Chinese Cooking Recipes

I thought I'd start this thread to share some of my favorite Chinese cooking recipes. I was fortunate enough to take several classes many years ago from some excellent Chinese chefs and have collected numerous recipes over the years that I love.

The best part about preparing a Chinese meal is the degree to which you can get your family and friends involved in the preparation of the meal. I always tell my friends when I invite them over for a Chinese meal that four things are going to happen:

1. We're not going to eat for a while

2. Your all going to help with the prep work

3. The amount of time between courses is going to gradually get longer and longer

4. You are going to get really full so you'd better pace yourselves

One of my Chinese dinners will probably have about 8 courses and will usually involve a soup, several appetizers, a chicken, seafood, pork and or beef dish all served with rice and wine in little Chinese tea cups followed by tea and dessert. Wine is always served with the meal and tea is always served after.

So, here is my dumpling recipe. In Boston, they are called “potstickers” and we'll get to that a little later. They can be steamed, boiled or fried, but there is not substitute for frying them.

Fried Dumplings:

Filling:

• 2 cups ground pork (I have substituted ground turkey with a lot of success)

• 1 tsp minced ginger

• 2 diced scallions

• 2 Tbl soy sauce (I like Wa Ja Shan)

• 1 Tbl sesame oil

• 1 ½ lbs Chinese or Napa cabbage, sliced thinly into shreds (best done with a cleaver)

• 2 tsp salt

• 1 egg beaten with ½ tsp salt

1. Mix the pork with the ginger, scallions, soy and sesame sauce and let sit for 30 minutes

2. Mix the cabbage with the 2 tsp salt and let sit for 30 minutes

3. After the cabbage has marinated with the salt for 30 mins, squeeze as much of the moisture out of the cabbage as possible. Use your hands to squeeze the moisture out. You dont want that moisture to mix with the oil while frying.

4. Mix the prepared cabbage with the pork and egg mixture

Wrappers:

I will give you a dough recipe, but I have to tell you that you are much better off buying frozen dumpling wrappers at an Asian market. Many supermarkets stock them now so you may not need to go to an Asian market.

• 4 cups flour

• 1 ¼ cups plus 1 Tbl of cold water

• Mix and knead flour and water well and let sit for 1 hour

• After the dough has sat, divide into 50-60 parts and roll each part into flat 3 inch circles about 1/8 inch thick

Believe me, it is a lot easier to buy the wrappers!

Making the dumplings:

1. Mix equal parts of cornstarch and water in a small bowl (start with 2 Tbls of each)

2. Take a dumpling wrapper and place about a Tbl of filling in the middle of each wrapper. You will have to do a little trial and error determine the right amount of filling to wrapper such that they are not too full or too thin.

3. Using your finger, rub some of the cornstarch mixture along the top half of the dumpling circle around the edge.

4. Fold the top half over to match up with the bottom half and seal the dumpling into a half moon semi circle.

5. Try pinching and crimping the folded edges together into pleats so they look like dumplings

6. Place the finished dumplings on a floured tray

Cooking the dumplings:

1. Heat a skillet on a medium flame and add 2 Tbl of oil (canola, vegetable, peanut).

2. Add the dumplings in the skillet placing them side by side but try not to let them touch

3. Fry for about 20 seconds then add (be careful!) ¾ cup of water and then place a tight fitting lid on the skillet and let fry for about 15 minutes or until all the liquid has been absorbed.

4. Remove the lid and let fry for another 2-3 minutes until the bottoms are browned.

5. Make sure the dumplings aren't sticking to the pan (hence “potstickers”). If they are, then carefully release them with a spatula.

6. Place a large plate/platter over the top of the skillet and then turn the skillet upside down such that the dumplings are now facing up with their beautifully browned bottoms.

Serving the dumplings:

1. Mix equal parts soy and vinegar in a bowl. Add some sesame oil to taste and a few hits of chili oil. Use this as a dip for the dumplings

2. Serve immediately

3. Die and go to heaven!
    

OK,  so now I have to make some dumplings this weekend.  I'll take some photos.

Next recipe will be wontons.