Easter Friday is usually a big deal in my house. There’s pickled fish, hot cross buns and fanfare. However because of the lockdown there’s none of that in my home right now. Instead I’m doing my best to develop some new healthy carb-clever meals.

This is one of them. I dropped my dumplings in a fresh pot of dhall but you can use them in any soup or stew. They’re so good and because of the added pea protein powder, if you’re vegetarian, this little green nugget is nutritious and full of protein.

Did you know: Teff is popular in Ethiopia, is gluten-free, high in iron and is a good source of protein. It’s also very low in calories if you’re counting and only has 50g of carbs in 1 cooked cup.

Ingredients for 2 meals

2/3 cups of Teff flour (found in Jacksons, online or at Carreira Centers Fruit and Nut Market, Randburg)

2 tbsp maize meal

2 tbsp pea protein powder

1 1/2 cups of spinach

1/2 cup of water

1 tsp salt

pepper

Method

1. Blend spinach and 1/2 cup of water very finely

2. In a separate bowl, mix Teff, maize meal, pea protein powder, salt and pepper together.

3. Combine spinach and flour mixture into a very soft dough.

4. Let the mixture rest for 10 minutes before creating small 1/2 tbsp balls.

5. Drop them into a pot of dhall and let that simmer on a low heat for 20 minutes.

6. During this time, cover the pot and don’t look in there for the entire duration. Don’t move the dumplings either.

7. Garnish with dhania and serve warm.

Dhall Recipe

1. Soak a small bag (500g) of oil dhall for 10 minutes, rinse and boil for 1 hour.

2. In a separate pot, make a tomato chutney by frying 1 onion with 1 tsp mustard seeds, 1tsp jeera, 4 red chilies, 1 stem curry leaves, 2 pepper cloves, 1 tsp turmeric and 4 tsp chilli powder. Add 3-4 large tomatoes and let it simmer for about 10 minutes on a medium heat.

3. Add this mixture to your dhall and let it simmer for another 20 minutes on a very low heat.