Hi wonderful people,
If you are in the mood for something comforting then try making these steamed dumplings. If you intended to make close to the amount we did then you should probably rope someone into helping you. We didn’t make the wrap ourselves, so that saved us time. We just went to our local Chinese grocery store and picked up both the circle and square dumpling wrap. It’s all about variety, I personally was not sure which would make a better wrap so I chose both. It was affordable too – individual cost was under 2 Canadian dollars-, and we tried to make the fillings as low cost as possible as well. This can be considered a cheap eat if you are willing to spend time on the folding and steaming. We did not have the typical bamboo steamers used for steaming dumpling but life is all about improvisation.
It would appear I seem to learn at least one life lesson while cooking, either that or I am looking too deep into things.
Ingredient:
- Dumpling wraps
- 1 Medium tofu
- 1 Canned Ham (you can use tuna too)
- Kale
- A small bowl of lukewarm water (this is to wet the edges of the wrap before folding)
- spices (salt, oregano, nutmeg, maggie seasoni, chili pepper)- at this point, you guys already know what kind of spices I am addicted to at the moment . No shame in that if they smell and taste so good .
Direction:
Filling
- Put the kale in boiling water and let it soften for about 5 minutes. I like to boil my kale first then chop it into little bits but if you prefer to chop it first, no problem. I also believe you can use other leavey greens but I prefer kale.
- drain boiled kale and let cool for bit, then chop it into little pieces and set aside
- mash your tofu in a large bowl using a fork, then add you mashed ham. mine was canned, so the mashing was fairly easy
- Add the chopped kale to the mixture
- Add your spices. be creative and go wild.
- Mix it all together, the texture should be pasty and can be easily moulded
Don’t forget to taste it after to ensure it is well spiced and flavorful
- place a dumpling wrap on your palm and wet the edges using water. You can do this by dipping your fingers into the water and transferring it or using a small kitchen brush to add water on the inside edges of the wrap. When you fold the wrap the water should help it stick to each other.
To find out how to fold a Dumpling wrap, I looked up lots of YouTube video and also tried to come up with ways that were easier for me. Hence I recommend you should do the same.
- After you are done folding each dumpling, place it in the steamer or my make your version of a steamer.
I then placed my make shift version on a pot of boiling water. Make sure the dumplings do not touch the water and are only hovering over the water. Then cover the pot and let the steaming happen.
Jack got nothing on these dumplings.(Can’t stop these bad jokes )
After 40 minutes , the dumplings should be completely soften and ready to eat. Mine steam a bit slower because of my faulty stove. So if it starts turning translucent then, it is probably done.
If you wanted to get another flavor out of these steam dumplings then you can try the pan frying method.
Directions:
- Add 2 table spoon of olive oil to a heat pan
- Place the steamed bun in the hot oil and let fry for about 2 minutes
- Flip dumplings on the side after the 1 minutes mark to get all sides crispy
- Pour half a cup of water into the pan then cover immediately. This would make the dumplings crispy yet soft at the same time.
We tried this with the leftovers and it tasted amazing.
we paired the dumplings with soy sauce and it was great. I highly recommend this recipe!
Happy Munching,
Sandra
Food meets Beauty 