tomato soup with dumplings

Because it's winter, and because my grilled cheese needed a buddy, I made tomato soup. My first ever.

I adapted this recipe from one I found on A Cozy Kitchen, a food blog authored by a pair of LA girls, friends of an old friend, which I discovered during a bout of Facebook stalking. The photos are absolutely spectacular, and judging by the results of this test, the tastes are quite sound.

Their soup looks soupier than mine, perhaps because I used a food processor instead of an immersion blender, and redder, which is odd, since I added a can of tomato paste for color and because at first the flavor was surprisingly bland. I realize now that I made a number of modifications to the recipe to get it to taste: I used more butter and a different type of cheese in the dumplings; initially the dough was just too dry. And if I were to make it again, I'd use chicken stock instead of vegetable (because sometimes vegetable stock might as well be brown water), and I'd get rid of the chickpeas altogether. Also, I'd make smaller dumplings.

INGREDIENTS

Soup
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 small onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, crushed
½ teaspoon ground coriander
1 teaspoon cumin
¼ teaspoon chili powder
1 ¾ cup vegetable stock
1 14oz can chopped tomatoes
1 can tomato paste

Dumplings
1 cup all purpose flour
1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons butter, chopped
2 tablespoons grated cheese (they used parmesan, I used feta)
2 tablespoons chopped fresh herbs
3 tablespoons water

INSTRUCTIONS

Heat the oil over medium-high heat in a large saucepan and sauté the onion for 2-3 minutes or until soft. Add the garlic, cumin, coriander and chili powder and cook for 1 minute. Add the stock and tomatoes and blend with an immersion blender(OR FOOD PROCESSOR!).

Stir in the chickpeas and bring to a boil. Once it boils reduce the heat and simmer, covered, for 10 minutes.

To make the dumplings, sift together the flour, baking powder and salt. Add in the chopped butter and knead with your fingers until the mixture starts to resemble fine bread crumbs. Stir in the cheese and herbs, and then make a well in the center of the mixture. Add in the water and mix together (use your hands).

Divide the dough into 8 portions and roll into small balls. [ED NOTE: These small dough balls fluff up when they're cooked. Try dividing the dough into 12 small balls to get a greater quantity of smaller, more delicate dumplings.] Add the dumplings to the soup, cover and simmer for 20 more minutes.