Vegan Beef Stew and Dumplings
Beef stew has many variations from around the world but one that sticks out to me is the kind I had every Wednesday evening as a child visiting my great grans house- a British/Irish style beef stew.
I’m sure for many of us beef stew was a childhood classic and that nostalgic flavor is something I thought I’d have to miss out on when I went vegan 7 years ago but actually this recipe nails the richness and flavor without any of the animal products.
The secret to a good stew is cooking for a long time to develop that richness and savory flavour and of course- a good dumpling just finishes off the dish.
It does take some time but it is mostly hands off so it’s a really easy dish to make and only one pot is needed too so minimal washing up also.
So if you’re keen to taste the nostalgic flavour and eat a meal that is a hug in a bowl this winter give this one a go.
Ingredients for vegan beef stew-
- Soy chunks – Soy chunks are a great meat alternative that are cheap and shelf stable. I love them in this stew as they hold up really well when being cooked for a long time- some other meat alternatives will disintegrate under long cooking times. You can omit if you just prefer a vegetable stew.
- Turnip – Or swede.
- Carrot
- Onion – Yellow or white onion
- Garlic – Fresh, jarred or powder.
- Tomato paste – Tomato puree.
- Gravy granules – British gravy granules are best but any vegan gravy powder will work.
- Balsamic vinegar – Or red wine.
- Mushroom seasoning – Essential for savory umami beef like flavour. Use blended up dried mushrooms if you cant find mushroom seasoning.
- Seasonings – Herbs are great to bring together the flavor. Dried mixed herbs will also work.
- Suet – Suet is similar to vegetable shortening. I use the British brand ‘Atora’. This is to make the dumplings light and fluffy. If using shortening grate it into a small bowl of flour to coat the strands before adding to dumpling mix.
How to cook soy chunks
Soy chunks perform the best when boiled in a flavourful broth. They become less spongy and soak up more flavor the longer you boil them so they work perfectly in this slow cooked stew.
Some more winter warmers
Crock pot stew
This stew is ideal as a winter crockpot meal, just follow the same method but leave the stew to cook on high for 4 hours or low for 8 hours then add the cornstarch slurry, mix well and add the dumplings and cook on high for a further 30 minutes.
Using suet in dumplings
What is suet?
Suet is used in dumplings as it has a higher melting point than butter so the dumpling dough sets around the suet strands before they melt making little air pockets in the dumplings making them light and fluffy. Then the melted suet adds moisture throughout the dumpling to ensure its not dry and hard.
Suet alternative-
If you cannot find suet you can use cold vegetable shortening, grate it into a small bowl of flour to coat the strands to make sure they don’t stick together. This will mimic the strands of suet throughout the dumpling mix and act in the same way.
How to make vegan beef stew
- Dice the veggies
- Add everything for the stew into a pot
- Add the water
- Mix together suet, flour salt and water
- Roll into balls
- Leave in the fridge until needed
- Remove lid from the pot
- Add in the dumplings
- Cook for 20 minutes with the lid on and the stew is finished
Vegan beef stew
Ingredients
For the stew-
- 80 g Dried Soy chunks
- 1 Turnip
- 4 Carrots
- 1 Large Onion
- 2 Cloves Garlic
- 2 tbsp Tomato paste
- 2 tbsp Gravy granules
- 2 tbsp Balsamic vinegar
- 1 tbsp Soy sauce
- 1 tbsp Mushroom seasoning
- 1 tsp Onion powder
- 1 tsp Rosemary
- 1 tsp Thyme
- 1 tsp Black pepper
- 1 tbsp Cornstarch
For the dumplings-
- 200 g Self raising flour
- 120 g Suet
- 130 ml Ice water
- 1 tsp salt
Instructions
- Put the suet in the fridge.
- Peel and dice all of the vegetables and grate the garlic.
- Add everything (but not the dumpling ingredients or the cornstarch) into a big pot with a lid. Add 1.5 L of water and stir well.
- Bring the mix to a boil and then put the lid on and turn down to the lowest heat leave to simmer for 1 hour.
- After the hour stir the stew and turn up to medium heat.
- To make the dumplings mix all of the ingredients together until they form a dough then roll out 10 even sized dumplings.
- Add the cornstarch to a small bowl and add 2 tbsp of water and mix well.
- Add this to the stew and stir continuously until thickened.
- Now add the dumplings and put the lid on. Leave to cook for 20 more minutes and the stew is ready to serve.
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