Healing soup with semolina dumplings

Whenever there were signs of somebody getting a cold or not feeling well for some reason, I would see my mum rushing off with a pot of hot water, adding vegetables and herbs, and putting it on the stove, and I would know she was making her healing soup. I now make it in my house and it heals everything, from a broken heart to a runny nose. If the dumplings are made right, they will have a soft consistency and grainy texture, and won’t fall apart.

• serves

  4

• prep

  15 minutes

• cook

  1:10 hour

• difficulty

  Easy

Ingredients

• 4 small veal bones
• 2 carrots
• 1 celery stalk
• 1 small onion
• 1 red capsicum
• 1 tomato
• 1 bunch parsley
• 2 vegetable stock cubes
• 1 small cauliflower, cut into florets

Dumplings

• 50 g semolina 
• a pinch of salt
• 1 egg

Resting time 5 minutes

Instructions

Place the veal bones, carrots, celery, onion, capsicum, tomato and ¾ of the parsley sprigs in a stockpot and cover with water. Bring to the boil and then reduce the heat to medium-low and simmer for 50 minutes for the flavours to develop.

Strain the stock. Reserve the carrots and discard the remaining solids. Cut the carrots into 3 cm pieces and return to the pot with the clear stock. Add the vegetables cubes and cauliflower, and simmer over medium-low heat for 5 minutes.

Meanwhile, for the dumplings, beat the egg with a fork. Slowly add the semolina and salt, whisking gently with the fork. Leave for a few minutes and then add some more semolina if needed – the consistency should be soft but not sticky.

Using a spoon, grab some of the dumpling mixture. With another spoon, shape the mixture into a nice oval and put it into the simmering soup. Work quickly with the remaining dumpling mixture.

Cook until the dumplings triple in size and come to the surface, then remove from the heat. Pick the leaves from the remaining parsley sprigs and roughly chop, then add to the soup. Stand for 5 minutes before serving.

Recipe from Little Upside Down Cake by Sanda Vuckovic Pagaimo, with photographs by Sanda Vuckovic Pagaimo.

This recipe is featured as part of our online column, Blog Appétit: Little Upside Down Cake. View more recipes from this column.

Blog Appétit is our curated list of go-to food blogs we love, with a focus on high-quality photography, trusted recipes, strong editorial themes and a unique voice and personality. View previous Blog Appétit entries.

Cook's Notes

Oven temperatures are for conventional; if using fan-forced (convection), reduce the temperature by 20˚C. | We use Australian tablespoons and cups: 1 teaspoon equals 5 ml; 1 tablespoon equals 20 ml; 1 cup equals 250 ml. | All herbs are fresh (unless specified) and cups are lightly packed. | All vegetables are medium size and peeled, unless specified. | All eggs are 55-60 g, unless specified.