Sauce’s delicious dumpling soup
Soup is notoriously underrated. But for many, soup - homemade soup - is a representation of warmth, of home. Personally, I love everything about it.
A good soup needs good ingredients, but no matter the quality of what goes into it, the goodness of the soup is determined by the love and time that goes into making it.
And maybe the notion of “good soup” makes for a deeper metaphor about, well, life.
You need good ingredients - friends, family, work, possessions, hobbies - but no matter how good the ingredients, you need to put love and time into turning it into a good soup.
I quite like that analogy, especially in lockdown. It’s more important than ever that we find perspective and prioritise keeping a clear and happy mind. In uncertain times, find your sense of balance by doing the things, and connecting with the people, that bring you calm, gratitude and joy. Pay attention to each of the ingredients and the part that they play in your life, mix the best of them together and let it simmer away.
My happy place when locked down? It’s cooking (and eating!) delicious, nourishing food. On this particular night, it was mushroom dumplings in a flavoursome broth - or soup, if you will.
If you’re feeling a little glum after this week’s thunderstorms and level 4 extensions, I got you.
Makes 2 serves / 14 dumplings
What you’ll need:
For the dumplings:
1 cup of mushrooms (any variety, or a mix of many!)
1 tbsp sesame oil
1 shallot
1 clove of garlic
A knob of ginger
1 cup of spinach
1 tbsp soy sauce / tamari
Dumpling wrappers
For the broth:
5-6 cups of vegetable broth
Spring onion
Red chilli
More ginger
To garnish:
2 bunches of bok choy
A handful of coriander
A sprinkle of sesame seeds (toasted, if you prefer)
Spring onion
Your favourite chilli oil
Method
For the dumplings:
To start, finely chop the mushrooms and shallot. Grate the ginger, mince the garlic and roughly chop the spinach.
Pour the sesame oil into a pan and when hot, add the shallot and garlic.
When the shallot and garlic are translucent and fragrant, add the mushrooms and ginger to the pan. Cook until the mushrooms are golden and caramelised.
Finally, add the spinach and soy sauce. Cook until the spinach has wilted and everything smells delicious.
Set the mixture aside to cool.
For the broth:
Pop the stock in a pot on the stove and let it simmer away.
Add roughly sliced spring onion, chilli and ginger for more flavour. You can alter this as it simmers, to suit your taste.
Assemble your dumplings:
Fill each dumpling wrapper with about one teaspoon of mixture. Wet the outside rim of the wrapper with water. Fold the wrapper in half over the filling mixture, and gently press the sides of the dumpling wrapper to seal it closed. Ensure there are no openings - we don’t want water in our dumplings! This recipe makes about 12-14 dumplings.
The final steps:
Put a pot of boiling water on for the dumplings.
Prepare your garnishes. On this occasion, we rinsed and halved two small bunches of bok choy, chopped a handful of coriander, toasted sesame seeds and finely sliced some spring onion.
Blanch the bok choy in your broth. At the same time, pop your dumplings in the boiling water. These take roughly the same time to cook - about 4 minutes, or until the dumplings float to the top of the water.
And serve!
Place your dumplings in two bowls, then gently layer on the bok choy.
Pour your broth over the dumplings and bok choy. I recommend straining the broth additions (spring onion, ginger and chilli) from the broth before doing so.
Add your garnishes to suit your taste. We’re currently loving @hitch.cook’s chilli oil, find the recipe over on his Instagram!
Serve your spicy, nourishing and warming broth with an ice cold beer, preferably on a rainy Friday night, and feel your worries wash away.
Words — Emily at Forking Yum
Image — Forking Yum
