Tonight's Dinner: Pumpkin Dumplings with Balsamic Sauce, Kale, and Rice

These dumplings are sort of like orange gnocchi, only way easier to prepare. I got the idea from this recipe over at vegcooking.com, but I simplified the ingredients a bit:

• 1/2 c canned pumpkin
• 1/2 c flour
• egg replacer equivalent to 1 egg
• salt and pepper to taste
• margarine for sauteéing

The omissions were basically personal preference: I'm not a huge fan of nutmeg in savoury foods and the first time I made these I found the baking powder was unnecessary (since there's already egg replacer as a leavening), and made the dumplings taste baking powder-y.

The balsamic sauce is what really made the dish though: it added richness and depth to the dumplings. The trick is to use good balsamic vinegar. A lot of the stuff in grocery stores is actually just white vinegar mixed with balsamic flavouring; real balsamic vinegar (I've read that if it says "of Modena" on the label, it is the real thing) has a more delicate, sweet, wine-like flavour. And it is remarkably better.

Anyway, the sauce is just a mixture of balsamic vinegar and soy sauce, say, three tablespoons of vinegar and one tablespoon of soy sauce, simmered in a small saucepan until it's reduced and thickened a bit. It doesn't make much, but you don't need much.

Side dishes were kale (hey, why not!) and rice pilaf from a box. The pumpkin dumplings would easily go with something more elegant, but I didn't have a lot of time and they're not picky. A yummy and relatively quick dish that I will definitely make again.