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Green Tomato & Onion Turnovers

I seems like ages ago when my husband and I tilled up a large area of grass in our backyard and transplanted our tiny seedlings into a barren patch of dirt.  We tended to each little plant with love and waited all summer long to reap the fruits of our labor. Now, our garden is brimming with peppers, okra, cabbage, kale, cucumbers, herbs, and tomatoes.

Green tomatoes, that is. They are taking their sweet time in ripening; and, although I love nothing more than a ripe garden fresh tomato- a bit of impatience culinary nerve came over me.

In all the years I have grown tomatoes, I had never once considered eating the fruit before it ripened.  So early yesterday morning, I decided I should create something delicious with my still green and crunchy tomatoes.

I knew I wanted to try a more unorthodox approach than simply frying them up, so I created these delicious turnovers.

Let me just state that I am extremely impressed with these things. In fact, my husband and I were both so enamored with the taste and texture, that we are already planning on making them again. Soon.

Like, maybe tonight.

The thinly sliced tomatoes and onions melded with the nutritional yeast and cumin inside the crispy pocket to create a treat that smells absolutely wonderful while baking in the oven.

And, they tasted so damned good.

Try them… if you’ve never eaten green tomatoes, this is a great intro recipe. Other fillings can be added or subbed in for the ingredients listed, but I really love the flavor of this exact recipe. Perfect for breakfast, lunch or dinner.

Now I wonder if my tomatoes will last long enough to ripen to red?  At this point, I couldn’t care less.

Green Tomato and Onion Turnovers – Vegan and Gluten Free

Ingredients:

Wet ingredients for dough

  • 1 1/2 cups warm water
  • 1 cube vegetable bouillon
  • 2 tbsp brown sugar
  • 1 tbsp dry active yeast
  • 4 tbsp olive oil + extra for brushing

Flour mix for dough

  • 1 cup sorghum flour
  • 1 cup tapioca flour
  • 1 cup cornstarch
  • 1 1/2 cups brown rice flour
  • 2 tsp xanthan gum
  • 1/2 tsp salt

Filling

  • 2 medium sized green tomatoes, very thinly sliced
  • 1 medium onion, sliced into thin strips
  • 4 tbsp nutritional yeast
  • about 1 tbsp cumin
  • salt to taste (about 1/4 tsp each turnover)
  • cayenne pepper (optional)

Directions:

Proof yeast by combining all wet ingredients for dough (except oil) and let rest until foamy, about 5 minutes. Stir in olive oil and make sure the bouillon cube is dissolved well in the mixture.

In separate bowl, sift together the dry ingredients for flour mix.

Gradually add the flour mix to the wet ingredients to form a soft dough. Knead briefly with hands and let rest about 15 minutes in cool (meaning not super hot) area.

Turn the dough out onto lightly floured surface and roll out until dough is about 1/4 of an inch thick (I used sorghum flour). Flip dough over, using a  flat metal spatula if needed to get underneath, and also to ensure there is no sticking. Dust any sticky spots with a little more sorghum flour and re-roll if needed.  Once dough is about 1/4 inch thick, use an 8″ cake pan to cut circles.

Keep re-rolling and cutting circles until all dough is used. You should be able to make four 8″ circles with this amount of dough. This dough is very similar to wheat based dough. So, if you’ve worked with regular dough before, the handling of this stuff should be pretty familiar.

Once you have your circles cut out, set them aside and prepare filling. Don’t stack them though, they will stick together!

Preheat oven to 400 °F.

Slice tomatoes and onions very thinly and cut tomatoes in half to make little “half moon” shapes.


Now, arrange the thinly sliced tomatoes and onions on half of the circle, as pictured below. Sprinkle each with about 1 tbsp nutritional yeast, 1/4 tbsp cumin, 1/4 tsp salt and then drizzle each with a bit of olive oil.

Fold half of the dough over the filling to make a semi-circle shape. Turn over edges to seal, and use a fork to crimp down the edges of the turnover. Place all 4 turnovers onto an ungreased cookie sheet.

Brush the tops of each lightly with olive oil, and bake in preheated oven for about 30 minutes, or until crusts are golden brown.

Serve hot, and savor every single last bite.

this post was entered in the Gluten Free Photo Contest

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28 Responses to Green Tomato & Onion Turnovers

  1. Alicia says:

    Thanks for sharing! Three of my tomatoes fell off before they were ripe while I was staking them. I was afraid they were not worth using. I’m excited to try your recipe!

  2. […] for early or late summer when green tomatoes are abundant, these turnovers are gluten-free and packed with […]

  3. Leanne says:

    Oh my! I just saw your guest post on OSG and OMG! I haven’t enjoyed turnovers since going gluten-free. Thank you for this great recipe. I’m totally making these next weekend :)

  4. Jenn says:

    So, I have made the actual turnovers twice and they were delicious! I am so excited to find a good gluten free “calzone” style dough. I have also used it a few times for pizza dough, and it turns out great thicker or thin! Thank you for this versatile recipe!

