Linsen mit Tiroler Knödeln (vegan) (lentils with Tyrolean bread dumplings)
Units
Temperature
Servings
Ingredients
Lentils
- 250 g brown or green lentils rounded
- 150 g onion, finely chopped rounded
- 100 g carrot, peeled, diced rounded
- 30 ml neutral oil rounded
- 15 ml red wine vinegar rounded
- 900 ml vegetable broth rounded
- 1 bay leaf rounded
- to taste fine salt rounded
Bread dumplings
- 300 g stale bread rolls, torn into pieces rounded
- 250 ml warm oat milk rounded
- 100 g smoked tofu, finely diced rounded
- 100 g onion, finely chopped rounded
- 15 g neutral oil rounded
- 10 g ground flaxseed, mixed with 30 ml water, rested 5 minutes rounded
- 15 g flat-leaf parsley, chopped rounded
- 6 g fine salt rounded
Method
Method
- For the dumplings, combine the torn bread and warm oat milk in a bowl. Let soak 15 minutes, until the milk is absorbed.
- Heat the oil in a small pan and sweat the onion 4 minutes, until softened. Add the smoked tofu and cook a further 2 minutes.
- Stir the onion and tofu into the soaked bread with the flax egg, parsley and salt, mixing to an even, slightly sticky mass. Rest 5 minutes.
- Shape into 8 balls with wet hands.
- Heat the oil in a pot over medium heat. Sweat the onion and carrot for 5 minutes, until softened.
- Add the lentils, vinegar, broth and bay leaf. Bring to a simmer and cook 25 minutes, until the lentils are tender but still holding their shape.
- Meanwhile, bring a separate large pot of well-salted water to a bare simmer. Lower the dumplings in gently and poach 18 minutes, uncovered, until they float and feel firm when pressed.
- Fish the bay leaf out of the lentils. Season with salt. Serve the lentils in bowls with the dumplings alongside.
Notes
- Let the bread soak fully before shaping the dumplings. A dry pocket in the middle of the bread mixture crumbles apart in the poaching water.
- Poach the dumplings at a bare simmer, never a rolling boil. A hard boil knocks them apart; gentle, barely-moving water holds them together.
- Smoked tofu, finely diced, gives a genuine smoky, savoury note close to the traditional speck, more than an unsmoked substitute would.
- The lentils keep for 4 days in the fridge; the dumplings are best poached fresh, though leftover dumplings reheat reasonably sliced and pan-fried.
Ingredient substitutions
- Smoked tofu can be smoked tempeh, diced the same way, for a slightly different but equally savoury result.
- Oat milk can be any plant milk.
- Brown or green lentils are chosen here for holding their shape; red lentils will break down and are not a good substitute in this dish.