Spelt Dumplings with Nettle and Green Miso Broth

Plant-based author Cherie is in the kitchen today and we're going to be making beautiful dumplings using a very interesting ingredient, nettles. Have you ever used these? I have and I love to use them. They scare me slightly because they do sting if you don't prepare them properly. The name gives it away doesn't it? So the good thing about nettles is you, I know there is that that fear around nettles because they do have that protein that um that does give you a little sting but that completely breaks down when you blanch them. So that's what we're going to do and then uh then we'll prepare them as the filling for our little dumpling dough but we should make the dough first. Okay, what flour are we using? Of course I've gone with spelt because it's my best friend when it comes to flour. So we're just getting some extra nutritional goodness in there where we can uh and I like the texture of spelt as well. So this is like a basic pasta dough that's what it is but because it's plant-based there's no eggs in it and a lot of people say to me how do you do a fresh pasta dough or a dumpling dough without eggs and the answer is you just don't put them in there that's that's the simple answer. In Italy they have a pasta that's made with plain flour and water, pici, which is a stunning pasta it really is great. Yeah that's a really good point actually I forgot about that. So some salt and then give a little glug of olive oil just so we can get that silkiness going on. Okay. Beautiful and then like you would with any other dough we're just going to blitz that adding increments of water until it all comes together. Okay. Okay so while you're doing that I'm going to blanch these. Pot of boiling water and it's as simple as popping them in. All right that looks good. Looks good doesn't it lovely lovely dough and shall I give it just a very quick knead? Give it a little knead and then we can just let that rest while we get this filling sorted. Okay. So these have been blanched all the sting is gone I can promise you. They're safe to eat and they smell beautiful. Okay so I think I've managed to scoop all of those little guys out there so we're just going to kind of squeeze some of the water out of these because that's our filling for the for the dumplings so I think we've done a good job there and you won't believe how easy this is. We are going to just give this a quick chop. Okay. And then we're going to add the secret ingredients and some stock that it's in my book and it's a different approach to stock because it's a whole stock paste so. Right. That's it that's the filling. So tell us what's in this magical stock paste that you've got here. It's pretty good it actually changes the way you cook. If anyone is familiar with the traditional Italian sofrito that you would put into the bottom of a pan to give that foundational flavor that's what I base this on. So everything that you would put in your veggie stock if you're making a liquid stock don't put the water in there just blitz it in a blender with all of your herbs. So you've got onion and garlic and all the veggies and the herbs but you've got a whole food version of it. Can I have a look at that have a little taste. So it's got salt in it as well. Completely raw. Completely raw. So then if you want to put this into the bottom of a pan you can add your pasta or risotto or do anything like that. You can also add liquid to it and then turn it into a liquid stock if you want to do that. But you know how I feel about fiber. Me and fiber we're very good friends. So any way that I can introduce a whole food I'll do it and I just think this is a brilliant way to do that but it changes the way you cook. I love it. It's very salty and it's supposed to be like that because it's a stock paste so you'll add some and then it'll just flavor everything. It's the seasoning to it. Beautiful umami flavor to think that that's just vegetables and some herbs. Yeah. Love it. Yeah so you don't need to use a lot of it but you've got a much deeper flavor. I think a lot of times when people say they don't like plant-based food they're maybe not getting what I would call layers of flavor into the food. So this is just a really easy way to do that. Fantastic and that's our filling pretty much done. All we need to do is wait for that to rest a little longer we can start rolling the dough out. Yeah and we're going to do that in a pasta machine so it's going to make our life very easy. Ah that's what I like to hear. Well that was very therapeutic watching you roll out that dough. It's like a little meditation isn't it? It is and it's such a soft dough too really lovely. First spell right? It's not what you expect. Yep. All right so we're going to make our dumplings. This is a handy little thing if you've got a cookie cutter that is about this size it's about eight centimeters in diameter you can make them any size you want. We're going to cut out some of our little circles and then we will just simply put our filling in there. You know how to do dumplings? Oh I do. If you've got the crimping technique down you're probably going to teach me. Well I must say I love making dumplings at home and they're not perfect but they still taste delicious. I think there's a fear of making dumplings at home because you want them to look like the ones you get at the restaurant or you