Tuesday 12 April 2016

Mushroom Stew ft. Indigo Herbs* [VEGAN].

Here's a recipe for mushroom stew with some tasty chia dumplings. Perfect for a chilly spring evening and totally vegan too. Click to read more!

I love a good bit of comfort food. Anything that's warming and covered in gravy will usually do the trick, so this ticks both those boxes. Plus its totally vegan and veggie packed and I don't think you'd necessarily guess that it doesn't have meat in it because it tastes so rich and yummy.

So how do you get it to taste so rich and yummy I hear you cry? Well, there's a couple of things that help make vegan gravy taste scrumptious and one of them is the Indigo Herbs Organic Shiitake Mushroom Powder* (the other is soy sauce). Indigo Herbs very kindly sent me this, along with a few other goodies, to test out and it's honestly changed my cooking game. Mushrooms, as far as vegetables go, are pretty 'meaty'. So by adding a teaspoon of this concentrated, mushroomy goodness to your stew it makes for some serious flava, you know what I mean?

My General Life - Mushroom Stew 2 - Indigo Herbs - Vegan - Recipe

Now with this recipe, I've also added in some chia dumplings which I made using the Indigo Herbs Organic Chia Seed Protein Powder*. These took a little bit of experimenting to get right. I was trying to avoid having to use vegetable suet, because in my head I thought "no, vegetable suet is bad". But then I shook myself a little and thought well actually, no food is truly 'bad', it just has more nutritional value or less nutritional value. And aside from the suet, this meal is pretty low fat as it's just vegetables, so as I see it a bit of suet wont do any harm. I'm really conscious about having and promoting a positive attitude towards all foods because I believe everything is reasonable in moderation. 


My General Life - Mushroom Stew 2 - Indigo Herbs - Vegan - Recipe

Anyway, I could sit and ramble about food and stuff all day but that isn't going to get us closer to this recipe now is it? So, let's get to it.

Mushroom Stew with Chia Dumplings.
Serves 4 (or 2 with lunch leftovers)



WHAT YOU'LL NEED.

STEW:
♥ 1 tbsp oil (whatever type you fancy)
♥ 300g mushrooms (basically a whole packet, any kind), chopped
♥ 1 onion, chopped.
♥ 2-3 medium carrots, chopped
♥ A handful of spinach
♥ 1 tsp Indigo Herbs Organic Shiitake Mushroom Powder
♥ 1 heaped tbsp flour (plain or rice or gluten free)
♥ 750ml veg stock
♥ 1 tbsp dark soy sauce
♥ salt, pepper, herbs to flavour as you wish

DUMPLINGS:
♥ 50g vegetable suet
♥ 85g self raising flour 
♥ 15g Indigo Herbs Organic Chia Seed Protein Powder
♥ 1 tbsp chia seeds
♥ Approx 5tbsp cold water (give or take, please use your judgement)
♥ salt, pepper, herbs to flavour as you wish



N.B: In my quest to make the dumplings WITHOUT suet, I have tried to substitute the suet for coconut oil and also tried the no fat approach with just water and extra raising agents. These methods do work, however, makes for quite a dense dumpling (and one that tastes of coconuts if you use coconut oil, which for me was a bit weird!).

Here's a recipe for mushroom stew with some tasty chia dumplings. Perfect for a chilly spring evening and totally vegan too. Click to read more!

WHAT TO DO.

♥ Start by lightly frying the onion in the oil until slightly browned. Then add the mushrooms and fry lightly too.
♥ Add the Shiitake Mushroom Powder and flour to the plan and mix in with the onions and mushrooms, don't worry if it looks claggy, it's supposed to! 
♥ Gradually add the veg stock a little at a time, stirring as you go to prevent lumps. Once you've added all the stock bring it to a gentle boil, then add the soy sauce and chopped up carrots.
♥ To make the dumplings, add the dry ingredients to a bowl and then gradually add the water a tablespoon at a time. You should end up with a nice, soft dough that isn't too wet.
♥ Form the dough into 8 dumplings and add to the stew pan. Drop the heat down, cover with a lid and simmer gently for about 20 minutes.
♥ While you're waiting you could always whip together a side, I love roasted broccoli!
♥ Once you've simmered the stew for 20 minutes add in the spinach and wilt down.
♥ Serve and ENJOY!


*TOP TIP* 
If you find you want a thicker gravy or sauce you can mix 1tsp of cornflour with some cold water and add this to the gravy whilst stirring. It should help thicken it a little without adding a flour-y taste.


My General Life - Mushroom Stew 2 - Indigo Herbs - Vegan - Recipe

And there we have it. A hearty, tasty, vegan friendly stew that doesn't take 10 hours to slow cook and is packed with veggie goodness! 

Are you a fan of a good, hearty stew? Is this something you'd whip up? I'd love to hear your thoughts either in the comments below, or drop me a tweet @_hellojordan



*Indigo Herbs very kindly sent me some of their products to test out for recipes. As always, all thoughts are my own, honest opinions*

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Thank you so much for taking the time to read my posts and leave a comment, it's very much appreciated!!

Jordan xx