German Vegan Meal - Ham, Potato Dumplings, and Sauerkraut

I grew up in a traditional German household as my mother is from Germany or "Deutschland" as she calls it. We ate a lot of German food with some American food here and there. One of my favorite things to eat were her dumplings with gravy served with ham and sauerkraut. I've taken this recipe and veganized it using a bunch of convenience foods and I must say, it turned out darn good.

Instead of ham, I used the VegeBest Black Pepper Soy Roll, which tasted very much like ham with a nice black pepper finish. I picked it up at Loving Hut.

I served the ham slices with Werner's Raw Potato Dumplings, which I picked up at a German grocery store along with Road's End Organics Quick Gravy, which is a great, quick, brown gravy that can be found all over the U.S.

And to finish it off, it was all served with Wildbrine's Red Beet & Cabbage Sauerkraut salad. This sauerkraut is absolutely delicious! We ate sauerkraut and beets regularly in our household so I thought this would be the perfect complement to that meal and it was.

Wildbrine is a company that makes sauerkraut the natural way by just fermenting it with salt -- no vinegar. This preserves the good bacteria, which can increase the antibodies necessary to fight bacterial illnesses. Fermented foods also contain antioxidants that help fight free radicals, which can cause cellular damage. Wildbrine sauerkrauts can be found in Whole Foods in various locations including northern California and MOM's in the DC metro area.

German Vegan Ham, Potatoes, and Sauerkraut
Serves 4

Ingredients

• Werners Raw Potato Dumplings
• 2 cups water, plus 8 more cups for boiling
• 1 T olive oil
• Vegan ham roll, sliced thickly or ham slices (I used VegeBest Black Pepper Soy Roll)
• Road's End Organics Quick Gravy
  
• 1 cup water
• Wildbrine Red Beet & Cabbage Sauerkraut

Instructions
First, prepare the dumplings by mixing the contents of the packet with 2 cups of cold water. Allow it to rise for 10 minutes.

Bring about 8 cups of water to a boil. Form 8-9 dumplings with moistened hands. You can roll them around in your hands to get them smooth.

Put them into the boiling water. Allow them to simmer for a few minutes, then cook at reduced heat for 20 minutes.

When they are almost done, heat olive oil in a pan and fry the ham slices for a few minutes on each side until slightly brown.

Put the contents of the quick gravy into a saucepan and add 1 cup of water. Bring it to a boil, stirring constantly, then reduce heat and simmer for 1-2 minutes until thickened.

Serve dumplings and ham slices with gravy along with the sauerkraut. And now you have a German dinner that is "sehr gut!"