Mini Goledn Egg Dumplings with Pork Filling

中文菜谱：迷你黄金蛋饺 & 2019年夜饭

Febrary 4th is the date for traditional Chinese New Year in 2019.  On this day, most Chinese families get together from all over the places to celebrate the beginning of a new year.  It is kind of like Thanksgiving in America, but longer and more festival. 

On the last evening of lunar year, it is also a tradition to make serve a marvelous feast which could take up to weeks’ preparation.  

Now since we are living in the United States, we still celebrate Chinese New Year, just on a smaller scale.  I still make some traditional Chinese food on this day.  Egg dumplings are one of them.

Egg dumplings are a must for New Year’s feast.  The beautiful golden color resembles gold and more money incoming in the New Year.  The shape of flower means good luck and blessing in the New Year too. 

Ingredients：

180 g ground pork
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
1 to 2 teaspoons rice cooking wine
1/2 teaspoon oyster sauce
2 to 3 tablespoons soy sauce
1/4 teaspoon ground white pepper
1/4 cup chicken stock/ water
5 large eggs
salt to taste
vegetable oil for cooking

Directions ：

Add ground pork to a medium bowl, along with ground ginger, rice cooking wine, oyster sauce, soy sauce, ground white pepper, and salt.  Whisk clock-wise with a pair of chopsticks.

While whisking, add a tablespoon chicken stock/ water.  Whisk until the liquid is absorbed before adding more.

Add a pinch of salt to the eggs and beat them until smooth.

I use a cast iron pancake puff pan to make egg dumplings.  It is super efficient because I can make 7 of them at a time. 

Heat the pan over medium low heat.  Spray with oil.  Add a couple teaspoons of beaten eggs to each hole.  Swirl around a little bit.

Add teaspoon ground pork filling to each of them.

Fold them over.

Once egg dumplings can hold their half moon shape, remove from pan. 

Repeat the process until all done.

Assemble all egg dumplings in a plate like a big flower. 

Add to a steamer.  Steam dumplings over high heat for about 6 minutes.   The steaming time may vary with dumplings’ sizes and shapes.

They can be served hot or cold.  Aren’t they pretty?

The rest of our New Year feast also includes boiled free range chicken with dipping sauces.

med bass with ginger and oyster sauce

Purple daikon salad

Cucumber salad

Spinach and tofu salad

Steamed sweet rice with nuts and red beans paste

Stewed Rice with Chinese Sausages and Shiitake Mushrooms

中文菜谱： 香肠香菇油饭

I make this dish whenever I am don’t have much time to cook but still want to have a good home cooked meal, or when I am just simply too lazy to prepare several courses.  O(∩_∩)O~

In one single pan, sausages provide protein; rice provides carbohydrate and shiitake mushrooms provide vitamins.  What more does one need? 

Ingredients：

2 cups of short grain rice
250 to 300g fresh shiitake mushrooms (sold in most Asian grocery markets)
1 package of Chinese sausages (12 oz. sold in most Asian grocery markets)
1 small onion
1 to 2 teaspoons oyster sauce
1/4 teaspoon ground white pepper
1/4  teaspoon five spice powder
2 gloves of garlic, peeled and minced
3 to 4 tablespoons soy sauce
1 to 2 teaspoons vegetable oil
chicken broth/ water (about 2 1/2 to 2 3/4 cups)
salt to taste

Directions：

Use a damp kitchen paper towel to wipe clean the shiitake mushrooms.  In Asia, people believe rinsing fresh mushrooms under running water could ruin their delicate aroma.  The best way to clean them is with damp cloth or paper towel. 

When shopping in Asian grocery market, remember to get the sausages from Canton or Hong Kong areas.  They usually taste a bit both sweet and savory, which makes them perfect for stewing together with rice and mushrooms.

Dice the mushrooms, onion and sausages.  

Heat a wok over high heat.  Add oil and diced sausages.  Stir fry until the sausages turn golden brown.

I use a Staub perfect pan for the dish.  It is very sturdy and heats evenly, which is perfect for Asian style sauté, stir fry and stew. 

