Showing posts with label dumplings. Show all posts
Showing posts with label dumplings. Show all posts

Sunday, July 31, 2016

Dueling Gyozas - Pork vs. Tofu #SundaySupper

With a good hit of fresh ginger, garlic and chili pepper, these gyozas will delight your whole family, vegetarians and meat eaters alike. Bonus: They are fun and easy to make!



First off, let me say that dueling gyozas is a misnomer. There's really no competition between the two. Both are delicious. That said, I couldn't name this recipe pork and tofu gyozas because that would imply that each gyoza contained both of those ingredients. Which they do not. Half are pork, half are tofu. The other seasonings and ingredients are otherwise almost identical.

We had been living in Southeast Asia again for just a couple of years when I first learned about gyozas from Jamie Oliver on his show Oliver’s Twist, circa 2004. Kinda funny, when you think about it. Living in Kuala Lumpur, Japanese friends and restaurants all around me and I find out about gyozas from a English chef on television!  The gyoza episode was called East Meets West and, in typical Jamie style, he made them look so easy.

I scribbled down the ingredient list as I watched and have made it with my daughters ever since. Since we like things spicy, we add fresh red chili peppers to both the filling and the dipping sauce. Oh, and Jamie also puts sake - Japanese rice wine - in his filling. I never have sake in the house, so I just leave it out. The original calls for ground pork but when the girls left home for university and became vegetarians, we adapted the recipe to use firm tofu as an alternative.

Not only is this one of our favorite family recipes, it’s a great group activity. Gather everyone around the kitchen table, put your fillings and gyoza skins in the middle, and get filling and folding. As the saying goes, many hands make light work and we have a lot of fun chatting and joking while getting it done.



If you’d like to watch Jamie make gyozas, here’s a link to the show on YouTube. East Meets West is actually Season 2, episode 22, but this is the only link I could find.

Ingredients
For the dipping sauce:
5 tablespoons soy sauce
3 tablespoons rice vinegar
2 tablespoons sesame oil
1 red chili, minced
1 tablespoon chopped green onion

For the pork filling – for 40-45 gyozas
10 1/2 oz or 300g ground pork
1 cup or 100g finely sliced Chinese cabbage
5 green onions, chopped finely
2-in length of ginger, peeled and minced
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 red chili pepper, minced - optional
3 tablespoons soy sauce
3 tablespoons sesame oil

For the tofu filling – for 40-45 gyozas
1/4 oz or 7g dried porcini mushrooms, rehydrated, drained and chopped
10 1/2 oz or 300g firm tofu, cubed and drained
1 cup or 100g finely sliced Chinese cabbage
5 green onions, chopped finely
2-in length of ginger, peeled and minced
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 red chili pepper, minced – optional
4 tablespoons soy sauce
3 tablespoons sesame oil

4 packages gyoza skins  - about 25 per packet - you'll have some left over.
2 tablespoons oil for pan

Method
Start by making your dipping sauce by combining all the ingredients, so that the minced chili has time to infuse. Set aside.

In large bowl combine your green onions, sliced cabbage, ginger, garlic, chili pepper and pork.



For the tofu filling, in another large bowl, mash the tofu with a fork until it’s in big crumbles then add in your mushrooms, green onions, sliced cabbage, ginger, garlic and chili pepper.



Sprinkle the soy sauce and sesame oil into each filling bowl.


Mix well with a fork and pan fry a small amount of each to check seasoning. Add a little more soy sauce if the filling still needs salt.

Get yourself a small bowl of cool water and dip one finger in it. Run your wet finger around the outside of the gyoza skin.  Place a spoonful of the filling mixture on top of the skin.

 Close edges carefully, making sure there is no air inside.



Wet the semi-circular edge and then make pleats around it.



Set it pleat side up in a non-stick skillet coated with the oil. Press down gently to flatten out the bottom a little bit so the gyozas can stand up.



N.B. With this many gyozas, you are going to have to cook them in batches or use more than one pan. Also, you will want to keep the tofu ones separated from the pork ones if you are serving strict vegetarians. When they are cooked, they are pretty much identical from the outside.

