Dumplings

For this dinner, a friend and I got together all the ingredients for dumplings. We decided right before that we'd do spring rolls another time, so sorry to get your hopes up last time. But, we did make two different types of dumplings: pork and shrimp. Although the pictures all look the same, so I guess that doesn't really make it up to you.

We also set out to deep fry some more vegetables, but this time in a tempura batter. I got started on that, while the dumpling materials were being prepared. I used this recipe. I had three recipes in front of me, and I picked the one that seemed the second easiest (or second hardest for those glass-half-empty folks) of the three.

I cut up the veggies, mixed up the tempura batter, and got started deep frying and...these weren't that good. They weren't bad, and dipping them in soy sauce helped a lot, but they didn't take on the golden brown color described in the recipe, and the tempura itself seemed a little bland. The first batch was also really thick, because the recipe said not to over mix the batter.

But, I went back and mixed it very thoroughly, and kept at it. This next batch was a little better and a little browner, but I still had to keep it in way longer than the one minute they described. These were also good with soy sauce, but, in my opinion, still a little bland. I won't blame the recipe, since I am not really a great cook. I might have messed something up, but I do have to say I wasn't very impressed.
We kept at it and kept snacking on these for a while though, because the dumpling took a lot of prep time. First, the pork and cabbage was mixed together and the shrimp and other stuff were mixed, and each of these were heated up. Then little bits of it were put into the won ton dough, and these were sealed over. When sealing, you want to keep as much air out as possible, because the air expanding in the deep fryer will cause the dumplings to open up. They are still good if they open up, but a couple totally emptied out their insides in the deep fryer and only the shells were recovered.

Here's the exact recipes:

Pork dumplings:

"3/4 lb of pork mince
8 oz bag of shredded carrot/cabbage mix
2 tbs of minced garlic
2 tbs of minced ginger
3 tbs of oil
4 tbs of soy sauce or teriyaki
won ton wrappers

Cook the pork mince in the oil, garlic and ginger on medium heat. Then when the mince is browned add the cabbage/carrot mix and the soy sauce or teriyaki. When stuffing is cooked let it cool. Then layout won ton wrappers. Place one teaspoon of the pork and cabbage mixture into the center of each won ton. Then outline with a wet finger tip one half of the wrapper. Then fold the wrapper in half and seal. Then steam until the dumpling looks vacuum packed and then grill or deep fry!"

And the shrimp recipe can be found here.


We even classed it up a bit with a fancy presentation:
Actually, this was just a photo op. We ate pretty much all of them standing over the deep fryer, which is how I eat pretty much everything I deep fry. Very few finished items actually make it to the dinner table.

These were excellent. The won ton shells got way crispier than normal dumplings. They were more like crab Rangoon, which I realized I really need to make at some point. Both the shrimp and pork were really good. I think I liked the pork slightly more, but both were delicious. And, we made about 50 of them, so I was stuffed by the end.

So, this is probably the most work intensive thing we've made so far, although, I really shouldn't take much credit, all I really did was dip the basket of dumplings into the oil and somehow mess up the tempura batter. But it felt a little classier, and it was nice to cook something fancy for a change of pace.

The following day, I cooked my lunch and dinner in the deep fryer (breakfast was leftover dumplings). Both of these meals were less classy, as each involved hot dogs. Those will be my next two posts.