First prepare the vegetables. Peel and finely dice the onion and garlic. Wash, trim and slide the celery. Peel the carrots and chopped them and the potatoes into roughly similar sized chunks. Quarter the mushrooms.
Make up a litre of hot vegan vegetable stock. Drain and rinse the butter beans.
Heat the oil in a large, wide, non-stick saucepan. Add the onion and cook over a gentle heat for 2-3 minutes until they start to go translucent. Add the garlic and cook for 1 minute more, stirring to prevent the garlic from burning.
Add the vegetables and the beans and stir to mix everything together. Add the flour and the tomato puree and stir to coat. Careful that they don't stick to the bottom. Add the stock and stir well to mix everything together. Add the herbs and then bring to the boil.
Once boiling, reduce the heat to a low simmer cover the stew. Simmer gentle with the lid on for 10 mins. Stir once or twice to prevent it from sticking.
While the stew is cooking make the dumplings.
Dumplings
Mix the flour, vegetable suet and parsley together in a small bowl. Gradually add water, a little at a time, until you have a firm dough.
Coat your hands with a little flour, then roll the mixture into balls. You should get around 10-12 dumplings. Set aside.
Once the stew has been cooking for 10 mins, remove the lid and sit the dumplings half in the stew, leaving a space around them for them to expand. Add little more water if it looks a bit dry. Replace the lid and leave the lid on undisturbed for 20 mins.
2-3 mins before the cooking time is up, lift the lid and quick turn the dumplings over to coat the other side in the stew. Replace the lid and finish the cooking time.
Serve steaming hot in bowls with some crusty bread. Enjoy!