Happy Chinese New Year!

Happy Chinese New Years everyone! 

To celebrate I thought I'd share Ryan and my little adventure into dumpling world. I love Chinese Dumplings, like a lot, so when Design*Sponge recently shared a post about them I decided it was time for me to get my feet wet and try to make them at home. But in true Bekuh fashion I couldn't just buy wrappers at the store I had to make them at home. So this was a true life total cooking experiment for me. I used the dumpling  recipe found on Design*Sponge to make the wrappers, if you dare to try it yourself.

We had some left over chicken in a pot so I decided we would make chicken dumplings, as opposed to traditional pork or still semi-traditional veggie. I mixed about 2 cups chicken, 1 cup chopped cabbage, 1/2 cup carrots, and 1/4 cup green onions in a large bowl. 

To sauce the chicken mixture up I added 2 tablespoons soy sauce, 1 tbsp rice vinegar, 2 tsp Sesame Seed Oil, 1 tsp ground ginger, and salt and pepper to taste. Mix everything up until it looks and tastes delicious.

The wrappers were not hard to make, but they were hard to form. The two in the picture above are the closest I got to true circles, oops. It worked out in the end so I can't complain. Once you have your wrappers ready scoop about a tablespoon of your chicken mixture on the wrapper and fold into a half moon/crescent shape. Pinch the ends closed tight so your filling doesn't spill out when you fry them.

I placed my dumplings on a plate that I sprayed with cooking spray so they wouldn't stick until I was ready to fry the little buddies. Heat a solid layer of oil in a pan on medium heat (To test if the oil is ready flick water into the pan, if it pops you're good to go). Place 4-6 dumplings in the pan and fry until there under side is lightly browned. Pour 1/3 cup water in the pan and cover with it's lid and raise the heat to high. Cook until the water has evaporated and remove the lid. DO NOT FLIP your dumplings! Reduce the burner to medium and let the dumplings cook until crispy on the bottom.

Here are what ours looked like belly side up. We dipped them in yummy ponzu sauce and made a fresh cabbage salad on the side to round out the meal. It was a valiant first attempt at dumplings and boy did they taste good. I think I still have a lot to learn but it's fun trying new recipes and pushing my cooking boundaries every now and again. Have any of you challenged yourself lately with a new recipe or cooking skill? big kiss, bekuh