Vegetable and Dumpling Casserole

Do you like vegetables? They are probably the best fresh foods you could possibly eat to boost your health. And what better way to eat them than this tasty dish crammed full of flavours, colours and different textures. Once you make this vegetable casserole you will be delighted just how nice a vegetable dish can taste, and it is sure to be a family favourite. The combinations are endless, you can see beans in this recipe, for example.

Are dumplings “bad” for your health because they include self raising flour? No, because you are including them in a dish crammed full of vegetables. Moderation in all your foods is the key to good health.

Ingredients

• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 large onion, chopped
• 2 cloves garlic
• 2 teaspoons sweet paprika
• 1 large potato, chopped
• 1 large carrot, chopped
• 400 g. can chopped tomatoes
• 1 ½ cups vegetable stock
• 400 gram kumara – orange sweet potato, cut into 1.5 cm cubes
• 150 g broccoli, cut into florets
• 2 zucchini, thickly sliced
• 1 cup self raising flour
• 20 grams chilled butter
• 2 teaspoons chopped fresh flat leafed parsley
• 1 teaspoon of thyme
• 1 teaspoon chopped fresh rosemary
• ½ cup (80 ml) milk
• 2 tablespoons sour cream

Method

• Heat the oil in a large saucepan and add the onion.
• Cook over low heat, stirring occasionally, for 5 minutes, or until soft.
• Add the garlic and paprika and cook, stirring, for 1 minute
• Add the potato, carrot, tomato and stock to the pan.
• Bring to the boil, and then reduce the heat and simmer, covered for 10 minutes.
• Add the kumara (Maori name for sweet potato), broccoli and zucchini, and simmer for 10 minutes, or until tender.
• Preheat the oven to moderately hot 200 deg. Celsius (400  deg. Fahr).

To Make Dumplings

• Sift the flour and a pinch of salt into a bowl and add the butter.
• Rub the butter into the flour with your fingertips until it resembles fine breadcrumbs.
• Stir in the herbs and make a well in the centre.
• Add the milk, and mix with a flat-bladed knife, using  a cutting action, until the mixture comes together in beads.
• Gather up the dough and lift onto a lightly floured surface, then divide into eight portions.
• Shape each portion into a ball.

And Then…

Add the sour cream to the casserole.  Transfer to a 2 litre ovenproof dish and top with the dumplings.  Bake for 20 minutes or until the dumplings are golden and a skewer comes out clean when inserted into the centre.