Sprinkles and Chinese Dumplings
Sunday rolled around again, and had no other plans. I actually had big plans for my cooking afternoon... a freezer stash of Chinese dumplings, freezer stash of lasagna, and Lemon Butter Cookies. But the sprinkles put me behind. I accomplished the sprinkles and the dumplings.
First up, homemade sprinkles. I woke up earlier than usual (6.15a...bleh), and had until @ 8 before I had to leave for Sunday morning breakfast. I did my morning routine, got dressed and had a good hour and a half to spare. So, I figure, I could whip these out in that amount of time...it's only 3 ingredients...shouldn't take long.
Wrong. I have a renewed appreciation for cake decorators.
Homemade Sprinkles
Source: http://iambaker.net/homemade-sprinkles
Now, I love the idea of the variations in do-your-own sprinkles (and they don't cost $3 for 2 oz.), but this took a lot longer than I was expecting.
I used a baggie and my first corner cut was too big, which resulted in sugary stickiness escaping and drying/flaking everywhere. LOL You want to be able to stop/slow the flow of stuff with the release of a little pressure.
I have a few lemon-flavored recipes on deck, so I figured I make yellow ones.
I had the afterthought of using lemon juice rather than milk.
I stopped calculating at 1000.
I got lazy towards the end, hence the couple of wacky shapes, lol.
This'll give you about 1/4 to 1/3 of a pint of sprinkles.
Worth it, but plan on a good two hours of piping.
Have a seat, you'll be standing a while (I stood, bent over...I needed an Aleve by the end of my day).
Have something on in the background to help pass the time. TV, music, something.
Flex your hand every so often to stave off cramping aches.
Chinese Pot Stickers/Dumplings
Sources:
http://brokeassgourmet.com/articles/shrimp-and-green-pea-dumplings
http://rasamalaysia.com/potstickers-chinese-dumplings-recipe/2/
http://www.food.com/recipe/chinese-pot-stickers-13320
I have been craving dumplings like crazy for months now. Take-out ones are steamed, but these work too. I used ingredients from all three of the above recipes (but not all of them) and wound up with 20 dumplings. Then I proceeded to eat four. =D
It's a lot of prep work. For all the prep, I want more results. In future, I'd likely at least double the recipe for more stash.
Chinese Pot Stickers (my end results/version)
Ingredients - Wrappers:
2 cups flour
1/2 water + 6 tsp.
Ingredients - Filling:
2 cloves garlic, chopped
@ 1" ginger, peeled and grated
1/2 tbsp. basil or cilantro (approx... I eyeballed it using basil, could not find a small amt of cilantro)
1 tbsp. green onion (about 1/2 tbsp. each of the white part and the green "holey" part)
1/2 tsp. salt
4 tbsp. soy sauce +/-
1/2 lb. ground pork (a little less is fine, I had a few good bites of filling left when done)
20 cocktail size shrimp, chopped into 1/4" pieces (mine came from a frozen cocktail ring)
Directions: it looks like it's really involved, but if I can do it...
Prepare the garlic, ginger and onion, set aside.
Prepare the dough. Mix flour and water until a soft dough forms. If it's too dry, add water 1 teaspoon at a time (I ended up using 6 tsp.). Knead for 5 minutes on a floured surface until it is very elastic, but not sticky. I started out in my mixer to get it going, but it gets jumpy, so I had to switch to hand-kneading. Next time, I'll think about using the breadmaker to do a dough cycle. Or, if I found a super-fantastic deal on a KitchenAid, I may break down and get one. I'm probably the only person on the planet who doesn't care for them. Anyway...
Cut the dough in half and roll each half into a 6" log. Place on floured plate, sprinkle lightly with flour and cover with a clean dish towel. Let rest for at least 30 minutes, and up to an hour. Mine ended up resting about 40 mins.
While the dough is napping, make the filling. Chop the shrimp and combine in a bowl with the garlic, ginger and basil and 1 tbsp. of soy sauce.
Pull out your large frying pan with the fitting lid and heat 1 tsp. canola or vegetable oil.
