Here is a really easy soup to make that is super delicious and only takes a few ingredients. And as is the way these days, it’s very good for quarantine cooking. If you are reading this sometime in the future wondering what I mean by “quarantine cooking”… well the entire world is currently experiencing a pandemic called the Coronavirus, causing most countries to be in lock-down and the lucky ones like myself are forced to stay at home to protect our loved ones and ourselves to stop the spread of infection. This also means that we can’t go to the markets for supplies as often as we’d like and some of us can’t go at all! Therefore supplies are scarce and those of us from 1st world societies are needing to learn how to make things last and how to make the best out of very little.
At the beginning of the lockdown, I had posted on Instagram about saving your vegetable scraps and animal bones to make stock for a rainy day. My husband Chris and I have been religiously saving all of our vegetable peelings, tops, ends and tails in a zip lock bag to then dump into a pot, cover with water, simmer for ages & season with salt to make a simple but beautiful homemade stock. It is so easy to make, very economical and can be used to create yummy dishes like this one! If you are reading this sentence, it means I haven’t written a blog post on how to make the stock yet, but I will soon!
This Grießnockerlsuppe recipe is actually adapted from a recipe by very talented cookbook author & artist Anja Dunk. Grießnockerl (or Griessnockerl) are Bavarian or Austrian dumplings(depending on who you talk to) made from semolina. The semolina mixture is made into a coarse dough, then dropped into soup to create fluffy, soft pillows of loveliness which float to the top in minutes when done. I can’t really take credit for this recipe as it’s a classic, traditional dish, but in times like these, we need to use what we’ve got, so here is how I made Grießnockerlsuppe with a fridge full of Asian vegetables from my friends at Radical Family Farms. Please do play around with variations for the veggies, I make some suggestions below.
Grießnockerlsuppe
Semolina Dumpling Soup with Asian Greens
Serves 2 bowls or 4 small cups
For the Grießnockerl Dumplings:
3.5oz Semolina (preferably coarse)
1/2T Butter, softened
1 Egg
1T Water
1/3t Baking Powder
1 pinch each Salt & Pepper
For the Soup:
3 cups of Stock
1 handful Sugar Snap Peas, chopped (or similar such as long beans or french green beans)
1 handful Mizuna, torn into 3 (or similar such as Chinese celery or chrysanthemum greens)
1 handful herbs like Cilantro, Shiso or Dill, roughly torn
1 Green onion, chopped
Mix your dumpling ingredients together into a dough and set aside.
Bring your stock to a boil, then lower to a simmer.
Throw in your sugar snap peas (or similar veg) and let simmer for about 10 seconds.
One by one, tear off rough pieces of the dumpling mixture about the size of a ping pong ball, give them a quick gentle squeeze (to keep them compact) and plop them into the simmering stock. After a couple of minutes they will rise to the surface and will be done.
Take the soup off the heat and stir in your leafy greens.
Ladle the soup and its contents equally into 2 bowls.
Tear your herbs up roughly, sprinkle them on top of the soup along with the green onions and serve!
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