove pot from heat and serve and eat right away. Big bowls, Big spoons. Pinch more of salt if needed. Lots of pepper.