Jan/Feb 2012: Easy Chinese Recipes
Happy Leap Day everyone! I'm very excited to post this review of this installment of the Cookbook Club. Can you guess how I feel about this cookbook's recipe? Well, read on!
As I mentioned in the introduction post, I'm not the biggest fan of Chinese food and I'm quite picky about what I like. I was hoping this cookbook and the recipe we selected from it would end up on my list of Chinese food that I actually like.
As I mentioned in the introduction post, I'm not the biggest fan of Chinese food and I'm quite picky about what I like. I was hoping this cookbook and the recipe we selected from it would end up on my list of Chinese food that I actually like.
The Pan Fried Dumplings looked like they'd be a bit more work than most of the dinners I make, but it looked so delicious and worth the effort. My grocery store did not have dumpling wrappers, which meant that I'd have to make my own. Fortunately, the cookbook author includes a very easy recipe for homemade wrappers, but I knew that it would add significant time to my cooking.
I got started early in the evening because the dough has to rest, and it was as easy as I expected. The most time consuming aspect was the actual rolling out of each wrapper, but even that went by quickly once I got used to the process.
As I looked down at my 20+ wrappers that had to be filled before fried, I thought I'd never start cooking! However, from beginning to end it took me about 10-15 minutes total of filling time. I ended up having a lot more filling and a lot less wrappers, so at the last minute I pulled together another half batch of the wrappers dough and was able to use all of the filling.
I knew that we'd wait to eat the dumplings until they were all cooked, so I turned the oven to about 225 degrees and as I finished each batch in the pan, I put them on a baking sheet and put them in the oven. This worked out really well! When I finished the last batch, I had a ton of really warm dumplings waiting to be eaten.Bogdan and I sat down with a plate full of dumplings and dug in. I was impressed with the crunch that each dumpling had and the tastiness of the filling inside. They were delicious! Bogdan loved them too.
It would have probably been better to have a side dish or maybe to have had these as a snack, but luckily we filled up on the dumplings as our dinner and didn't need anything else. The only thing I was bummed about? My pictures did not come out nearly as well as the one on the recipe post. Oh well! They tasted good.
I can't wait to hear what you thought about the dumplings or the alternative recipes, Classic Shrimp Fried Rice or Sweet and Sour Pork.
Tell me in the comments and link to your blog post review on the linky link.
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| This picture makes them look a little like chicken nuggets. :) |
I can't wait to hear what you thought about the dumplings or the alternative recipes, Classic Shrimp Fried Rice or Sweet and Sour Pork.
Tell me in the comments and link to your blog post review on the linky link.
Copy and paste the code below into your review blog post for a totally awesome Cookbook Club image.
I'm planning to make the dumplings this weekend, but I think I'm going to make veggie ones... the meat options don't strike my fancy at the moment! Yours look really good; I hope mine look that good - I'm going to cook them for friends (aka OTHER PEOPLE) so there's PRESSURE!!
ReplyDeleteSo I made the mushroom dumplings that were linked as a vegetarian option. I'm not sure I was completely pleased with the flavor, and I think it just needed a slightly different mushroom mix, because the chive/onion/sherry/soy should be failsafe flavors. I used wonton wrappers, which seemed to work fine, but they were square so I had triangular dumplings. I did not have Steph's patience to make dough from scratch that day - already too many people coming over for that stuff!
ReplyDeleteI doubt your guests cared (or even noticed!!) that your dumplings were triangular. I'm glad you tried the vegetarian version, let me know if you make them again and come up with the right mix. Sounds good!
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