Winter Vegetable Soup with Cheese Dumplings

This yummy soup was inspired by the English Kitchen.

Here is my perhaps simplified version:

3 tbs olive oil

1 340g tin of canned ham diced

1 tbs brown sugar

1 onion chopped

2 cloves garlic minced

2 gr onions chopped

1 900 ml box of broth (approx 4 c)

3 c water

1/2 tsp black pepper

1 tbs white wine vinegar

1/2 med cabbage shredded (I substituted kale stems cut into 2" lengths, cauliflower cut into small florets is also an option, even celery)

1 med potato cut into chunks

1 sweet potato cut into chunks

For the dumplings:

2 c self raising flour (to make self raising flour, add 1 1/2 tsp baking powder, 1/4 tsp salt per cup of flour)

2 tbs butter cut into small pieces

1/2 c grated cheddar

1/2 tsp dried thyme

3/4 c water

To make the dumplings:

Stir the self raising flour into a bowl, rub butter in with fingertips until crumbly, stir in cheese and thyme. Add

water gradually to bind the mix together. Cover with plastic wrap and set aside

Start the soup:

Heat olive oil, saute onions. Add garlic, ham, sugar, pepper.

Next, add stock, water, potatoes, kale stems (or cabbage or cauliflower, or celery), wine vinegar. Simmer 20 mins until the vegetables are fork tender. You can form small dumplings about the size of a heaping TBS, drop into the hot soup for 8-10 mins along with the green onions.

I would half the dumpling recipe in future, it makes a lot of dumplings and we do watch our carbs.