Cherokee Grape Dumplings
Servings
8
Prep Time
15-20 minutes
Cook Time
35-40 minutes
"This recipe is a delicious part of my heritage. Freezing grapes makes them sweeter (if you’ve ever tried wild grapes, they are nothing like store-bought). I love making grape dumplings for my kids and friends, and for potlucks at our Cherokee language gatherings. I hope you and yours will enjoy them too!"
Kathryn Boyden
Ingredients
2 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for rolling out the dough (gluten-free works here)
4 tsp baking powder
1 Tbsp sugar
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½ tsp sea salt or kosher salt
6 Tbsp unsalted butter
1 cup milk of choice
4 cups washed and frozen organic Concord grapes
4 cups pure organic grape juice, no added sugar
½ cup sugar, or less to taste
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1 tsp Cloud Forest Cardamom Extract
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1 tsp Ground Black Lime
Dumplings
Grape Sauce
Directions
Prepare your dumpling rolling surface by lightly flouring it. Have a rolling pin ready.
Combine the flour, baking powder, sugar and salt in a bowl or food processor, mix well. Cut chilled butter into the flour mixture until it resembles a coarse meal. Knead in the milk and roll the dough into a ball. Add more milk as needed.
On a lightly floured surface, roll out the dough to a ¼-inch thickness. Cut across the dough, making 1.5-inch wide rectangles, to place on top of the grape sauce.
Combine 4 cups of frozen grapes and 3 cups of grape juice in a wide pot with a tight-fitting lid over medium-high heat. Bring to a boil; cook (uncovered) for about 10 minutes. Some of the grape skins will break open.
Heat remaining 1 cup of grape juice with ½ cup sugar, separately. Once sugar dissolves, combine with the boiled grape mixture.
Reduce heat to medium and cook 10 minutes.
Stir cardamom extract into the grape mixture. Place the dumpling strips over the top and sprinkle with Black Lime. Cover with a tight-fitting lid and cook the dumplings in grape sauce for 10 to 12 minutes or until the dumplings have plumped slightly and are cooked through. (You may need to work in batches once the first dumplings plump, push them around, adding the rest of the dumpling strips until all are incorporated.)
Serve with whipped cream or vanilla ice cream.