Dyushbara stuffed dumplings are as tiny as you can make them. Beloved throughout Azerbaijan, traditional dyushbara are stuffed with mutton and served in a meaty broth.
In our plant-based version, we’ll use whole durum wheat or white whole wheat and homemade soy yogurt for the dough instead of white flour, eggs, and oil. And we’ll stuff the tortellini-like dumplings with spinach, potato, garlic, and dill, instead of mutton. Then we cook the dumplings in an aromatic vegan broth. In classic Azerbaijani tradition, dyushbara is accompanied by a vinegar-garlic sauce to dip the dumplings into if you like. Any excuse for a cooking party is my idea of fun, so invite some friends over and make a dyushbara party of it!
*Find this recipe and more in The Mindfulness Issue of VEGWORLD Magazine
Vegan Dyushbara Azerbaijani Dumpling Soup
Prep Time
2 hours
Total Time
2 hours 30 minutes
Cathy Katin-Grazzini is the founder of Cathy’s Kitchen Prescription LLC and is Food Editor for VEGWORLD Magazine. After her husband Giordano’s life-threatening surgery, Chef Cathy ramped up her research and embarked on a journey that led her and Giordano to plant-based cuisine and Giordano’s dramatic recovery and a quantum leap in both their health. She undertook formal nutritional and culinary training and through her work as a teacher, chef, and lifestyle coach, has helped hundreds of patients and improve their health, lose weight, and learn to cook flavorful, nourishing, and exciting whole food plant-based dishes.
Certified in Plant-Based Nutrition from the T. Colin Campbell Center for Nutrition Studies at Cornell, Cathy completed professional culinary training at Rouxbe Cooking School. She holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Chicago, attended graduate school at Harvard University, and received a Master of Arts degree from Johns Hopkins University.
Cathy and Giordano live in Ridgefield, Connecticut. When she’s not inventing, fermenting, and testing new recipes, she loves to run, hike, and adventure travel with Giordano atop their trusty Ducati.
Cathy’s cookbook, Love the Foods that Love You Back is available now from Rizolli.
Photo by Giordano Katin-Grazzini
Ingredients
Pasta
- 300 grams (about 2 1/8 cups) whole durum wheat (chappati) flour or whole white wheat flour
- ¼ teaspoon ground turmeric
- 1/2 teaspoon shiro (mild, white) miso paste
- 200 grams (about 2/3 cup) soy yogurt, drained well
Filling
- 2 medium organic russet potatoes, whole and unpeeled
- 1 medium yellow onion, peeled and cut in quarters
- A small handful of fresh thyme, rosemary, sage sprigs, singly or combined
- 1 pound fresh spinach, steamed, cooled, squeezed to yield ¾ cup, chopped finely OR ¾ cup defrosted and squeezed frozen chopped spinach
- 1 head garlic, dry roasted and peeled
- 2 tablespoons nutritional yeast
- 2 tablespoons fresh dill, finely chopped OR 1 tablespoon dried mint
- Freshly ground black pepper, to taste
- 3 tablespoons shiro (mild, white) miso paste, or to taste
Broth
- 1 large yellow onion, peeled and cut in quarters
- 2 stalks celery, cut in 2-inch sections
- 1 carrot, cut in 2-inch sections
- 1 entire leek, well cleaned and cut in 2-inch sections
- 2 cloves garlic, peeled
- 2 bay leaves
- 1 big handful fresh dill and/or parsley, roughly chopped
- 1 tablespoon tomato paste, dissolved in 2 tablespoons water
- ¼ teaspoon saffron filaments, crushed
- 3 quarts water
- Freshly ground black pepper to taste
- 4 tablespoons shiro (mild, white) miso, or to taste, diluted in the hot broth
Optional finishing sauce
- ½ cup red or white wine vinegar mixed with 2-3 garlic cloves, finely minced
Directions
To Make the Pasta
- In a food processor add the pasta ingredients and run it for 1 ½ minutes or until it gathers into a ball. Add a little more flour or yogurt as needed to create a soft, pliant ball of dough. Knead to 8 minutes. Transfer to a plastic bag and allow the dough to rest for 30 minutes.
To Make the Filling
- Peel the loose outer leaves off the head of garlic and roast it in the oven at 375°F/190°C for 30 minutes. Cool and peel.
- Add the onion and herbs to a medium saucepan filled with water, season with shiro miso to taste, bring to a boil. Slide in the potatoes and simmer until tender before they begin to split. The potatoes are ready when they slide off an inserted knife. Do not overcook. Drain. Return the potatoes to the dry pot, heat over a low flame for a minute to dry them thoroughly. Remove the potatoes, set aside and as soon as they are cool enough to handle press them through a potato ricer into a clean bowl. Alternatively, you can peel them and mash them well until no lumps remain. The potatoes should be quite dry and crumbly.
- Steam the spinach or defrost it, if frozen. Squeeze out as much water as you possibly can. Chop. Add the spinach to the potatoes. Mash the roasted, peeled garlic cloves with a fork and stir them into to the mix. Now add the nutritional yeast, chopped herbs, and season with pepper to taste.
To Make the Broth
- Crush the saffron pistils in a mortar and pestle. Steep them in 2 tablespoons very hot water for 15 minutes.
- Dissolve the tomato paste in 2 tablespoons water, stir until smooth.
- In a medium soup pot, add all broth ingredients except the tomato paste, saffron and herbs, cover with water 2 inches and bring to a boil. Lower flame, cover, simmer for 2 hours or until veggies are extremely soft and the broth is fragrant. Add the dissolved tomato paste, saffron and its soaking liquor, and the chopped herbs. Cook for a few more minutes to blend the flavors. Strain and discard the soup vegetables. Season with pepper and miso to taste.
To Make the Dyushbara Dumplings
- Remove half the dough and return the rest to the plastic bag. Press the dough to flatten and roll it to about 2mm in thickness, about 1/16, flipping and dusting with flour to prevent sticking as needed.
- Cut the dough in 3 cm strips (about 1 1/8”), then cut them perpendicularly to create squares. Cover them with a slightly damp kitchen linen or plastic wrap to prevent drying. Add a tiny lump of filling to on square at a time, keeping the rest covered. Fold the dough into a triangle, pressing the edges well to seal them.
- Lay the triangle flat and gently push the filling up towards the triangle tip as you bend the other 2 points together, folding one end over the other and pinching them together to seal. Set on parchment as you stuff and fold the remaining dyushbara. When you are done, cover them with a clean linen.
- Heat the broth to a very gentle simmer. Gently drop in the dyushbara dumplings, stir gently, and cook them on low just for a minute or two until they rise to the surface. Serve immediately with the dipping sauce on the side.