Add minced garlic and chopped onion.  Sauté for 3 to 4 minutes or until the onion turns soft and transparent. 

Add white rice, sauté for a couple minutes.  The rice should be evenly coated with oil and liquid in the pan. 

Add chopped shiitake mushrooms, along with oyster sauce, ground white pepper, five spice powder and salt.  Continue to sauté for another 3 to 5 minutes. 

Add chicken broth / water.

When it comes to a boil, cover with lid.  Reduce the heat to simmer for 15 to 20 minutes, or until all the liquid is absorbed and the rice is cooked all the way through. 

The combination of Chinese sausages, shiitake mushrooms and rice smells really good!

With a wooden spoon, gently mix everything together.

Serve hot immediately.

Pan-fried Dumplings with Pork and Zucchini

中文菜谱： 鲜肉西葫芦煎饺

Zucchini became an important vegetable when we were still living in a small town in Michigan.  We were far away from Asian grocery stores.  So I shop at the local farmer market a lot to get fresh produce and sometimes grass fed steaks, which, by the way, were super tasty and amazing. 

Leafy greens thrived in early summer.  When July came, most vegetable booths begin to sell local zucchinis, peppers, potatoes and corns. 

That was when I bought so many zucchinis and learned to develop different ways to cook them.  Besides stir fried zucchini, my favorite way is to dry them first a little, chop them up and then put into dumplings.

Chinese dumplings are like Italian pasta.  The ingredient and flavor combinations are endless.  Any ordinary ingredient like zucchini could be used in dumpling fillings and shine like a flavor star. 

Ingredients：

1 lb pork shoulder
5 to 6 zucchinis
1 pack of dumpling wraps (sold in frozen food section in most Asian grocery stores)
1 tablespoon rice cooking wine
1 to 2 teaspoon oyster sauce
1/4  teaspoon ground white pepper
1/4  to 1/2 teaspoon corn starch
1/4  teaspoon ground ginger
1 stalks of green onions, chopped
Chicken broth/ water  
salt to taste
cooking oil
white sesame seeds
water/ egg wash (for dumpling wrapping)

Directions：

Thinly slice the zucchinis.  Use a food dehydrator to partially dry the zucchinis slices just until they are dry to touch and the edges begin to wrinkle. 

If you don’t have a food dehydrator available, air dry and sundry methods are both ok too.

Grind the pork shoulder with a meat grinder.  If you don’t have a meat grinder, remember to ask for help to do so in the store, or you can also buy the ground pork.

Add ground pork to a medium bowl, along with ground white pepper, oyster sauce, rice cooking wine, ground ginger, and corn starch.  Whisk with a pair of chopsticks or a wooden spoon.  Gradually add chicken stock/water while whisking.  The more and harder you whisk, the tender and more elastic the ground pork filling will be. 

Use a food processor to finely chop the zucchini slices. 

Add to the ground pork mixture.

Add salt to taste.  Mix with a pair of chopsticks until well combined.

Brush the dumpling wrapper’s edge with a little water or egg wash. 

Add a couple tablespoons’ pork filling to its center.

Wrap it up.

Repeat the process until all the dumplings are finished.

Heat a small cast iron skillet over medium high heat.  Add 1 to 2 tablespoons oil, and then about 10 dumplings.  Use more oil and a larger pan if you want to cook more than 10 dumplings at a time. 

Pan-fry the dumplings for a couple minutes. 

Add 1/3 cup of water.  Cover with lid immediately after adding water to the pan.

When all the water evaporates, reduce the heat to medium low.  Sprinkle with remaining chopped green onions and white sesame seeds on top.

The bottoms of dumplings are golden brown.

Remove from heat and serve them hot immediately.

There two of my personal dipping sauces for pan-fried dumplings.  One is a combination of chili oil sauce + soy sauce + balsamic vinegar.  The other is sriracha sauce hot chili sauce.

The crunchy golden bottoms of the dumplings are the best part! 

Zucchini’s flavor really stands out in the dumplings.  The fillings taste juicy, tender and with a significant sweetness from zucchinis.  Yum!