Continue with remaining filling until all of your gyozas are made. These guys are listed under appetizers below but we often make a whole meal of them.

The tofu filling


Tip: You can freeze the gyozas now in a well-sealed container and cook them from frozen when you are ready to eat. They just take a bit longer to cook.

Heat your pan and fry the gyozas until the bottoms are brown and crispy.


Add 1/2 cup or 120ml water to the pan and cover the pan tightly.



Steam over low heat for 8 - 10 minutes, until the gyozas are cooked through and the water has evaporated.

Serve with the dipping sauce.



Enjoy!



This week my Sunday Supper family are sharing their kids' favorite recipes. We hope you find some new family favorites among them. Many thanks to our host Ellen of Family Around the Table and our event manager, Renee of Renee's Kitchen Adventures for all of their hard work.

Appetizers

Snacks

Main Dish

Desserts

Sunday Supper MovementJoin the #SundaySupper conversation on twitter on Sunday! We tweet throughout the day and share recipes from all over the world. Our weekly chat starts at 7:00 pm ET. Follow the #SundaySupper hashtag and remember to include it in your tweets to join in the chat. To get more great Sunday Supper Recipes, visit our website or check out our Pinterest board. Would you like to join the Sunday Supper Movement? It’s easy. You can sign up by clicking here: Sunday Supper Movement.

Pin Pork or Tofu Gyozas! 

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Sunday, January 18, 2015

Chicken and Dumplings

Chicken and dumplings mean different dishes depending on where they originate. In southern Louisiana, it’s fluffy drop dumplings, cooked in a roux-based simmering rich brown gravy with stewed chicken, just like my grandmother used to make.

Food Lust People Love: Chicken and dumplings mean different dishes depending on where they originate. In southern Louisiana, it’s fluffy drop dumplings, cooked in a roux-based simmering rich brown gravy with stewed chicken, just like my grandmother used to make.



When one lives in a place where bargaining is standard practice, there is a hierarchy of pricing guidelines and most folks assume I’m a tourist. So, when I am out and about in a local market and someone asks, “Where are you from?” I always answer, “I live here.” And then, if I am truly interested in buying the thing, I start chatting with the vendor. “I live here” puts me squarely in Resident Expat sector, which usually gets me a decent price but not as low as it could be if I cajole my way up the Friendliness/Bargaining Savvy Continuum. If you know what I mean. Here, I’ve drawn you a handy chart.

Sadly, I've met folks from a few countries who could qualify as "ugly Americans."



It’s only when someone pushes further, that I might say that I am from the United States. If you prod even more, you’ll get “The South.”  We have to be having a real conversation for me to get into, “Well, I was born in Louisiana but I lived more years in Texas, but Louisiana is still kind of home because that’s where my grandparents were. Actually, I’ve lived overseas even more years than I have lived in the US.” Whew.

But when it comes to cooking, the first hometown favorites that come to mind are my grandmothers’ traditional Cajun dishes, like chicken and sausage gumbo,   courtbouillon, maque choux, smothered pork chops, smothered cabbage with pork, eggplant casserole with shrimp or crawfish etouffee, just to name a few. I’ve shared all of those already, as you can tell by the links, so I was wracking my brain for another of my grandmothers’ dishes that I haven’t shared for this week’s Sunday Supper hometown favorites theme. Perhaps smothered round steak or cabbage rolls or crawfish fettuccine casserole? And then it hit me!

A couple of years ago, when we were living in Cairo, it was chilly, my heater was broken and I was cold and lonely. I needed some comfort food. So I called my mom on Skype and discussed the ins and outs of my grandmother’s chicken and dumplings recipe. I made it that day and even took photos but I never shared it here. It's the perfect dish for this week’s Sunday Supper Hometown theme, and it's kind of chilly here in Dubai, so I made it again. The roux-based gravy is wonderful, the chicken is tender and falling off the bone. And the dumplings! The dumplings are light and fluffy, so wonderful that my husband went back for seconds of just the dumplings with extra gravy. As my grandparents would say, “Talk about good!”

