Hey everyone, hope all is well with everyone, been having a lot of problems with my blog lately so I’m hoping all is well now. Now to the good stuff, I had the pleasure of attending a Chef Hangout with Chef Mary Helen Leonard of Mary Makes Dinner . I had won the class and man was it fun. There were only three people in the class but honestly, if there had been more, I wonder would the class had been longer. Anyway, the other individual was William Burdette of Nosatiation who has a very interesting blog himself. So make sure, you give these guys a visit cause you might find something you like.
This catagory of food was very new to me but, I was very eager to learn. When you have a passion for something, you want to learn as much as you can, it really doesn’t matter. I really would suggest that you check out the Chef Hangout there are a lot of different classes that you can take and it’s not expensive. It’s a good way to meet new people and learn at the same time.
For Dumplings
1/3 cups Water
1 cup Flour
1 pound Ground Pork
2 Egg Whites
2 tablespoons, fluid Dark Soy Sauce
1 teaspoon Fresh Ginger, Minced or Grated (optional)
1 1-inch knob of fresh ginger, sliced
2 cloves garlic, peeled and halved
1 bunch Scallions (sliced)
1 tbsp Szechuan Peppercorns (Pepper Flowers)
¼ cup Vegetable / Peanut / or Canola Oil (for making pepper oil)
1 cup Malt Vinegar
2 Tablespoons Toasted Sesame Oil (for dumplings)
1 teaspoon Hot Chili Pepper or Siracha Sauce
salt & pepper
1 cup water (for dumplings)
Directions: To Make Dumplings
- Combine the flour and water in a mixing bowl, or in a stand mixer equipped with a dough hook attached.
- Mix until fully combined, and then turn the dough onto a floured surface.
- Knead the dough for about 2 minutes, then put it in a covered dish to rest.
- While the dough is resting, put the peppercorns and ¼ cup of oil into the cold wok/pan.
- Turn the burner on to medium heat and hold allow the spices to warm in the oil until fragrant.
- Turn the heat off of the burner, and allow to oil to cool.
- Combine the pork, minced/grated ginger, dark soy sauce, sesame oil, and scallions
- Sprinkle with salt & pepper
- Add the egg white, and mix it into the meat in a clockwise direction until it firms.
- Remove the dough from its dish and cut it in half. Place half of the dough onto a floured surface and roll into a ½” thick log.
- Cut the log into 1 inch pieces.
- Roll each of the pieces into a ball with your hand, then press flat on to the floured surface.
- Using a rolling pin, roll each ball into a small disc. Try to keep the inside of the circle thicker than the edges.
- Dust each wrapper with flour, do not stack on top of each other.
- Continue with the second half of the dough, until all the wrappers have been made.
- Place a wrapper in your palm, then carefully drop a heaping teaspoon into the center of the wrapper.
- Pinch the wrapper closed, and set the dumpling on a floured dish.
- Repeat until all the first batch of dough is exhausted. You should have about 12 dumplings.
- Repeat with second half of dough.
- Strain the oil from the wok and discard the solids.
- Return the oil to the pan (reserving two tablespoons for the salad dressing), and turn the burner on medium.
- When the oil heats up, carefully place the dumplings into the oil. Allow them to brown on the bottom. Work in batches if you need to.
- When all of the dumplings have browned, drain the excess oil from the pan.
- Return the pan to the burner and re-heat the oil. Add all of the dumplings to the pan (if possible) followed by 1 cup of water.
- Cover and bring to a boil. Allow the dumplings to cook until the wrappers contract. (Between 3 – 5 minutes)
- Drain the dumplings and serve immediately, with the vinegar & hot pepper mixture for dipping. You can use soy sauce if you prefer.
This technique of making home made dumplings takes a lot of practice. I actually had a lot of left over meat so, I made another batch of dough the next day. Remembering everything I learned, I was able to make my dumplings a lot better and bigger. We also fixed a Cucumber Salad that I really forgot to take pictures of. I was really tired because we were on our feet for three hours. After the class, my BFF decided he wanted to fix some shrimp fried rice and egg foo young. I toldhim hey, I’m never buying shrimp fried rice again that’s how good it was. So, give this recipe a try if this is one of your favorite dishes or, take the class trust me you will have a good time. And until then, KEEP IT SIMPLE!
Cooking Lady
