Steamed Shrimp Dumplings

If you love shrimp you will love this dish. These are the dumplings with the translucent white wrappers filled with large chunks of shrimp. They also have a nice crunch from the water chestnuts and are topped with a bright green pea.

Steamed Shrimp Dumplings

Yield: 48 dumplings

Inactive Time: 1 hr
Active Time: 1 hr
Total Time: 2 hrs

Ingredients for filling
1 lb raw shrimp (less if not in shells)
2 scallions, white part only
1- 8 oz can water chestnuts, finely chopped
1 tsp soy sauce
1/8 tsp white pepper
1 T peanut oil
1/4 cup fresh or frozen peas

Directions for filling
Clean and peel shrimp if not cleaned already. Chop in medium chunks. In a bowl, combine all ingredients except peas. Mix thoroughly, cover and place in fridge for about an hour to marinate.

Ingredients for wheat starch dough
1.5 cups wheat starch
1/2 cup tapioca flour
1.5 cups boiling water
1 T peanut oil

Directions for wheat starch dough
Sift the wheat starch and tapioca flour into a large bowl. Make a well in the center and add the boiling water. Mix with a fork until a soft dough is formed. Add the peanut oil and mix with your fingers. Knead in the bowl for 3-4 minutes or until smooth. Cover with a damp cloth and rest for 20 mins.
Lightly rub a marble, metal or smooth wooden surface with oil and place half the dough on it. With the palm of your hand, roll the dough into a snake about 12 inches long and 1 inch in diameter. Roll the second half of the dough the same way.
Using a cleaver or metal bench scraper, cut both cylinders into 1/2 inch slices. Place a slice on the oiled surface and oil the cleaver or metal scraper. Press the slice of dough with the cleaver or metal scraper to form a 2.5 inch round. Repeat with rest of circles.

To Finish
Place 1 T of filling in each circle and top with a pea. Close the circle into a half moon and crimp. Place on an oiled steamer tray and steam for 10 minutes. Serve with a soy dipping sauce

Asian Red Roasted Pork

This pork has a nice Asian flavor and the characteristic red color that you commonly see. This pork is best cooked hanging in your oven. This is done by using "s-hooks" (which can be found a hardware stores) or using heavy-duty paper clips that have been turned into s-shapes. If you use this method, hang the meat off of the uppermost rack and place a sheet pan with some water in it below the hanging meat. If you do not want to use this method, you can lay them on a rack over a sheet pan with a little bit of water in it.
This pork goes really well in steamed pork buns, in a cold noodle dish or on top of congee (a chicken stock and rice soup).

Asian Red Roasted Pork

Yield: 1 lb

Active Time: 20 mins
Inactive Time: 2-8 hrs
Total Time (minimum): 2 hrs 20 mins

Ingredients
1 lb pork butt or shoulder
2 T chicken stock
1 T dark soy sauce
1 T red rice wine or mirin
1 T sugar
1 T black bean paste
1 tsp salt
3 cloves of garlic, minced
4-5 drops of red food coloring

Directions
Slice pork into 1 inch thick strips, going with the grain of the meat. Mix the rest of the ingredients together and pour over the pork. Marinate for 1-2 hours at room temperature or 5-6 hours in the fridge.
Remove all racks except the very top one and very bottom one. Preheat oven to 425F. If using the s-hooks/paperclips, poke a hole in one end of the pork strips with a sharp knife. Place an s-hook through the hole. Hook the s-hooks onto the top rack of the oven and place a sheet pan with water on the bottom rack, below the pieces of pork. Cook for 15 minutes then turn the heat down to 350 for 45 more minutes.  Remove and either slice into strips to be served hot or at room temperature or use in pork buns. Enjoy!

Boiled Pork Dumplings with Spicy Peanut Sauce

These were like Asian tortellinis. They had a great crunchy, spicy peanut sauce, tender wrapper and meaty filling. When making these, make sure you have all the ingredients for the peanut sauce together before you start cooking the dumplings since you need to start cooking the peanut sauce just before the dumplings are done.
The peanut sauce with this would go well with many other Asian dishes. Try adding ginger and lime to go with a Thai chicken satay.

Boiled Pork Dumplings with Spicy Peanut Sauce

Yield: 4 dozen dumplings; 2 cups of sauce

Time: about 1 hr

Ingredients for Dumpling
48 round dumpling wrapper, thin
1/2 lb bok choy
1 lb ground pork
1 tsp fresh ginger, finely chopped
1 T rice wine or marin
1 T soy sauce
1 tsp salt
1 T sesame oil

Directions for dumplings
Trim and clean the bok choy. Finely chopped the bok choy and place in a towel and squeeze to remove as much moisture as possible. In a large bowl, combine all the ingredients. Mix until throughly blended.
Place 1 T of filling in a dumpling wrapper. Moisten the edges of the wrapper and fold into a half moon. Take the half moon and fold it in half so the corners come together and a tortellini is formed. Arrange on a lightly floured sheet pan and cover with a dry towel.
Bring 3 quarts for water to a boil in a 4-5 quart pot. Drop all fo the dumplings into the water. Cover and cook over high heat until the water come to a boil. Once it boils add enough cold water to stop the boiling. Recover and bring to a boil again. Pour more cold water in the pot to stop boiling; bring to a boil again. Repeat this one more time. Drain when cooked through.

After the second time it come to a boil start the Spicy Peanut Sauce.
Ingredients for Sauce
1 T sesame oil
2 tsp garlic, minced
1 cup chunky peanut butter (make sure it is all-natural)
1 T chili paste
1 cup chicken stock
salt and pepper, to taste

Directions
Heat a saucepot on medium high and add the sesame oil. Heat for 30 seconds then add the garlic. Cook for 10 seconds and add the peanut butter. Stir quickly and constantly until melted, be careful it can burn. Add the chili paste and chicken stock. Taste sauce for seasoning. Pour over dumplings and immediately serve.

Scallion Cakes

This week we had another great guest chef and did some great Asian food. I first had scallion cakes at a great little Chinese restaurant in San Francisco's China Town. They are great served with a sweet chili peanut sauce, but are also great alone.

Scallion Cakes

Yield: 16 pancakes

Active Time: 40 mins
Inactive Time: 40 mins
Total Time: 1 hr 20 mins

Ingredients
2 cups cake flour
1 tsp salt
2 T vegetable oil
1 cup boiling water
~1/3 cup sesame oil
~2 cups minced scallion, greens only
oil for frying

Directions
Mix cake flour, salt and vegetable oil in a medium bowl and stir to blend evenly. Add the boiling water and mix with a spoon into a rough dough. Turn out onto a lightly floured surface and knead for 5 minutes until the dough is smooth and elastic. If the dough is sticky, knead in 1/4 cup more cake flour. Cover the dough with a cloth and rest for 20 mins.
On a lightly floured surface, form the dough into a long, snakelike roll and cut into 16 pieces. Roll out each piece into a 4 inch circle. Brush the circle generously with sesame oil and sprinkle with minced scallion greens. Roll into a cigar shape and pinch the ends so the scallions don't fall out. With the rolling pin, start at one end of the cigar and roll out until lightly flattened. Then starting from one end roll up like a cinnamon roll. Turn it on its side and roll out into a 4 inch circle. Allow to rest for 20 minutes, covered.
Heat a large pan or wok and add 1-2 inches of peanut or other oil. Heat to 350. Add the pancakes 3-5 at a time depending on the size of the pan. Fry until golden. Remove, sprinkle with salt and drain on a rack over a pan. Serven immediately.