Rich stout beer is the key to creating an intensely flavorful, and totally delicious batch of vegan Irish stew! Top it all off with some fluffy herbed dumplings and you're in vegan comfort food heaven.
- 3 tablespoons olive oil, divided
- 1 pound cremini mushrooms, cleaned and sliced
- 2 medium celery stalks, diced
- 2 medium carrots, diced
- 1 large onion, diced
- 3 garlic cloves, minced
- 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
- 3 cups vegetable broth
- 3 cups chopped green cabbage
- 1 small russet potato, scrubbed and diced
- 1 tablespoon fresh thyme
- 1 (12 ounce) bottle vegan stout beer (such as Guinness or Sierra Nevada Stout)
- 2 tablespoons tomato paste
- Salt and black pepper, to taste
- 1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
- 3 tablespoons nutritional yeast flakes
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- ¾ teaspoon salt
- 2 tablespoons finely chopped chives
- 2 tablespoons fresh thyme leaves
- 1 cup unflavored soy or almond milk
- 3 tablespoons olive oil
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Begin by making the stew. Coat the bottom of a large pot with 2 tablespoons of oil and place it over medium heat. When the oil is hot, add the mushrooms in an even layer. Avoid crowding the pan and cook them in batches if needed. Allow the mushrooms to cook for about 5 minutes, flip, and cook 5 minutes more, until lightly browned on both sides. Remove them from the pot and transfer to a plate.
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Add the remaining oil to the pot. When the oil is hot, add the celery, carrot, and onion. Sweat the vegetables for about 10 minutes, until they begin to soften.
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Stir in the garlic and flour. Cook the mixture about 2 minutes more, until the garlic is very fragrant and the flour evenly coats the veggies.
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Stir in the broth, cabbage, potato and thyme. Return the mushrooms to the pot. Raise the heat and bring the liquid to a boil. Lower the heat and allow the mixture to simmer, uncovered, for 10 minutes. The veggies should be a bit firm at this point.
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After 10 minutes, stir in the stout and tomato paste. Continue simmering the stew for another 5 minutes. In the meantime, you can skip to the next step of preparing the dumpling dough.
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While the stew simmers, make the dough by stirring the flour, nutritional yeast, baking powder, salt, thyme and chives together in a medium mixing bowl. Stir in the milk and oil to form a soft and sticky dough. Be careful not to overmix the dough.
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Taste test the stew and season it with salt and pepper to taste, being careful, as it will be hot. Then drop 2-3 tablespoon dollops of the dough into the stew. Make sure to leave some space between them, as the dumplings will expand as they cook.
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Cover the pot and lower the heat. Allow the stew to simmer for about 15 minutes more, until the veggies are tender and the dumplings are fluffy.
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Remove the pot from heat. Ladle the stew into bowls and serve.