The Daring Kitchen June 2009 Chinese Dumplings

Oh the madness that has been this past month. I have shamelessly neglected, not only my own blog, but also all those blogs that I love to visit regularly.

Work has been terribly busy and things around the homestead have also been chaotic.

I have been waging a merciless war against Windows Live Messenger, which was installed on my laptop and now I cannot get rid of it.

Every time I uninstall it, it just installs itself again at start up. It’s like a nightmare that I can’t wake up from.  All I have managed to do is hide it, but I know it’s there and I suspect that it is slowing things down.

Remind me never to lend my laptop again!!!

Oh, and the dishwasher died. After almost 10 years of dedicated service it finally died on Saturday morning. Luckily we had plenty of dirty laundry on hand to soak up the water!

We have a new one, still getting to know it, but I think it is the beginning of a beautiful friendship!

Anyway on to this months challenge.

This month the event was hosted by one of my favourite bloggers, Jen from Use Real Butter.

Jen posts the most amazing recipes and her photos are unbelievable, I secretly (or not so secretly anymore) envy her ability and the gorgeous pics she posts regularly.

Jen chose a family recipe as our challenge this month and I have to say that I wasn’t able to devote the time and attention to it that I would have wanted. 

Life conspired against me this month and I couldn’t give this challenge my full attention, but I will try it again when things are calmer.

I had to substitute a few ingredients because they weren’t available in my local market and I didn’t have time to hunt for them all over Milan, next time I will. 

I love the way my filling turned out, but the wrappers were a tad thick and when it came time to cooking them, I accidentally miss placed my print out and skipped a vital step (I forgot to add the water).

So while the filling tasted great, the wrappers didn’t and because they were too thick, they tasted too bland compared to the filling.

Oh well, next time I’ll know better! Please check out everyone else’s efforts over at the Daring Kitchen!

 

Chinese Dumplings/Potstickers

 pork filling:
1 lb (450g) ground pork
4 large napa cabbage leaves, minced
3 stalks green onions, minced
7 shitake mushrooms, minced (if dried – rehydrated and rinsed carefully)
1/2 cup (75g) bamboo shoots, minced
1/4 (55g) cup ginger root, minced
3 tbsp (40g) soy sauce
2 tbsp (28g) sesame oil
2 tbsp (16g) corn starch

 

dough: (double this for the amount of filling, but easier to make it in 2 batches – or just halve the

filling recipe)
2 cups (250g) all-purpose flour
1/2 cup (113g) warm water
flour for work surface

dipping sauce:
2 parts soy sauce
1 part vinegar (red wine or black)
a few drops of sesame oil
chili garlic paste (optional)
minced ginger (optional)
minced garlic (optional)
minced green onion (optional)
sugar (optional)

 

Combine all filling ingredients in a large mixing bowl and mix thoroughly (I mix by clean hand). Cover and refrigerate until ready to use (up to a day, but preferably within an hour or two).

 

Make the dough, Method 1: Place the flour in the work bowl of a food processor with the dough blade. Run the processor and pour the warm water in until incorporated. Pour the contents into a sturdy bowl or onto a work surface and knead until uniform and smooth. The dough should be firm and silky to the touch and not sticky.[Note: it’s better to have a moist dough and have to incorporate more flour than to have a dry and pilling dough and have to incorporate more water).

 

Make the dough, Method 2 (my mom’s instructions): In a large bowl mix flour with 1/4 cup of water and stir until water is absorbed. Continue adding water one teaspoon at a time and mixing thoroughly until dough pulls away from sides of bowl. We want a firm dough that is barely sticky to the touch.

 

To pan fry (potstickers): Place dumplings in a frying pan with 2-3 tbsp of vegetable oil. Heat on high and fry for a few minutes until bottoms are golden. Add 1/2 cup water and cover. Cook until the water has boiled away and then uncover and reduce heat to medium or medium low. Let the dumplings cook for another 2 minutes then remove from heat and serve.

 

My Modifications:

 

For the filling:

I was unable to find napa cabbage, shitake mushrooms or bamboo shoots so my filling had these ingredients (in the same quantities mentioned in the original recipe):

ground pork
white cabbage
green onions
porcini mushrooms
garlic powder
powdered ginger
soy sauce
sesame oil
corn starch