Over medium heat, cook the ground pork until no longer pink. When about half done, drain pork if so desired, then add onion, salt and remaining 3 tbsp. soy sauce. When pork is just about done, add shrimp combination so it gets heated through or shrimp is no longer raw (if not pre-cooked).
Take filling mix off the heat and set aside.
Your dough should be about done resting. Cut each log into about 10 pieces each. Sprinkle them with flour to keep them from sticking. May also want to place a lightly damp paper towel over half of them so they don't get dried out. By time I got to the last 1/3, they were getting a little dry.
Because of my limited counter space, I rolled the wrappers out as I assembled the dumplings. If you have plenty of counter one day I will have more!, it's probably quicker to roll them all out at once. And leave something damp over them so they don't dry out. On a floured surface, roll each of your pieces into about 5" diameter circles (aim for circular, but don't worry if it's not exactly round).
Place about 2 tsp. of the filling onto 1 half of the dumpling or the middle, it's all going to get folded into a half-moon shape anyway.
Using a wet fingertip, brush the edge of half the dough. Fold over so you have a half-moon shape of dumpling goodness and press the edges to seal. Press well, you want them to stay closed through cooking. I found that edges wet beyond halfway around were harder to seal.
Place completed dumplings on a floured plate and set aside. Repeat until you run out of one or the other - hopefully, if there's extra - you'll run out of wrappers before filling. If there is filling left over...mangia! I had a couple bites of filling left.
Now, you're ready to cook 'em!
Rinse out your frying pan and heat 2 tbsp. oil over medium-high heat (marker 6 on my stovetop). Working in batches of about 6 or 7, fry the dumplings for 1-2 minutes on each side I did closer to 1 min. After they've browned on the second side, stand arm's length from the stove to avoid hot jumping liquid and pour 1/8 cup water into the pan and cover tightly and reduce heat to medium (marker 5 for me). Steam dumplings like this for 1-2 minutes until all the water has been absorbed. Remove lid and place dumplings on paper-towel lined dish or pan to drain.
Once all dumplings have been cooked, serve immediately with soy sauce for dipping. Or, have your dinner portion and freeze the rest (after taking them off the paper towels) in one layer so you don't have one big frozen mass of dumplings.
Theses certainly don't compare to where I usually get my take-out ones, but they are a good substitute; these are going onto the recipe notebook!
First up, homemade sprinkles. I woke up earlier than usual (6.15a...bleh), and had until @ 8 before I had to leave for Sunday morning breakfast. I did my morning routine, got dressed and had a good hour and a half to spare. So, I figure, I could whip these out in that amount of time...it's only 3 ingredients...shouldn't take long.
Wrong. I have a renewed appreciation for cake decorators.
Homemade Sprinkles
Source: http://iambaker.net/homemade-sprinkles
Now, I love the idea of the variations in do-your-own sprinkles (and they don't cost $3 for 2 oz.), but this took a lot longer than I was expecting.
I used a baggie and my first corner cut was too big, which resulted in sugary stickiness escaping and drying/flaking everywhere. LOL You want to be able to stop/slow the flow of stuff with the release of a little pressure.
I have a few lemon-flavored recipes on deck, so I figured I make yellow ones.
I had the afterthought of using lemon juice rather than milk.
I stopped calculating at 1000.
I got lazy towards the end, hence the couple of wacky shapes, lol.
This'll give you about 1/4 to 1/3 of a pint of sprinkles.
Worth it, but plan on a good two hours of piping.
Have a seat, you'll be standing a while (I stood, bent over...I needed an Aleve by the end of my day).
Have something on in the background to help pass the time. TV, music, something.
Flex your hand every so often to stave off cramping aches.
Chinese Pot Stickers/Dumplings
Sources:
http://brokeassgourmet.com/articles/shrimp-and-green-pea-dumplings
http://rasamalaysia.com/potstickers-chinese-dumplings-recipe/2/
http://www.food.com/recipe/chinese-pot-stickers-13320
I have been craving dumplings like crazy for months now. Take-out ones are steamed, but these work too. I used ingredients from all three of the above recipes (but not all of them) and wound up with 20 dumplings. Then I proceeded to eat four. =D
It's a lot of prep work. For all the prep, I want more results. In future, I'd likely at least double the recipe for more stash.
