Gluten-Free Dumplings

Like most good Jewish children, I loved my chicken soup with matzo balls. I could eat several bowls at a time and often preferred it to the courses that came afterward.

Of course, I haven’t eaten chicken soup in a long time and now I can’t have the gluten in matzo meal, either. Which is why this recipe was such a lovely surprise – I was overjoyed to discover the dumplings tasted exactly like matzo balls!

I don’t know about you, but I’ve always thought of dumplings as little morsels packed with filling. While dumplings can be stuffed, technically they can also be simple mounds of steamed dough. Like matzo balls.

These dumplings were incredibly irresistible. Soft, light, with a melt-in-your-mouth creaminess, they’re a comforting addition to your soups or stews. I ate about half the batch before I even added them to my vegetable soup.

My only grievance is I found them a little salty, which is easy enough to fix. What’s more complicated is figuring out how to make them vegan, since my husband is intolerant of eggs and I’m not supposed to be eating them at the moment, either.

Could I use egg replacer powder here, or would that ruin the flavour? Any ideas?

Gluten-Free Dumplings
From Healthy Gourmet

1 cup water
2 ounces extra virgin olive oil
1 ½ tsp sea salt
1/3 cup brown rice flour
1/3 cup garfava flour
1 tsp tapioca flour
2 tsp xantham gum
1 tsp Dijon mustard
2 large eggs
1 tbsp chives, minced

Fill a pot with salted water and bring to a simmer. Set up a stand mixer with a paddle attachment.

In a medium saucepan, combine one cup of water, olive oil and 1 tsp sea salt. Bring to a simmer over medium-high heat. Reduce the heat to medium, add the flour and xantham gum, and stir rapidly with a wooden spoon until the dough pulls away from the sides of the pan. Continue stirring for four minutes until a thin coating of dough forms on the bottom of the pan.

Transfer the dough to the mixer bowl. Add the mustard and the remaining ½ tsp salt and mix for a few seconds. With the mixer on the lowest speed add the eggs one at a time. Mix until smooth. Then add the chives and incorporate.

Using two teaspoons, drop dollops of the dough into the pot of simmering water in batches of six. Once the dumplings rise to the surface cook them for approximately five minutes. Remove the dumplings with a slotted spoon and transfer to a parchment lined baking sheet. Cook the remaining dumplings.