Pork Dumplings with Garlic Chives

Dumplings are so widely popular in China that it becomes comfort food for many Chinese people.  Before the time food processor and stand mixer were introduced our daily lives, making dumplings was a time consuming chore.  My family made them only a couple times a year to celebrate important holidays.  The whole family gathered in the kitchen, kneading, chopping, mixing and wrapping the dumplings all together.  Ahhh, good old times.

Any other time of year, we can always buy dumplings from street food vendors or neighborhood dinners.   You can eat them as breakfast, lunch or dinner.  If you are served with dumplings when visiting a Chinese family, congratulations, you are highly welcomed in their home. 

With the help from meat grinder, stand mixer and pasta roller set, making fresh dumplings from scratch becomes easy and fun.   This time, I make traditional pork dumplings with garlic chives and then pan fry them.

 

For dumpling filling:

2/3 cup freshly ground pork
2 eggs
a handful fresh garlic chives
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1/3 teaspoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon oyster sauce
1/4  teaspoon ground white pepper
1/2  to 1 teaspoon rice cooking wine
a few drops sesame oil
salt to taste
2 to 3 tablespoon oil

 

For dumpling wraps:

1 cup bread flour
1/4 cup water
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon oil

 

For pan frying dumplings:
3 to 4 tablespoon oil
1/2  to 3/4cup water
shopped green onion (optional)
white sesame (optional)

 

Directions:

Combine flour, water, salt and oil in a medium bowl.  Knead until a smooth dough ball forms.  It takes about 5 to 6 minutes.  Cover the dough with plastic wrap.  Let it rest for a couple hours.  If you are in a hurry, make sure the dough rest for at least 30 minutes. 

Add a pinch salt to eggs, make scrambled eggs over medium heat.  

 

Rinse the garlic chives thoroughly, pat dry and then chop them up.

Mix ground pork, soy sauce, ground white pepper, sugar, rice cooking wine, oyster sauce and sesame oil together.  Whisk with a pair chopsticks until all ingredients are well mixed. Add scrambled eggs and chopped chives, mix together. 

Add salt to taste. 

Feed the dough through pasta roller attachment to stand mixer at setting no. 1.  Repeat the folding and rolling on this setting for 5 to 6 times or until it reaches desired smoothness.  

 

Now roll the dough thinner at a narrower setting at 5

With a round shape cookie cutter, cut dumpling wraps.

Roll and fold the left over again to make more dumpling wraps.  The more times you roll it, the more elastic it gets.  I change the thickness setting to 6. 

Put a couple tablespoons pork filling to the center of dumpling wrap, lift from one end and then folding on both sides. 

I make 28 dumplings.  That is about 3 to 4 servings.

Heat a big flat nonstick pan over medium high heat.  Add oil, and then place dumplings one next to each other in the pan.  Fry or 1 minute, add water and cover.  Cook until water is almost gone, add green onion and white sesame, cover again and reduce to low heat.  

Cook until the dumpling bottoms are golden brown.  It is kind of tricky to get perfect crust on the bottom.  Too much heat, they burn; undercooked, they look pale instead of golden brown. 

So, my advice is to watch it closely at the end of cooking.

Time to enjoy O(_)O~

I like to pair pan fried dumplings with garlic chili sauce, which of course is home made too. I posted the recipe  before too:

http://www.yankitchen.com/blog/2k1o27b6fzy82wn0sphsah9oqd3hbo  (An English version recipe is coming soon.)

Take a bite

Love it

Oven roasted chestnut

中文菜谱: 烤栗子

When the fall came to the end, chestnut, one of my favorite nuts, appeared on local Saturday farmer’s market.  I have to buy several quarts of them whenever I see these cute brown color sweet nuts.  Right, that is how much I love them.

I was approached more than once by some curious American fellows asking me what they are and what they taste like.  Well, when toasted, chestnut tastes very much like butternut squash, but sweeter with firmer texture.  According to my standard, they are a hundred times better than butternut squash. 

When I was growing up, dried chestnut was a winter staple in my grandma’s pantry.  They are used in chicken soup, pork stew, even in porridge.  There are a thousand ways to cook chestnut and each single one of them is awsome.  

As for me, I always enjoy the freshly roasted ones the best.

It is a very simple and non-effort way.  Chestnuts are the only ingredient here.  We will also need a pair of sharp scissors and a toaster oven. 

Wash and drain the chestnuts.  Cut across the tops and be careful not to hurt yourself or cut the chestnuts into halves.  We just need a shallow cut so that they won’t explode when roasted in the oven.

Preheat the toaster oven to 350F. (Preheat to 375F if using a normal sized oven).

Spread out the chestnuts onto a cookie pan. Pop them in the oven and bake for 20 minutes. (Bake another 5 minutes if using a normal sized oven). 

