One-pan tofu dumpling soup

Method

1. Blend the tofu base. Add the silken tofu, garlic, and ginger to a blender and blend until completely smooth and creamy, with no visible flecks of garlic or ginger.
2. Build the broth. In a large, oven-safe dish, whisk together the curry paste, soy sauce, brown sugar, stock, and the blended tofu mixture until smooth. It may look slightly curdled or grainy at first; keep whisking and it comes together into a uniform, creamy broth.
3. Add the dumplings. Nestle the dumplings into the broth so they’re mostly submerged, packing them in a single snug layer.
4. Bake. Bake at 190°C for 20 to 25 minutes, until the broth has thickened slightly and the dumplings are fully heated through.
5. Finish and serve. Scatter with the sliced spring onion, sesame seeds, and torn coriander, and drizzle with the chilli crisp. Serve straight from the dish, ladling plenty of broth into each bowl.

Notes

• Check the curry paste label for vegans. Many commercial Thai red curry pastes contain shrimp paste even when nothing on the front of the jar suggests it; look for a paste labelled vegan or check the ingredients list.
• The broth looking curdled at the whisking stage is normal. Silken tofu blended with an acidic, spiced paste can look grainy before it’s fully incorporated; a minute or two of steady whisking smooths it out.
• Dumpling choice matters. A filling with some vegetable or tofu texture holds up better in the broth than an ultra-thin-wrappered dumpling, which can start to break down over the full bake time.
• Best eaten fresh; the wrappers soften further on standing and don’t reheat as cleanly as they serve straight from the oven.

Ingredient substitutions

• Store-bought vegetable dumplings or gyoza (the original recipe uses itsu’s vegetable fusion gyoza, a UK supermarket product) are not sold in Germany or Canada. In both regions, a frozen vegetable or vegetable-and-tofu gyoza from an Asian grocer is the closest match; check that the wrapper is reasonably sturdy, since thin dumpling wrappers can disintegrate over a 20 to 25 minute bake in liquid.
• Thai red curry paste varies significantly by brand in heat and saltiness. In Germany or Canada, a widely available brand such as Mae Ploy or Thai Kitchen works well; taste the finished broth before serving and adjust the soy sauce or a pinch of sugar if the paste runs hotter or milder than expected.
• Vegan chicken stock is a niche product outside the UK. A plain vegetable stock or bouillon is a direct, honest substitute; it will taste slightly less savoury, which the curry paste and soy sauce largely make up for.

Sources consulted

• Vegan Punks (Instagram, @veganpunks), “One Pan Dumpling Soup (Tofu Edition)”: recipe text and method transcribed directly from the creator’s posted caption.

From Christoph Mayer

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