Chicken and Dumplings

Any recipe that includes a copper-penny-colored roux is a good recipe in my book. If you'd like to see photos of the evolution of your roux from blonde to dark copper, check out this post: https://www.foodlustpeoplelove.com/2015/09/how-to-make-roux.html

Ingredients
For the chicken stew:
1 whole chicken
Sea salt
Black pepper
Cayenne
Olive oil
4 tablespoons flour
1 medium onion
2 long stalks celery

For the dumplings:
2 cups or 250g flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup or 180ml milk
1 large egg

Note: My grandmother would have undoubtably finished this dinner with a sprinkling of chopped parsley. I plumb forgot.

Method
Cut your chicken up into at least eight pieces and season liberally with salt, black pepper and cayenne. If the breasts are large, I cut them in half again to get 10 pieces. I go pretty heavy on the cayenne because we like things spicy but use your best judgment for your family’s tastes.



Heat a good drizzle of olive oil in a frying pan and panfry the chicken until it is golden on both sides.



While the chicken is browning, dice your onion and celery.



Once the chicken is browned, remove it from the pan and set aside.  Add the four tablespoons of flour into the pan and stir until it is completely combined with the oil in the pan. Use a wooden spoon to loosen all the lovely browned bits that are stuck to the pan.



Cook the flour/oil mixture, formally known as a roux, over a medium heat, stirring almost constant, until it reaches a lovely dark copper color. Make sure not to let it catch and scorch or your gravy will taste burnt.



Add in the chopped onion and celery and continue cooking for several minutes until they soften.


Slowly add in a couple of cups of water and stir. Keep stirring until you have a lovely brown gravy without lumps of flour.

Add the browned chicken back into the pot, along with any juice that is in the plate it was resting on.

The gravy should come most of the way up the sides of the chicken. Add a little more water, if necessary.

Cover the pan and turn the fire down to simmer. Leave to simmer for about 45-55 minutes, checking occasionally that the water doesn’t completely evaporate and adding more if necessary. About halfway through the cooking time, turn the chicken over.



When the chicken is tender and cooked through, lightly whisk your egg with your milk and then combine your dumpling ingredients in a mixing bowl, stirring until just mixed.



Remove your chicken from the pan and set aside. Cover it so it stays warm.



Use a tablespoon to spoon the dumpling batter into the simmering gravy, leaving room between the dumplings so they can puff up as they cook. The batter comes off the spoon more easily if the spoon is wet so rinse it with water first and between scoops. Put the lid on for a few minutes.



Remove the lid and turn the dumplings over and replace the lid for another minute or two.



Transfer the dumplings to a plate and keep them warm until ready to serve, while you cook the remaining dumplings. They will soak up some of the gravy so you can add in a little water and stir well between the two batches if you need to.

Serve the chicken and dumplings with the remaining gravy from the pan. And my grandmother would always have had a vegetable or two alongside.

Food Lust People Love: Chicken and dumplings mean different dishes depending on where they originate. In southern Louisiana, it’s fluffy drop dumplings, cooked in a roux-based simmering rich brown gravy with stewed chicken, just like my grandmother used to make.


Enjoy!

Food Lust People Love: Chicken and dumplings mean different dishes depending on where they originate. In southern Louisiana, it’s fluffy drop dumplings, cooked in a roux-based simmering rich brown gravy with stewed chicken, just like my grandmother used to make.
So fluffy inside!


I am so excited about this week’s Sunday Supper because I know I am going to learn about dishes from so many different places around the US and the world through the loving, perhaps even a bit nostalgic, eyes of my fellow Sunday Supper colleagues and our wonderful host Coleen of The Redhead Baker. What a fabulous list, don’t you agree?!

Breakfast
Drinks
Appetizers and Snacks
Main Dishes
Side Dishes
Desserts

Pin the Chicken and Dumplings!



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