These chestnuts I got from local farmer’s market are quite small.  Large size chestnuts might require additional 8 to 10 minutes baking time. 

Serve immediately right out of oven.  The cuts on chestnut tops will help to release the nuts from their shells. 

I’d rather have a bucket of these instead of popcorn when watching a movie and cozying up with my husband on the couch.  They taste so much better! 

Sponge cupcakes

中文菜谱: 海绵纸杯小蛋糕

The recipe is from http://forums.huaren.us/showtopic.aspx?topicid=1699462&forumpage=1, I make a little bit change, and they turn out great.  My thanks to dodorat , the author of this recipe. 

These wonderful little cakes are just like the cakes I used to buy from street vendors when I was a kid. 

Ingredients:

3 eggs
100 g granulated sugar
120 g cake flour
40 g whole milk
30 g vegetable oil
1/2 teaspoon vanilla exact
1/4 teaspoon salt

 

Direction;

Preheat oven to 375 F/ 190°C

Beat the eggs on high speed with stand mixer.  Add sugar little by little. 

My husband bought this mixer as a thanksgiving gift years ago.  It is the perfect gift.  Love it and it is still running great. 

Beat until egg mixture is very light and pale in color, double or triple in volume, around 6 to 9 minutes.

Shift cake flour and salt, and gently fold in with a rubble spatula. 

Combine milk, oil and vanilla exact; whisk together until well combined.  Take a couple scoops of batter, mix with milk mixture, and then add the milk mixture into big bowl of batter.  Fold in gently with a rubber spatula.

Line up the cupcake baking mold with paper cups.  Fill the cups with batter. 

Bake them for 14 to 16 minutes or until the tops are golden brown.  

They look just like the ones I used to buy from Chinese street vendors. 

The texture is great oo.

Cinnamon rolls

中文菜谱: 肉桂红糖面包卷

Who can resist freshly bake cinnamon rolls?  I can’t.  For most the bread, I enjoy the process of making bread more than eating it.  But as for cinnamon rolls, I always enjoy baking and eating it afterwards with a cup of black coffee.

My husband’s company was hosting a potluck party.  I made a big box of cinnamon rolls for him.  The recipe is by Paula Deen from foodnetwork.  The aroma during baking made the whole house smell like Christmas Eve.  Fantastic!

The recipe link:http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/paula-deen/cinnamon-rolls-recipe.html

I followed the recipe exactly except for substituting regular milk for scalded milk, brown sugar for sugar.   

Ingredients

Dough:

¼ ounce package yeast

½ cup warm water

½ cup scalded milk

¼ cup sugar

1/3 cup butter or shortening

1 teaspoon salt

1 egg

3 ½ to 4 cups all-purpose flour

 

Filling:

½ cup melted butter, plus more for pan

¾ cup sugar, plus more for pan

2 tablespoons gound cinnamon

¾ cup raisins, walnuts, or pecans, optional

 

Glaze:

4 tablespoons butter

2 cups powdered sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

3 to 6 tablespoons hot water

 

Piping hot! 

2014 holiday party

 中文菜谱:2014 节日PARTY

 

I don’t usually host big holiday party because a great party is kind of labor intensive and exhausting involving all the planning, shopping, chopping, baking and cooking.  But this year, I decided to make a change and host one. 

And I did.  It turned out great.  It was so satisfying to see people enjoy my food. We ate a lot, drank a lot of wine, and gossiped about what is new going on in our lives.  

It was just great. 

 

Macaroons

I made four flavors: original, chocolate, green tea and rose.  The filling was chocolate ganache.  

I have posted the recipe before

http://www.yankitchen.com/english-blog/2014/11/15/macaroons

Recipe in Chinese:

http://www.yankitchen.com/blog/2014/11/7/2

 

 

Date Rolls and Almond Crispy Thin Cookies

Almond crispy thin cookies recipe has been posted before too.  Sorry there isn’t an English version for this recipe, but it is coming soon.

 http://www.yankitchen.com/blog/2014/11/2/2-2

 

Date Rolls:

Dough ingredients

1 cup all purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon sugar
4 to 5cold butter
2/3 egg
1/3 egg, beaten to make egg wash
white sesame

 

Date filling ingredients

30 dates, pits removed
3 to 4 tablespoon honey

 

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400 F/ 204°C

Combine flour, butter, salt, sugar and egg in food processor; process until smooth dough is form and it takes about twenty to thirty seconds. 

Remove the dough from processor, cover it up and let it rest for 5 minutes.

In the meantime, combine dates and honey in the food processor.  Process until the date is and honey are well combined to be date paste.

Take out the paste and divide into three.  Roll them into three rolls, half inch in diameter.

Divide the dough into three too.  With a rolling pin, flatten each dough piece out into a thin flap. Place date paste on one end, and roll it up like sushi, dough seam side down.

