I made this delightful soup during the holidays and wow, it turned out far beyond my expectations! The dumplings are a little bit of work but trust me when I say they are so worth it. This recipe makes three bowls as a meal or six as a side. The dumplings outside of the soup will keep in the fridge for up to four days. The whole recipe can be made in a vegan version as well.

Benefits

Many people don’t realize the nutritional value found in mushrooms but they have so much to offer. One of my favorite experts in the field of fungi is Paul Stamets. He is a world-renown mycologist who has written six books on the topic. According to his research mushrooms contain some of the most potent natural medicines on the planet. Of the 140,000 species of mushroom-forming fungi, science is only familiar with about 10 percent.

It’s important to eat only organically grown mushrooms though because they absorb and concentrate whatever they grow in — good OR bad. This is what gives mushrooms their potency. Mushrooms are known to concentrate heavy metals, as well as air and water pollutants, so healthy growing conditions is a critical factor.

Mushrooms are little powerhouses full of nutrition and I highly recommend adding them to your diet. Don’t limit yourself to just button, crimini or portabello which are the most common. Try other varieties if you can find them organic as well. They support your microbiome, provide vitamin D and are great immune support just to name a few. We are actually very closely related to mushrooms. I could go on for quite awhile about them but I’ll leave off here for now and recommend Paul’s site for more info if you wish to go deeper.

Below are a couple of links you might find particularly informative.

Click here for a link to a chart you can download that Paul has provided showing the nutritional breakdown of different varieties of mushrooms.

As I mentioned they are also great support for your microbiome and you can read more about that here.

This is a great recipe to incorporate mushrooms in your diet. It’s mushroom dumplings in a nettle broth.

I actually used soaked and cultured coconut flour and cultured, sprouted and dehydrated almonds and hazelnuts that I did myself to increase the nutritional value and make digestion easier.

Mushroom Dumplings

1/3 cup coconut flour

1 cup hazelnuts; ground into meal or hazelnut flour

1/4 cup almond flour

2 teaspoons grass-fed gelatin or 2 tablespoons chia seeds for vegan version

2 pastured eggs (omit and use chia seeds for vegan version)

2 cloves garlic

1-2 tablespoons fresh rosemary

1-2 large sage leaves

handful chopped organic mushrooms; I used crimini since that was all I could get and you can use what ever is available to you

salt and pepper to taste

Mix the almond flour, coconut flour, gelatin (or chia seeds) and hazelnut flour in a bowl ensuring they have mixed together well.

Pour onto a floured surface (I used a clean spot on my counter with almond flour).

Create a well in the center of the flour mound and crack the eggs. Use a fork to mix the flour into the eggs, slowly incorporating more of the flour mixture until you have a dough.

Gently knead the dough and place in some parchment paper; wrap it tightly and tie the top to hold it together.

Place in the fridge for 30 minutes to chill.

While the dough is chilling, prep the mushroom mixture.

Finely chop the garlic, rosemary, sage and mushrooms and heat on medium low in a pan in some extra virgin olive oil. Season with salt and pepper and allow to cook for 4-5 minutes.

Set this to one side to cool.

Mix the mushroom mixture into the dough mix and knead to mix well.

Break off a small piece then using your palms, roll the small dumplings into the balls. You want them to be small enough to break in half and eat like that. Too big and they won’t cook well either.

These are extremely rich and filling so they are perfect in a light broth. Below is the broth I made for it and you can easily change up the the flavors and herbs according to season.

Nettle Broth

3 cups broth; bone or veggie

1/2 cup nettle leaves; dried and crushed

1 large piece of wakame; broken into smaller pieces

4 tablespoons lemon juice

1 cup nappa cabbage, chopped finely

salt to taste

To a saucepan on medium low heat, add the stock, nettle leaves, wakame and lemon juice. Let these simmer together for 5 minutes. Then add the dumplings and napa cabbage and simmer on a low heat for 8 -10 minutes, occasionally gently stirring the dumplings.

Serve with some fresh chopped sage sprinkled on top.

The dumplings are very rich and this broth is nice and light complimenting them perfectly. Enjoy!

ps. Curious to know more about how to get the most nutrients from your food and make the best choices? Then I invite you to check out my book: “Live Vibrantly! 10 Steps to Maintain Youthfulness, Increase Energy and Restore Your Health”. Go here for more information and how to get your free bonuses.