Hello all, Meg here.
It has been a very long time since I wrote on this blog, but, in my defence, I have been quite busy finishing my MA, having a wedding and starting Teachers’ College so at least I have been doing something somewhat useful with my time!
A few weeks ago it was my partner Henry’s birthday and his sister Jessica was kind enough to bring down some Chinese dumplings from Auckland to serve at his party. We had been to the restaurant that she had got them from and really enjoyed them so she bought some frozen ones and carried them down to us in her hand luggage.
I love dumplings and enjoyed having them at home so much that I thought I would try making some. I used frozen dumpling wrappers that I found in the freezers at Yan’s supermarket here in Wellington. I would guess that you could find them in your local Asian supply store too. If you can’t find them and you are not as lazy as me you can google “dumpling wrapper recipe” and find plenty of options. Please excuse my dodgy food photography!
I mixed the following ingredients to make my dumplings:
- 500g pork mince
- 1/2 cup finely chopped cabbage
- 3 finely sliced spring onions
- 1 tbsp minced ginger
- 1 tbsp soy sauce
- 1 tbsp sesame oil
- 1/2 tsp Chinese five spice (although I did have some constructive criticism that less spice might have been good).
Just mix everything well. This part of the recipe is easy!
Next, take a dumpling wrapper and place about a teaspoon sized ball of mixture in the middle. You may need to lay a damp tea towel over the wrappers so they don’t dry out. They defrost pretty quickly and they can’t be refrozen. The next step is to wet your fingertip and rub it around the rim of the wrapper to make it stick. You then fold the two sides together, making sure to get any air out.
I then attempted to pleat the edges of the dumplings to make them neater. I don’t think it has much effect on taste or cooking time but it does make it a bit tidier when it come to eating and steaming.
We then cooked them in bamboo steamers although there are lots of instructions on the internet for pan frying and then steaming in the fry pan. If you use bamboo baskets don’t forget to put down wax paper or cabbage leaves as they are very sticky!
I served them with some noodles and bok choy stirfried with lots of garlic and with some oyster sauce on top (please ignore the dish brush that has snuck into shot!).
Next time I’d like to try a vegetarian recipe so if any one has a good one please do leave a link!
Last week I was lucky enough to have dinner at Martin Bosley’s restaurant. As you may know, Sophie is leaving Astrolabe (this Friday!) so it was nice to have a chance to catch up. Of course she is my cousin so it isn’t like we won’t see each other again but it was still great to catch up with our Durvillea hats on. Also joining us was Genevieve (the “new Sophie” so to speak). We had a great time – here’s a little picture of Gen, Sophie and I outside.
- Meg