Brush the rolls with egg wash, sprinkle with sesame, and then cut into bite size. 

Transfer rolls dough to a cookie pan.  Bake them for 14 to 16 minutes or until the tops are golden brown.

 

Mini rice cakes with coconut and red beans

Mini rice cake rolls with red beans

The two snacks above are adapted from my rice cakes recipe.  The English version is coming soon. http://www.yankitchen.com/blog/3qqttb1m37mtc9rm61phamsjim34rs

 

Almond chiffon cake with chocolate glaze

This one is adapted from the black sesame chiffon cake I posted before.  The English version is coming soon too.

http://www.yankitchen.com/blog/2014/10/18/2-5

 

The entrees are BBQ ribs, teriyaki chicken, Asian style BBQ beef, and red braised pork hocks.

 

BBQ ribs

I kind of cheated on this BBQ ribs because I used a store bought BBQ sauce.  Who cares? It turned out to be awesome!  Everyone loved it and it was the first dish to be gone.  I was lucky enough to get a small piece before it was gone.  Yum!

Ingredients:

1 slab baby back ribs (not spare ribs nor st. Louis style rib)
1 tablespoon paprika
1 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
freshly ground black pepper
salt to taste
1/2  bottle Kraft original BBQ sauce

 

Ingredients:

Preheat oven to 375 F/ 191°C

Thoroughly rinse the ribs and pat dry.  Trim any excessive fat. 

Combine garlic powder, paprika, black pepper and salt to be dry rub. Sprinkle dry rub over both sides of ribs. 

Line a big baking pan with one layer of foil and another layer of parchment paper.  Place the ribs in center, wrap it up tightly.

Roast for two hours. 

After two hours, crank up oven heat to 425 F/ 218°C

Open up the foil wrap.  Brush the top of ribs with a thick layer of BBQ sauce; send back to the oven; Roast another seven to ten minutes; take it out, brush with BBQ sauce; roast again for another seven to ten minutes, take it out, brush…… well, you get the idea.  Do it back and forth four to five times until the ribs are nicely glazed and they beautifully golden brown.    

It is very tender, juicy, and off the bones.

I serve the ribs with a marble BBQ set.  It can keep the ribs hot with two burner heating the slate from below. 

Teriyaki chicken

This recipe has been posted before too.

http://www.yankitchen.com/english-blog/teriyakichickenwithsnowpeas

Chinese version recipe:

http://www.yankitchen.com/blog/2014/11/12/2

 

Asian Style BBQ Beef 

It is my go to recipe whenever I crave for Asian style BBQ beef.  All my friends (mostly Asians too) love it. 

Ingredients:

4 pound chuckeye beef, thinly sliced
2 onions, thinly sliced
6 gloves garlic, mashed into garlic paste
2 tablespoon sugar
2/3 cup soy sauce
1 balsamic vinegar
1 tablespoon freshly ground black pepper
2 tablespoon rice cooking wine
2 tablespoon tomato paste
2 tablespoon white sesame
oil for cooking

Directions:

In a large bowl, whisk together garlic paste, sugar, soy sauce, vinegar, rice wine, tomato paste and sesame until well combined.  Add thinly sliced beef.  Mix well.   Add onion, mix well again.

Cover the bowl with plastic wrap; refrigerate overnight.

Heat a cast iron skillet over high heat.  Add oil, and then add beef just enough to cover the bottom of the pan.  Don not dump the beef into the skillet all at one time.  Flip the beef when bottom side is golden brown.   Repeat until all the beef is done.

Serve in a big bowl.  A buffet warmer with stand is perfect for serving and keeping food hot.  

I also made tons of flat bread from scratch but it is too bad that I forgot to take pictures. 

I prepared six diced vegetable toppings: tomato, cucumber, green onion, cilantro, jalapeño and onion.  But onion was forgotten in the fridge.  

Take a piece of flat bread, add meat and vegetable topping.  wa-lah! 

The last entrée is Asian pan bread with red braised pork hocks.  When the guests arrived, I was making grilled bread buns.  Too bad I didn’t have a chance to take it picture for this entrée. 

It is the same as I posted before.

http://www.yankitchen.com/english-blog/2014/11/24/asian-pan-bread-with-red-braised-pork-hock

Chinese version recipe:

http://www.yankitchen.com/blog/2014/roujiamo

 Of course I made four times meat as I made before.  Apparently four times meat was still not enough, because it was gone so fast.

I started to grill the bread buns after the guests got here.  They are best when served hot and freshly grilled.  

This is the perfect way to eat them.  Slice it open in the middle like a bagel and stuff with braised pork and any vegetable toppings you like.

I made about thirty to forty buns.  They were almost all gone. 

Don’t forget to eat vegetable! There was a large bowl of salad with balsamic vinaigrette dressing on the side.  

Happy holidays!