buy at the shops but I think the ones that look a little bit gnarly fine absolutely fine. I've got the let out claws now. I agree they're not to be scared of and if we're talking about meditative processes in the kitchen this is one of them. It's a really nice process. So how much filling? Are you happy with that? Yep that's good. Okay right and show us show us the first one and I'm going to do one too. Okay so I usually pull this excess out the way and you can roll this again and make more dumplings out of that dough so don't don't get rid of that. It's a really nice soft dough. Or keep it and roll it out again and make pasta out of it. It's exactly a pasta dough so why not. All right now I just pull them both up to the middle first and then you've got a little crimpy go lightly that happens here. All right let me try. So folding in half. Yep. Half moon shape and then crimping. You're crimping just on one side so that's what helps to pull it around into that little half moon shape. Oh my god yours is restaurant quality. Is it? Mine doesn't look as good as yours. Mine looks like a bit of an empanada. Oh I love empanadas. Look at that. Not so good. No that's gorgeous. Oh I like that technique as well. I don't know this one. Okay I always think about these as like little handbags for Barbies. Cute. Well yours are much better than mine. Come on. All right do you want to make the miso paste? So we're going to make a paste first and then we're going to make that into a broth by simply adding water but this is one of my favorite things. Yes. Of course it's in a book and it's like a supercharged miso I suppose. Love it. So whatever miso you love and then add fresh herbs and don't be afraid of using really pungent herbs. So we've got coriander and rosemary and loads of ginger. Yep. You blitz that up and then you can keep this in the fridge for months. Dumplings and miso sound fantastic. It is so cute. Let's steam them up. Okay. Have you ever mugged around with cabbage leaves in the bottom of the steamer? No. This is a kind of a cute farmy idea. So great. When you get those outer leaves on your cabbage and you don't know what to do with them except give them to your chooks, you can line the bottom of your steamer and it'll help stop the dumplings from sticking because once you've gone to the effort of making dumplings you don't want them sticking to your steamer. That would be a disaster. So this is just a gorgeous way of dealing with that problem. A genius idea. So using baking paper you can use your leftover cabbage. Done. How long are we going to steam them for? I'm going to give those about eight minutes. Great. Well that smells incredible. It's such a good thing isn't it? Yeah I'll be making that again. When you have that in your fridge you're never short of lunch. Yes. Because you can just use that as a base and not add anything or put other stuff in it. Absolutely. And that's what we're going to do. So it's as simple as for the base of the dumplings taking a little spoonful of that, well it's a decent spoonful actually, and then we'll add some boiling water. Now with miso a little tip is you don't want your water really really boiling because it kills the probiotic aspect of the miso. So just let it come off the boil and then add water. And then we'll give this a little mixy. Yum. Yeah and look at all the floaty herbs in there. It's the perfect base isn't it? Even just a bit of tofu in there would be fantastic. Some seaweed. Speaking my language. You are speaking my language. But I also see making myself a pumpkin soup and adding a dollop of that. It's great for that, it's great for that. Rub it all over, you know a cauliflower and roast that. Like use it as a marinade. Yeah it's brilliant. So many options. How are our little dumplings going over here? Looks great. They look good don't they? They really look good. Do you have a choice madam? Not mine, your perfect ones. Oh look at them. So beautiful. I mean and the dumplings as is with a bit of tamari or some chilli oil, absolutely delicious. But this really makes it into a special meal when they're just sitting in that broth there. Just a real lovely winter warmer. Pea tendrils because we're feeling a little bit sheppy. Yeah. And because they're in the garden if you are lucky enough to have a little garden. Look at that. You feel nourished just looking at it don't you? You really do and it almost looks creamy because of that miso that you've added. Grab your spoon. Okay. Let's do this. Are we going to be polite and cut them? Yeah. I wanted to taste that broth first. Oh it's so good. The ginger. And it was really interesting that you added rosemary and coriander. Usually two herbs you wouldn't associate together. It's a slightly weird combination but the pungency of both of those herbs, that's what we want in the miso paste. But it's not overwhelming when you have it like this. Far from it. The spelt casings of the dumplings, stunning. They've got a bit of a chew to them. Yeah. Slightly nutty and then the nettles, the all-important nettles. Oh yeah we haven't even spoken about the nettles. Those little guys, they're fantastic. They actually take on a little bit of a creamy texture as well don't they? Yeah everything there works in harmony and it is like a soothing bowl of goodness. She's got it. You've got it. You really know what you're doing here. So good. Thank you very much.