  5. laura says:

    well, i finally got around to making these! i halved the recipe and used white rice flour instead of brown rice flour, because that is what i had. my dough was SO dry. i even added splashes of water along the way, including after rerolling out the dough for my 2nd turnover. it wasn’t until i was preparing the filling that i realized i forgot to add the olive oil! oy! after being verrrry careful, they actually baked up beautifully. no explosion i was anticipating. but the turnover was break-your-teeth rock hard. i think i added enough liquid where this shouldn’t have been a huge problem, but is it simply because i hadn’t added a fat to the dough? or the white rice flour? i still ate the whole thing, no worries. ;) the filling was delicious!

  6. Theresa says:

    These look quite tasty indeed. Actually I just made a few turnovers myself a couple of weeks ago. They are such a versatile food. You can fill them with anything. I’m currently working on a dessert version which I hope to be posting soon. I sure want to try these green tomato and onion ones too. You’re brilliant!

  7. Rachael says:

    Mmm… mark my words, I shall make these before summer is over! I love green tomatoes.

  8. Melissa says:

    I’ve never tried green tomatoes before…but this makes me want to, and in this recipe!!

  9. Corey says:

    Hi – I came across this recipe from foodgawker, and I saw that I wanted to make this! However I have no sorghum flour or brown rice flour, tapioca flour, or even xantham gum. I have whole wheat flour, whole white flour… That’s all I have here for flours.
    Any suggestions?

    • allyson says:

      Hi Corey-
      Okay, so you should be able to make a pretty decent pastry crust with just the white and/or whole wheat flours. I would recommend sticking with the basic recipe for this dough, but use a mix of whole wheat and white flours to substitute my gf flour mix (you may need more or less than the amount given about 4-5 cups… i would guess). Make the liquid yeast mix and then add white flour until you reach a consistency similar to the one pictured. Soft, but not too sticky. Continue on with the recipe as worded, and it should work out pretty good. Make sure you are working with the dough in a nice and cool area!

      Good luck :)
      allyson

  10. Morgan says:

    How ADORABLE are those little pies?? Oh man, too cute. I love it. Awesome recipe and pictures!!!

  11. I LOVE this recipe! I love green tomatoes, and I love onions, and I love turnovers. Swoon! I cannot wait to give this a try. What a simple and delicious summer meal. Perfection!

  12. Mandee says:

    Wowsers, they look great and I am so grateful for the dough recipe, will try it out very soon!

  13. […] love. We’re drooling over these Green Tomato and Onion Turnovers from Manifest […]

  14. Ashley says:

    This recipe looks so interesting! So exciting to have found another site catering to us gluten free vegans :)

  15. Serene says:

    Wow, those are gorgeous!

  16. laura says:

    I was also curious about flours. I have sorghum but no brown rice. What would happen if I subbed buckwheat or oat?

    • allyson says:

      Hi Laura,

      If you are just subbing the sorghum, I would think buckwheat or oat would work great… no guarantees, but it seems like it should do the trick. :)

      Just be sure to add in the flour mixture last and check out the texture of the dough… add more or less of the buckwheat or oat to achieve the soft, slightly elastic texture like in the picture. I hope it works out for you!
      ~ Allyson

      • allyson says:

        Oh no, so sorry, Laura! I just noticed you said you HAD sorghum and NOT brown rice! It should work okay for subbing the brown rice too- maybe go with the buckwheat though since it seems a touch drier than oat flour. Sorry about that!

        ~ Allyson

  17. Noelle says:

    You were right, these looks SO great! Question for you. Why so much corn starch? Is that to bring the dough together for gluten-free baking? Thanks! Do you know what other gluten-free flour I could use, like buckwheat flour?

    • allyson says:

      hi Noelle,

      Good question!

      In this recipe, I am pretty much just using the cornstarch as a flour (unlike what I was used to before going gf!), since it’s really similar to Tapioca flour ( also called tapioca starch). Cornstarch lends a slightly different quality (I’d like to say “dryer”) to baked goods than tapioca, so I like to combine them in some recipes. I’m not sure if other gf flours would work in this recipe, just because the recipe was more or less tailored around the flours I listed. Buckwheat is a really versatile flour, though, so it may be worth a shot! :)

      One of my favorite pita recipes uses only buckwheat and it’s fabulous– much different than this recipe, but still yummy!

      ~Allyson

  18. Michelle says:

    I love fried green tomatoes, so I’m sure I would love these turnovers. They sound delicious!

  19. Maggie says:

    Oh I love green tomatoes! Doesn’t it feel good harvesting veggies and herbs from gardens we’ve planted. Love that feeling! Wonderful idea to make turnovers, how delish! I made some green tomato relish last year and canned it, we just ran out a few days ago. Time to start harvesting! hehe :D

  20. laura says:

    looks like I have something to do tonight! Yum!

  21. Becky says:

    Oh man, those look amazing!

  22. Andrea says:

    I always think of green tomatoes as something to use at the end of the season when frost is threatening to take down the plants. I used to pickle a whole crock full, and slice and fry others. But they’re so good, why not grab some at the front end of summer? Your turnovers look and sound delicious. Great idea!