Spicy Lamb & Lentil Casserole with Herby Dumplings

The biggest problem with cooking this meal was that as it cooked in the slow cooker and I sat there trying to study for next's week biology exam, the amazing smell was very distracting!  I managed to get the study done in the end, as well as cook an amazingly nutritious dinner.  The best bit is that you literally throw all the ingredients into the slow cooker (or into the oven if you don't have a slow cooker) and leave it to cook.... just stirring every couple of hours and adding in the dumplings in the last half hour of cooking!

Ingredients:
Casserole:
1kg free range lamb, diced
1 cup lentils, rinsed (I used a mix of red lentils and Beluga lentils)
1 onion, peeled and sliced
2 cloves garlic, peeled and finely chopped
400g can diced tomatoes
2 cups stock (I used chicken stock made as per Quirky Cooking's recipe)
OR 2 cups Campbell's vegetable stock
OR 2 cups water + 2 tsp TM vegetable stock concentrate
3 cups diced veggies - I used 1/2 a zucchini, 1 carrot, half a green capsicum, jap pumpkin and some mushrooms
2 tsp smoked paprika
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp ground coriander
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp ground cardamom
1 tsp ground cloves
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
Juice of half a lemon
Sea salt, pepper and Herbamare

Dumplings:
1.5 cups spelt flour
30g butter, cubed
1 tbsp each chopped fresh parsley, dill and basil (or 1 tsp each of dried)
1/4 cup water
Sea salt and pepper

Method:
1. Into a slow cooker, add all the casserole ingredients and give it all a good mix.  Cook on "low" for up to 8 hours, stirring every now and then.  If you don't have a slow cooker, preheat your oven to 150 degrees, add all the ingredients into a casserole dish, mix, cover and cook for around 3 hours, stirring occasionally. 

2. Half an hour before the casserole is ready, make the dumplings.  To a food prcoessor or Thermomix, add all your dry ingredients.  Pulse a few times until they ingredients are all incorporated.  Add the water and process for a few seconds until it all comes together (8sec/sp6 in Thermomix).  Shape the dough into dumplings and pop the dumplings on top of the casserole.  Put the lid back onto the slow cooker (or if cooking in the oven, pop the lid back onto the casserole dish and return to the oven for 30min).