Vegane "Grammel"-Knödel auf Weinkraut (vegan bread dumplings with crisp tofu on wine-braised cabbage)
Units
Temperature
Servings
Ingredients
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
Method
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.