The other day was the beginning of our days off, of which now we only get two. I didn't want to work five days a week but all the kids went back to school and there are no employees available in the city.
I told Marc we needed to go to the park and get some sun. When I got up I could hear the pitter patter of the rain. It was dark and dreary outside. No park and no sun that day.
I felt exhausted anyway from work so I didn't even go for groceries which meant I would make use of the items in the fridge. Nothing exotic. I decided to go for a German inspired dinner which is not my usual choice. We prefer spicy aromatic foods. I didn't mind a more comforting food day for a change anyway.
Marc's German mother used to cook when she was able. She can't walk well anymore and she has a trickle of dementia.
When she made big dinners they would usually include something called frikadellen which is like a ground meat patty. She would always use pork and breadcrumbs they fry. We haven't had that for years since we stopped eating meat. I used to like them along with her dumplings. Last year she tried to make vegan bread dumplings for us. She dropped them in the water and they broke up. She didn't understand why, when she had made vegan ones before that worked.
It was a perfect lazy day to experiment with making these myself. I wasn't really hopeful that they would stay together without the usual eggs in them. I happened to have a whole baguette that was days old and not eaten. It was too hard at this point so this is why I thought of making bread dumplings for the first time. I have never made any European style dumpling before but I have eaten them a few times in my life.
When I would visit my relatives on my father's side, my aunt would make a dumpling soup which I always loved. Marc's mother boils the dumplings then serves them without the broth. I felt like a soup more like the one my aunt made.
I cut the baguette into cubes.
I made a mix for the bread with 1 chopped onion, 2 vegan eggs (made from a powder),1/2 cup chopped parsley, 1 cup of potato starch, pepper, paprika and soy milk.
I added more soy milk after the mixture was cooked. I didn't measure anything. This was an experiment.
After frying the onions I added the rest of the ingredients. I added more milk to make it more liquid.
I added it to the bread and mixed. It seemed quite dry so I added a little more milk then let it soak for a while to soften up.
I managed to squeeze it into balls then put them in the fridge while I boiled some veggie broth that I had made earlier.
The veggie broth was made from onion, garlic, carrot, celery, bay leaf, peppercorns and salt. I simply browned those items then covered with water. After bringing to a boil I simmered for around 45 minutes and strain. I just toss the cooked items.
I was very nervous that the dumplings would fall apart. The moment of truth arrived when I dropped them in. They stayed in form! I was really excited.
I had added extra chopped carrots and celery to the broth.
When that was done I attempted the plant based frikadellen. Since it would be plant based rather than the traditional pork, I chose tofu but I think it could be made with anything that could form a patty.
Frikadellen is usually made from minced pork, I minced the tofu in a blender. After I added paprika, black pepper, garlic powder, some potato starch and corn starch and a couple of vegan eggs. I sprinkled a good amount of salt since tofu is bland.
I shredded a carrot and added that along with chopped green onion.
After I added the starches I decided to add a little vegan cream to moisten the mixture so I could form it. Tofu is not very sticky on it's own. I suppose if I used softer tofu it would have been stickier.
After I formed them into patties I put them in the freezer for a while to make it easier to coat in bread crumbs.
After a while in the freezer they firm up enough to coat in the bread crumbs.
I fried them in oil until they were nice and brown.
For a side dish I made a typical item that is found on a German table. Red cabbage.
I cooked it with red onion, then added salt, cider vinegar and red wine vinegar. I added some sweetener and tasted until I got a sour and slightly sweet taste.
I also made pickles by slicing English cucumbers and adding a boiled mixture of cider vinegar, pickling salt, a couple of whole cloves, mustard seeds, coriander seeds and bay leaves. I put it in a jar and cooled in the fridge.
After starting with a bowl of bread dumpling soup, I could not eat anymore.
I always say that I wish I had two stomachs. I was really please with the dumplings and went down memory lane to a time when my aunt made me special soup.
Marc ate almost everything and fortunately he left me a little for the next day.
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