Vegan Potato Dumplings with Mushroom Ragout and Red Cabbage
Apparentlydon’tre are people out there who don’t like potatoes – well, let’s not start a discussion now. But even these (crazy) people love this potato dish: potato dumplings. And please don’t destroy my world and tell me it would be different. I mean, what’s there not to love about potato dumplings? They are like fluffy potato cushions that look like a comfy starchy bed.
In Germany, these beloved dumplings are not cooked every day but enjoyed on special occasions. In my family, we’ve been eating potato dumplings on Christmas since forever. And since I’m vegan, my Christmas dinner consists of potato dumplings, vegan goulash, and red cabbage. Regarding the goulash, I welcome change from year to year and love seitan goulash, soy goulash, or (as cooked today) mushroom goulash. As you spend quite some time in the kitchen to prepare homemade potato dumplings and vegan goulash, we took a short cut for the red cabbage. If you want to go all the way, you could also prepare the cabbage yourself – here’s our recipe for it.
My family has this old family recipe for potato dumplings, in which everyone has a specific task. After a year-long training from my grandmother during my childhood, I am busy at the end of the dumpling production and in charge of filling and rolling them. Yes, it sounds a bit silly and not too important first, but if you’d know how my grandma can roll perfectly round dumplings, you’d be amazed. And that is exactly my goal! Although we’ll not publish our family recipe today, it’s still based on it as we fill the potato dumplings with some crispy diced bread.
Vegan Potato Dumplings with Mushroom Ragout and Red Cabbage
Ingredients
- 800 g (1.75 pounds) waxy potatoes
- 100 g (0.75 cups) potato starch
- 50 g (0.5 cups) flour
- 50 g (0.5 stick) softened vegan butter
- 2 slices white bread
- salt
- pepper
- nutmeg
For the mushroom ragout:
- 50 g (2 oz) dried porcini (soaked in hot water for at least 30 minutes)
- 700 ml (3 cups) hot water
- 4 carrots
- 250 g (9 oz) fresh mushrooms
- 10 g (0.33 oz) fresh thyme
- 250 ml (1 cup) vegan red wine
- 2 onions
- 2 garlic cloves
- 6 tbsp tomato paste
- 3 tbsp mustard
- 2 tbsp soy sauce
- 300 ml (1.25 cups) vegetable broth
- vegetable oil for frying
- salt
- pepper
For the red cabbage:
- 1 onion
- 1 apple
- 1 jar pre-cooked red cabbage
- vegetable oil for frying
- salt
- pepper
Instructions
Before you start this recipe, soak dried porcini in hot water for at least 30 minutes and set aside. Clean and chop fresh mushrooms and carrots. Peel and finely dice onions and garlic. Pluck thyme leaves from the stems and finely chop them. As soon as the dried porcini are softened, drain them but reserve the broth. Then chop the porcini.
Cut the white bread in smaller dices. Heat vegan butter or vegetable oil in a frying pan and fry the bread until crispy and golden brown. If you prefer to use an oven for this, transfer the diced bread on a baking sheet, drizzle with olive oil, and bake at 180°C/355°F until golden brown. And if you want to save time at this point, use a toaster to crisp the bread and cut it into smaller dices afterward.
Add unpeeled potatoes to a pot, cover with cold water, and season with salt. Bring to a boil, then simmer over medium heat for approx. 20 minutes, or until the potatoes are done. Drain and let them steam to cool down a bit.
Once the potatoes are boiling, heat oil in a frying pan over medium-low heat. Add onions and fry until translucent. Then add chopped carrots, fresh and soaked mushrooms, garlic, and thyme. Stir to combine and fry for approx. 10 minutes.
Add tomato paste, mustard, and soy sauce to the vegetables and keep frying for approx. 3 minutes. Deglaze with red wine and let simmer for approx. 5 minutes. Now add the mushroom broth and vegetable broth and season generously with salt and pepper. Let the ragout simmer until the potato dumplings are done, and make sure to season to taste right before serving.
The potatoes should be boiled and cooled down by now. Peel and mash them until the texture is really smooth. There shouldn’t be any bigger chunks in it. Add potato starch, flour, and softened vegan butter. Season with salt and pepper and knead the mixture into a smooth dough.
Divide the dough into 8 same-sized pieces. One by one, take a portion of the dough into one hand and press it into a disk. Add some of the crispy bread pieces in the middle, then fold the dough around it and form the dough into a nice round ball – here’s your potato dumpling! Repeat with the remaining dough.
Bring a pot of salted water to a simmer (it shouldn’t boil). Add the potato dumplings and let them simmer for approx. 20 minutes. They will float on the water surface. After 20 minutes, you can remove one potato dumpling from the pot, cut off a smaller piece, and try if it’s done.
While the potato dumplings are boiling, we’ll prepare the red cabbage. Last but not least! We’re using jarred red cabbage for this to save some time, but of course, you could also prepare cooked red cabbage from scratch with our recipe. Peel and finely chop the onion. Cut the apple into smaller dices. Heat vegetable oil in a pot and fry onion and apple for approx. 3 minutes, or until the onion is translucent. Add jarred red cabbage and season with salt and pepper (you could also add a bay leaf or cloves). Add a splash of water to the pot, cover with a lit and let the red cabbage simmer over medium-low heat until the potato dumplings are done.
Remove potato dumplings from the pot, let drain, and serve them with mushroom ragout and red cabbage.
