Spelt Dumplings with Nettle and Green Miso Broth

Cook Time 1 hour 30 minutes

Servings 4

Ingredients

Dough

340g spelt flour

165-175g water

3g salt

15g olive oil

Filling

150g freshly picked nettles (or baby spinach)

30g homemade veggie stock paste (herbs, vegetables & salt)

Broth

75g green miso paste (white miso blended with fresh coriander, rosemary, ginger, olive oil)

Pea tendrils, if available

Pea flowers, if available 

Method

To make the dumpling dough, simply mix all the ingredients in a food processor until the dough comes together. Let it rest while you prepare the filling.

Bring a pot of water to a boil and blanch nettles on their stems for 1 minute. Drain in a colander and leave to cool while you roll out dumpling wrapper.

The easiest option for the dough is to use a pasta machine, working the dough to setting 5, or as thick as you would for fresh ravioli. If you don’t have a pasta machine, this can absolutely be done by hand, it will just take a bit longer.

Once the dough is rolled out, cut with a 6-8 cm cutter, or glass, into 12-16 uniform circles.

If the nettles are cool, roughly chop them and mix through the veggie stock paste to make the filling.

Place a heaped teaspoon of filling mixture in the centre of each round of dough and pull up the sides of each wrapper to seal the dumplings. Use your fingers to really press the dough together, using a folding method on one side of each dumpling to 'pleat' the dough and create the classic half moon shaped dumpling.

Bring a pot of water to boil and line the bamboo steamer with the fresh cabbage leaves. Make an air hole in the leaves with a chopstick. Place the dumplings into the steamer, making sure they don't touch each other, to prevent sticking. You may need to do 2 batches to cook all the dumplings.

Steam for 8-12 minutes.

While the dumplings are steaming, prepare the miso broth by placing 1 tablespoon of green miso paste in the base of each bowl and mixing with ¾ cup of boiling water.

Place 3-4 steamed dumplings in each bowl of hot miso broth and top with pea tendrils and flowers.