Hey There, Readers,
I have been thoroughly enjoying cooking a few recipes from this week’s selection, Hey There, DUMPLING! by Kenny Lao & Genevieve Ko. The order of the cookbooks is completely random, but it’s only right that the first book is a dumpling cookbook. Dumplings are my absolute favorite food! I love discovering dumplings from different cultures & trying them out. While this cookbook focuses more on dumplings from Asiatic countries, it definitely offers some unique & fresh twists on what you can fold into your wrappers. (Just an FYI for those keeping track I own 6 cookbooks that are focused on dumplings & have 1 more on my wish list).
What is it about dumplings that is so great? Well I couldn’t begin to describe it for you, but there’s something about a delectable dough (carb-based typically) wrapped around a perfectly flavored parcel of filling (meat, veggies, fruit) that typically offers you the perfect bite of food. It’s like when you’re eating a steak with mashed potatoes & you cut a little piece of the steak & add some mashed potatoes to your fork with the steak before taking that bite? That could be resolved by making a mashed potato-wrapped beef-stuffed morsel (like Italian Gnocchi Ripieni or Cuban Papas Rellenas). (Sorry Vegans, I’ll come up with a metaphor for you next round).
The great thing about this cookbook is that Kenny really dives into all of the tools, ingredients, & tricks you need to make dumplings as a beginner. I’ve been making dumplings since I was 8 years old, but I still have learned so much from the tips included in this book. The diagrams for different types of folds are done with graphic design, but you can see them pictured with different recipes throughout the book. The best suggestion (that I have used ever since acquiring this book years ago) is to make a bunch of dumplings and keep some in the freezer instead of cooking them all. This way, on a day when cooking dinner seems too complicated, you can just pop some frozen dumplings in a pan & add a couple of minutes to your cooking time… dinner is served!
One of the dumplings mentioned several times in the intro are the Chicken & Thai Basil Dumplings, so I figured that would be a great first recipe to try. As I mentioned in my first post, I’m not big on seafood, but I do use Fish Sauce (a primary ingredient in these dumplings). I absolutely love the smell of Thai Basil & am always excited to find recipes that call for it. My one issue with the recipe was the dipping sauce recommendation: a peanut sauce. I am not & have never been a fan of peanuts or peanut sauces. I decided I would make the recommended sauce for my husband (no surprise, he loved it) & I made a soy & sweet chili sauce for myself (sweet chili sauce is often used in Thai recipes, you’ll typically find it as the dipping sauce for egg/spring rolls).
Something I love about this book is that the authors aren’t afraid to tell you: it is ok to buy dumpling wrappers. While making them isn’t really that difficult, it can be time consuming. For me, as a chef, it was nice to be reminded (à la Ina Garten) Store Bought Is Fine!
I don’t think I’m legally allowed to share the recipe on my blog, so I’ll just tell you about it instead & you can decide if it makes your mouth water enough to check out the book. However you can probably google the name of the recipe & I’m sure someone has posted it somewhere: oh yeah like here.
The recipe starts at least a day in advance of making your actual dumplings, something I didn’t notice when making my shopping list, so I ended up switching our Sunday & Monday dinner plans, no problem! You start by making a lemongrass-infused sweet fish sauce marinade. Chicken is a pretty bland meat, so it is essential that you make this marinade ahead of time to really make the flavor of these dumplings pop! For those of you who are wondering about some of the less common ingredients in this recipe, this is where I come in. Nowadays you can typically find fish sauce anywhere, I’ve seen Lemongrass at conventional grocery stores for years, but you may have to go out of your way to find Thai Basil
How to Use Extra Ingredients?
The recipe calls for 1/4 cup of Thai Basil Leaves, thinly sliced, but it’s going to be impossible to find such a small amount unless you grow it yourself. Thai basil is a bit sturdier than your typical Italian sweet basil. It is frequently used in Thai Curries, Noodle Dishes, or my personal favorite: Pad Krapow Gai, or Thai Basil Chicken. If you end up with a lot of Thai Basil leaves, I highly recommend finding a recipe for Thai Basil Chicken (or Tofu if you’re so inclined) & cooking that up to go with your Thai Basil Dumplings. We actually used our leftover Thai Basil to make a version of this dish with Baby Cauliflower.
Lemongrass is one of my favorite smells. I have been able to buy a single stalk of lemongrass before but usually it comes in a small bundle. When you’re picking out your lemongrass be sure to check the bottom of the stem to make sure it is fresh. You don’t want to see it all dried up or (unfortunately sometimes) covered in mold. Working with it can be a little challenging as it can be tough to cut through, you’ll need a sharp. knife. I typically start by cutting off the top & base (just a little on each end) and peeling off a couple of layers from the outside (think: cleaning a leek or green onion). If you want to use it as an aromatic base for curries, soups, or salad dressings, I recommend either slicing it very thin & then mincing it, or you can “bruise” it with a rolling pin or the side of a heavy knife, and pop it into your soup or curry & pull it out before serving.
The first time I understood Fish Sauce was several years ago. I was making a curry & the recipe called for fish sauce, I thought to myself, I wonder how this will change the flavor. I tasted the curry before adding the sauce and I thought “it tastes like sauce on chicken” but then when I tasted it after the fish sauce was added, I thought “this tastes like curry from my favorite Thai Restaurant.” It is an ingredient that can truly make or break a dish. I use it often in curries (duh) and marinades for stir-fries. You can also try your hand at making Nuoc Cham, a traditional Vietnamese dipping sauce (Great for dumplings).
It can be hard, at first, when you haven’t grown up with these ingredients, but as a chef I know it is important to try new things & understand their significance in the culture they are derived from. I am always thrilled when I learn about something new that I never knew before.
From the peanut sauce we ended up with about half a can of Coconut Milk, my best suggestion to you to use this up is: add it as part of the liquid for cooking rice and make a little coconut-y flavored rice. It’s delicious & a great way to use this up (or you can make curry for one).
We decided to try steaming & pan-frying our dumplings so we could taste the two methods side by side. Steaming them provided a great vehicle for the sauces, and also it was a great way to try the filling. Pan-frying them, however, ended up being the favorite. You can still taste the filling just fine, and of course the sauces are great no matter what, but that extra crispy bottom added a little texture that was just right.
Here are some process photos for you to enjoy, feel free to ask questions (I’m no expert but happy to help where I can) & stay tuned for another dumpling selection from this book soon!
Love & Happy Spatulas,
Alyssa
PS: A couple of pro-tips about Mung Bean Noodles / Vermicelli: When you cook them the recipe says to make a bowl of ice water. I create a lot of dirty dishes when I cook so I am always looking for a shortcut on how to minimize the amount of bowls, pots, pans, that I need to wash. When your noodles are done cooking, empty them into a fine-mesh strainer, then put a handful of ice cubes in the pot you cooked the noodles in & fill with cold water. Pop the entire strainer into the pot (pictured above) and let it sit & cool. This way you won’t have ice cubes in your noodles, and you won’t have dirtied an extra bowl. My other tip is about “chopping” the noodles. Noodles like this are often used in dumpling fillings so your filling isn’t as dense (my family uses them in our Russian Pirojki because we have roots in China, post for another day). The best trick I can tell you is that you should “chop them” after you’ve drained the water from them with a clean pair of scissors. Cut in all directions with your scissors on the pile of noodles (pictured above), I did mine right on top of the filling before mixing them in. As you start to mix the noodles in, if you see a strand that evaded your blades, you can easily cut it up with the scissors. I keep several pairs of scissors in my kitchen for these types of tasks, and I recommend you start using a dedicated pair of kitchen scissors too!