Chinese Pot Stickers (my end results/version)
Ingredients - Wrappers:
2 cups flour
1/2 water + 6 tsp.
Ingredients - Filling:
2 cloves garlic, chopped
@ 1" ginger, peeled and grated
1/2 tbsp. basil or cilantro (approx... I eyeballed it using basil, could not find a small amt of cilantro)
1 tbsp. green onion (about 1/2 tbsp. each of the white part and the green "holey" part)
1/2 tsp. salt
4 tbsp. soy sauce +/-
1/2 lb. ground pork (a little less is fine, I had a few good bites of filling left when done)
20 cocktail size shrimp, chopped into 1/4" pieces (mine came from a frozen cocktail ring)
Directions: it looks like it's really involved, but if I can do it...
Prepare the garlic, ginger and onion, set aside.
Prepare the dough. Mix flour and water until a soft dough forms. If it's too dry, add water 1 teaspoon at a time (I ended up using 6 tsp.). Knead for 5 minutes on a floured surface until it is very elastic, but not sticky. I started out in my mixer to get it going, but it gets jumpy, so I had to switch to hand-kneading. Next time, I'll think about using the breadmaker to do a dough cycle. Or, if I found a super-fantastic deal on a KitchenAid, I may break down and get one. I'm probably the only person on the planet who doesn't care for them. Anyway...
Cut the dough in half and roll each half into a 6" log. Place on floured plate, sprinkle lightly with flour and cover with a clean dish towel. Let rest for at least 30 minutes, and up to an hour. Mine ended up resting about 40 mins.
While the dough is napping, make the filling. Chop the shrimp and combine in a bowl with the garlic, ginger and basil and 1 tbsp. of soy sauce.
Pull out your large frying pan with the fitting lid and heat 1 tsp. canola or vegetable oil.
Over medium heat, cook the ground pork until no longer pink. When about half done, drain pork if so desired, then add onion, salt and remaining 3 tbsp. soy sauce. When pork is just about done, add shrimp combination so it gets heated through or shrimp is no longer raw (if not pre-cooked).
Take filling mix off the heat and set aside.
Your dough should be about done resting. Cut each log into about 10 pieces each. Sprinkle them with flour to keep them from sticking. May also want to place a lightly damp paper towel over half of them so they don't get dried out. By time I got to the last 1/3, they were getting a little dry.
Because of my limited counter space, I rolled the wrappers out as I assembled the dumplings. If you have plenty of counter one day I will have more!, it's probably quicker to roll them all out at once. And leave something damp over them so they don't dry out. On a floured surface, roll each of your pieces into about 5" diameter circles (aim for circular, but don't worry if it's not exactly round).
Place about 2 tsp. of the filling onto 1 half of the dumpling or the middle, it's all going to get folded into a half-moon shape anyway.
Using a wet fingertip, brush the edge of half the dough. Fold over so you have a half-moon shape of dumpling goodness and press the edges to seal. Press well, you want them to stay closed through cooking. I found that edges wet beyond halfway around were harder to seal.
Place completed dumplings on a floured plate and set aside. Repeat until you run out of one or the other - hopefully, if there's extra - you'll run out of wrappers before filling. If there is filling left over...mangia! I had a couple bites of filling left.
Now, you're ready to cook 'em!
Rinse out your frying pan and heat 2 tbsp. oil over medium-high heat (marker 6 on my stovetop). Working in batches of about 6 or 7, fry the dumplings for 1-2 minutes on each side I did closer to 1 min. After they've browned on the second side, stand arm's length from the stove to avoid hot jumping liquid and pour 1/8 cup water into the pan and cover tightly and reduce heat to medium (marker 5 for me). Steam dumplings like this for 1-2 minutes until all the water has been absorbed. Remove lid and place dumplings on paper-towel lined dish or pan to drain.
Once all dumplings have been cooked, serve immediately with soy sauce for dipping. Or, have your dinner portion and freeze the rest (after taking them off the paper towels) in one layer so you don't have one big frozen mass of dumplings.
Theses certainly don't compare to where I usually get my take-out ones, but they are a good substitute; these are going onto the recipe notebook!