Slow cooker vegetarian hotpot
Summary Not available
- 2 tbsp sunflower oil
- 1 small squash (deseeded and chopped into chunks)
- 2 onions (thinly sliced)
- 3 carrots (peeled and cut into chunks)
- 2 parsnips (peeled and cut into chunks)
- 2 tbsp flour
- 400 g tomatoes (chopped)
- 2 tbsp tomato purée
- 5 tsp flakes
- 3 tbsp pesto
- 100 ml stock
- 1 tsp black pepper
- 200 g self-raising flour
- 50 g butter
- 200 ml water
Heat the oil in a large, non-stick frying pan over a medium heat
Add the vegetables, in batches if necessary, and fry for 4–5 minutes, stirring regularly, until lightly browned all over
Season with salt and pepper
Transfer the vegetables to the slow cooker, sprinkle over the flour and stir well
Add the chopped tomatoes, tomato purée, chilli flakes and pesto, if using, and stir again
Pour over the stock and stir
Cover and cook on high for 4 hours
After the hotpot has been cooking for 3½ hours, make the dumplings
Put the flour in a large mixing bowl and season with salt and pepper
Coarsely grate one-quarter of the frozen butter into the flour
Toss the mixture to coat the butter lightly in the flour
Add the remaining butter in three more batches, grating and tossing it in the same way
This should prevent the dumpling dough from clumping and yield light, fluffy dumplings
Stir in enough cold water to bring the mixture together as a soft, squidy dough
Divide into 12 equally sized pieces and roll each into a ball
Remove the lid from the slow cooker, stir in the spinach until wilted, then arrange the dumplings gently on top
Replace the lid and continue to cook on high for a further 25–30 minutes, or until the dumplings are puffed up and fluffy
Spoon the hotpot onto serving plates with the dumplings on top
No extra notes