I love dumplings. I usually serve them as a tasty little extra on top of a stew, but this time I thought I'd make a few small adjustments to make these chickpea dumplings a meal in their own right.
The main difference was that I replaced most of the flour in the dumplings with chickpea flour. It has more than twice the amount of protein as regular flour, and fewer carbs, so it makes for a more nutrient-dense dumpling. If one small change can make my favourite dumplings into a real dinner, I'm here for it.
I also helped my chickpea dumplings be the star of the show by serving them in a simple sweet potato gravy, rather than with a more complex stew. It still contains plenty of veggies - sweet potato, onion, tomatoes, peppers - but without detracting from the dumplings themselves.
If you've never made dumplings before, rest assured that they're super easy. You'll need some vegetable suet, which is really easy to find in any big supermarket in the UK. I'm not sure how common it is elsewhere - if you can't find suet, I have heard of some recipes where grated butter is used instead, but I haven't tried this myself, so I can't vouch for its success. Let me know if you try it! But you're probably better off just buying some suet online if you can't find it in the shops (Amazon US*).
All you need to do is combine your suet with the chickpea flour and a bit of plain flour too, and add enough water to bring everything together into a sticky dough. You can add whatever flavourings you like - I used some fresh herbs. Dollop the mixture into your sauce, and let it bubble away until the dumplings are firm.
Just like all good dumplings, these chickpea dumplings are dense and doughy - such good comfort food. I know the word 'stodge' is sometimes used in a less than flattering way, but personally I love a bit of stodge, and these chickpea dumplings are definitely good stodge.
All that's left to do is serve up your chickpea dumplings - with some fresh veg to make the meal feel a little lighter - and your warming winter dinner is ready to go!
Chickpea dumplings in sweet potato gravy
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Print Pin CommentIngredients
For the sweet potato gravy:
- 1 tablespoon oil
- 1 onion, diced
- 1 medium sweet potato, peeled and cut into 1cm dice (~ 2 cups when diced)
- 1 bell pepper, diced (red, orange or yellow)
- 400 g tinned tomatoes (~ 1 ⅓ cups)
- 500 ml (~ 2 cups) vegetable stock
- Black pepper
- 1 tablespoon smoked paprika
- 2 teaspoon ground turmeric
- 1 teaspoon ground cumin
For the chickpea dumplings:
- 100 g (~ ½ cup) vegetable suet
- 150 g (~ 1 cup) chickpea flour (gram flour)
- 50 g (~ ¼ cup) plain flour
- Few sprigs fresh parsley, finely chopped
- Few sprigs fresh coriander (cilantro), finely chopped
- Salt
- Black pepper
- 175 ml (~ ⅔ cup) water
Instructions
- To make the sweet potato gravy, heat a dash of oil in a large, deep saucepan. Add the diced onion, sweet potato and pepper, and cook over a medium heat for a few minutes, until the onion is soft and translucent. Add the tin of chopped tomatoes, vegetable stock, and some black pepper, along with the spices. Bring to a simmer, and cook until the sweet potato is very soft - at least 20 minutes.
- When the vegetables are very soft, use a hand blender to blend the sauce until smooth. At this point, you can add a dash more water if needed, until the sauce reaches your desired consistency.
- To make the chickpea dumplings, combine the suet, chickpea flour and plain flour in a bowl, along with the chopped herbs and a generous pinch of salt and pepper. Add enough water to bring the mixture together into a sticky dough (stir with a spoon, as it will just stick to your hands) - I used about 175ml.
- Add the dumpling mixture to the sweet potato gravy in tablespoon-sized dollops - I ended up with 12 dumplings in total. Don't worry if they drop down into the gravy. Cover the pan, and cook gently for a further 15-20 minutes, until the dumplings are firm.
Nutritional information is approximate, and will depend on your exact ingredients. Please calculate your own nutritional values if you require accuracy for health reasons.
Note: Nutritional information is approximate, and will depend on exactly what ingredients you choose. Information above is for a serving of 3 dumplings.
Love dumplings? Try them on top of my vegetarian 'beef' stew:
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Jo E says
You can make dumplings with just SR flour and marg with a bit of salt, that's how I always make them.
Becca @ Easy Cheesy Vegetarian says
Yep, these are extra special dumplings ;)
Daniel Jeffs says
The dumplings were really dense and stodgy, I felt the dumpling recipe lacked a raising agent to give it a bit of lightness.
Alistair Beard says
Hi, great looking recipe. I’m always on the lookout for how to sneak extra protein into my cooking now my partner has (almost) gone vegan. I usually make dumplings using self-raising flour - as my Mum thought me - to make them light and fluffy. I always think stodgy need not be heavy. I’ll use SF flour instead of plain and try adding a small amount of baking powder to the gram flour in the dumpling mix and see how it works out.
Alistair Beard says
The use of Self Raising flour rather than Plain and 1 teaspoon of baking powder in the dumpling mix worked really well (if you like light and fluffy dumplings as we do).
Becca @ Easy Cheesy Vegetarian says
Thanks for the feedback, that's good to know! :)
Wilkins says
Thank you. It looks really amazing.This is a good gluten free alternative.
Keisha says
Making this right now! Hopefully turns out ayyright.
Becca @ Easy Cheesy Vegetarian says
Hope you enjoyed them!
Kat says
Such a tasty recipe! I added some quorn steak strips, extra stock and made dumplings with regular flour. I also didn’t blend the sauce so it was more of a stew, so a few changes but the flavour was all you and it tasted so good! We all went back to the pot for more!!
Becca @ Easy Cheesy Vegetarian says
Awesome! Thanks for the lovely comment Kat :)
Si says
Tried with 100% gram flour and a half tsp baking powder. This is a good alternative gluten free - dumpling. Long live a bowl of stew. Thanks for this thread!
Becca @ Amuse Your Bouche says
You're welcome! :)
Stephanie Bawden says
Used gram flour instead of chickpea & dumplings definitely stodgy. Would try with self raising flour next time. Sauce was top notch 👍
Becca @ Amuse Your Bouche says
Thanks Stephanie! Yes a bit stodgy but I like a bit of stodge hehe
Emma says
They look so good. I love that they make the plate look so beautiful as well.
Carla Patterson says
Wow, it looks really amazing. Thanks a lot for sharing this recipe with us - I will make sure to prepare it over the weekend. I hope, that my cooking skills will allow me to succeed :P