Vegan beef and leek dumplings in lemongrass consumme

For this dish I used the consumme recipe from Tal Ronnen’s cook book The Conscious Cook and used my recipe for vegan beef and leek dumplings, which uses Gardein beef-less tips.  Ronnen is the founder and chef of the high end plant-based, Crossroads restaurant in LA, which gets rave reviews and his cook book is a best seller.

The consumme is quite spicy, driven by the chilis, ginger and pepper corns, and works really well with the beef and leek filling in the wontons.  Get the consumme going and then as it simmers make the dumplings following my recipe.  Once you have completed the simmering of the consumme and strained the solids from the liquid, bring the consumme back to a boil and add in the dumplings.  Cook the dumplings for about ten minutes until they are floating in the consumme.  I poured the consumme over some cubes of semi-firm tofu for added protein and then added slivers of scallions for garnish.

The consumme recipe is

— sea salt
— 2 tablespoons canola oil
— 4 stalks lemongrass
— 2 stalks celery, diced
— 1 leek, thinly sliced
— 2 shallots, minced
— 1 (2-inch) piece fresh ginger, peeled and diced
— 3 cloves garlic, peeled and smashed
— 1 kaffir lime leaf
— 2 small dried red chilies
— 1 teaspoon whole black peppercorns
— 2 tablespoons sugar
— 2 quarts vegetable or faux-chicken stock

Place a large stockpot over medium heat. Add 1 teaspoon salt and all of the ingredients except for the sugar and stock and sauté for 5 minutes, stirring frequently. Add the sugar and stock, bring to a boil, then reduce the heat and simmer for 45 minutes. Pour the consomme through a fine-mesh sieve, discarding the solids, and return to the pot.