Beef and spring onion dumplings

People at the Farmer’s Market Mama Lan attended on Sunday (see previous post) asked for this recipe, so here it is!

Makes about 100 dumplings (5 dumplings per person as a starter or 10 if you’re hungry!)

For the stuffing

500g beef mince
500g spring onions, thinly sliced
Thumb size piece of ginger, thinly chopped
1 egg
1 tablespoon of sea salt
2 tablespoon of dark soy sauce
7 tablespoons of water
1 tablespoon of sesame oil
6 tablespoons of vegetable oil

For the dough

1kg flour
500ml of luke warm water

Step 1: Making the Dough

• Make the dough by mixing the water and flour in a large deep bowl. You’ll find it easier adding a small cup full of water at a time.
• Once the flour and water have been mixed, knead the dough until it becomes smooth. Takes about 10 minutes by hand. The dough should be really soft but not wet to the touch – a bit like freshly made pasta.
• Cover and leave to rest whilst you make the stuffing.

Step 2: Making the stuffing

Leaving the spring onions and ginger to one side, put all the other ingredients in a large bowl. Use a spoon to mix until the meat become like patty consistency. Add the spring onions and ginger to the meat and mix well.

Step 3: Making the dumplings

• Place the dough on to a flat floured surface. Sprinkle flour on the dough and cut the dough into 4 equal size piece. Take one piece and roll into a sausage about 2cms thick. Put the other three pieces back into the bowl and cover so the surface doesn’t turn hard.
• Cut off a thumb sized piece of dough from the ‘sausage’. Sprinkle with flour, so it doesn’t stick, then flatten out on the table with the palm of your hand and roll into small disc.
• Place the disc in the palm of your hand and put a spoonful of the filling in the centre of disc. With your finger and thumb nip the sides together making a crescent shaped dumpling.

Cooking the dumplings

You can either boil the dumplings for 15 minutes in boiling water, rather like cooking little raviolis. Put 100ml of cold water into the boiling pan after 5 minutes then again after 10 minutes.

Or you can pan fry them using the technique below:

Heat up a little oil in a fry pan then place the dumplings in the pan and fry for just a minute or so.
Next cover the pan with cold water – be careful as the pan may spit.
Boil for 15 minutes then carefully pour away as much water as you can. Hold the dumplings in place using a spatula or spoon etc.

Place the pan back on the heat adding, a little more oil, and fry until any remaining water disappears and you get a delicious golden base.

Enjoy the hot dumplings with a little Chinese rice vinegar!

What’s in a menu? Well, quite a lot actually…

6^th Feb 2010 we are opening to the world!  Just in time for Chinese New Year – 14^th Feb.

Excited? Sure!

Nervous? Certainly.

Scared? Perhaps a little…

Sitting down in my living room and thinking about what to cook on the day, I suddenly realised that putting together a menu is anything but easy!!!  I know what I want to do for my first main course: dumplings!  It’s a personal favourite.  Why?  Because they look cute, because they are nutritious, because you can mix and choose SOOOO many different flavours, and the list goes on and on…  But perhaps the most important reason for choosing dumplings (and a little-known dumpling fact) is that they symbolise families. Which makes them a must at dinner tables around Chinese New Year when families traditionally get together.

Ok main course decided, now for the starters (ok, I know this is probably the wrong way round when designing a menu, but you’ve got to start somewhere!):

I’m planning to pan grill the dumplings, so the starters should be light and refreshing to balance out the authentic flavours and crunchy texture of the main course.  There are *hundreds* of dishes to choose from… where do I start?!?!

Ok, since we’re doing my favourites (yes that’s right. This was decided 10 minutes ago) – we might as well do a selection of my favourite starters.

·         酱牛肉 (Jiang Nu Rou) – Slow boiled beef with Chinese herbs and spices.

Now this is interesting. Jiang Nu Rou is one of the dishes my mum and my grandparents used to sell at the market back home. Did I mention that Mum and my grandparents used to run a food stall at a market in China?  No?  Well, now you know.

• 素丸子 (Su Wan Zi) – Fried vegetable balls.

This is one of mum’s favourites. And it used to be one of the best sellers from her market days.

·         芹菜拌花生米 – Celery, wood ear mushroom (black fungus) and peanut salad.

Peanut salad plus pretty much any vegetables, and I’m there! Sounds strange?  Trust me, once you’ve tasted authentic Chinese peanut salad, you’ll never go back!!

Ok onto the most difficult part of the menu – the dessert!  The Chinese don’t *do* desserts.  We have sweet side dishes, but they’re very different from the Western dessert concept.  Might play it safe this time round and do chocolate fondant and get some feedback from my guests on the night.

Ok time for bed. I‘ll worry about the ingredients later,

Zzz,

Mama Lan x