Vegane "Grammel"-Knödel auf Weinkraut (vegan bread dumplings with crisp tofu on wine-braised cabbage)
Bread dumplings studded with pan-crisped, finely diced smoked tofu standing in for traditional pork cracklings, poached gently and served over cabbage braised slowly in white wine until it turns silky rather than crunchy. The tofu needs to fry properly crisp before it goes into the dumpling mixture, or it disappears into the bread rather than giving little bursts of texture.
Prep35 min
Cook50 min
Rest20 min
Servings4
Christoph's vegan take on Grammelknödel, smoked tofu fried properly crisp before joining the bread mixture, standing in for pork cracklings.
Ingredients
Written for a 4 L pot
Units
Temperature
Servings
Bread dumplings
- 300 g stale bread rolls, cut into 1 cm cubes rounded
- 250 ml warm oat milk rounded
- 150 g smoked tofu, finely diced rounded
- 15 g neutral oil, for frying the tofu rounded
- 80 g onion, finely chopped 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
Wine-braised cabbage
- 600 g white cabbage, finely shredded rounded
- 100 g onion, finely chopped rounded
- 30 g neutral oil rounded
- 200 ml white wine rounded
- 100 ml vegetable broth rounded
- 10 ml white wine vinegar rounded
- 10 g sugar rounded
- to taste fine salt rounded
Dietary labels are a guide, not a guarantee. If you have an allergy, read the ingredients yourself.
Method
- 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 pan over medium-high heat. Fry the diced smoked tofu, stirring occasionally, for 5 to 6 minutes, until genuinely crisp on most sides. This crisping is essential; a softly warmed tofu disappears into the bread rather than giving little bursts of texture.
- In the same pan, sweat the onion for 3 minutes. Stir the fried tofu and onion into the soaked bread with the flax egg, parsley and salt, mixing to an even, slightly sticky mass. Shape into 8 balls with wet hands.
- For the cabbage, heat the oil in a wide pot and sweat the onion for 4 minutes, until softened. Add the cabbage and cook 5 minutes, until it starts to wilt.
- Add the wine, broth, vinegar and sugar. Bring to a simmer, cover, and cook 25 to 30 minutes, until the cabbage is fully tender and silky. Season with salt.
- Meanwhile, bring a 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.
- Serve the dumplings sliced over the wine-braised cabbage.
Notes
- Fry the tofu until genuinely crisp, not just warmed through. This is the entire point of the substitution; a properly crisped piece gives small bursts of texture against the soft bread, much like real cracklings would, while a soft piece just disappears.
- Braise the cabbage long enough that it turns silky, not merely softened. Rushed cabbage stays a little crunchy and tastes more of raw cabbage than of the wine it braised in.
- Poach the dumplings at a bare simmer, never a rolling boil. A hard boil knocks them apart.
- The cabbage keeps 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 and fried the same way.
- White wine can be replaced with the same amount of vegetable broth with an extra splash of vinegar for an alcohol-free version.
- Oat milk can be any plant milk.
From Christoph Mayer