Hey there, dumpling! : 100 recipes for dumplings, buns, noodles, and other Asian treats

356 Pages·2015·7.52 MB·English

by  Ko

CONTENTS
Introduction
Tools
Ingredients
Dumplings 101
Chapter 1: Dumplings
Classic Pork & Chinese Chive Dumplings
Mom’s Cilantro & Pork Dumplings
Szechuan Wontons in Chili Oil
Pork & Crab Dumplings
Pork & Shrimp Dumplings
Thai Green Curry Dumplings
Glazed Barbecued Pork Dumplings
Ma Po Tofu Dumplings
Wheat Flour Wrappers
Chicken Consommé
Shanghai Soup Dumplings
Shrimp Soup Dumplings
Hot & Sour Soup Dumplings
Watercress Beef Dumplings
Lemongrass–Lime Leaf Beef Dumplings
Spicy Beef & Shiso Dumplings
Kimchi Beef Dumplings
Cumin Lamb Dumplings
Chicken & Thai Basil Dumplings
Szechuan Chicken Dumplings
Japanese Curry Chicken Dumplings
Chicken Saag Dumplings
Herby Turkey Dumplings
Peking Duck Dumplings
Lobster Wontons in Corn Chowder
Shrimp Nori Dumplings
Pea Shoots & Leek Dumplings
Edamame Dumplings
Minty Snow Pea Dumplings
Mustard Greens & Mustard Seed Dumplings
Hassled Eggs & Kale Dumplings
Mushroom Dumplings
Butternut Squash–Corn Dumplings
Smashed Sweet Potato Dumplings
Chickpea Dumplings
Lentil-Spinach Momos
Indian Street-Market Dumplings
Pearl Dumplings
Chapter 2: Dips
Soy-Vinegar Dip
Vinegar-Ginger Dip
Toasted Sesame–Soy Dip
Chile-Soy Dip
Dr. Tan’s Chile Dip
Mimi Dip
Spicy Peanut Dip
Peanut Vinaigrette
Hoisin Dip
Asian Barbecue Sauce
Creamy Wasabi Dip
Lemon Sansho Dip
Lemon-Yogurt Dip
Minty Green Dip
New Green Goddess Dip
Mix & Match Dumplings and Dips
Chapter 3: Buns & Noodles
Steamed Buns
Bulgogi Beef Sliders
Pork Belly Buns with Char Siu Sauce
Sloppy Zhou Chicken Curry Buns
Shiitake Mushroom Buns
Sweet Chinese Sausage & Egg Buns
Chilly Chile Rice Noodles
Warm Sesame Noodles
Miso Noodle Soup with Bean Sprouts
Clear Noodle Soup with Chinese Greens
Peanut Saté Noodle Soup with Crispy Shallots
Party Menus
Chapter 4: Salads & Sides
Chopstick Salad with Cucumber, Jicama & Wakame
Citrus-Ginger Salad
Essential Kale Salad
Spicy Tofu Salad
Peanut Saté Salad with Coconut, Carrot, Cucumber & Thai Basil
Herby Salad
Mango-Cilantro Salad
Watermelon & Mint Salad
Pine Nut–Corn Stir-Fry
Tamago Torta
Chilled Tofu with Scallion & Soy-Sesame Vinaigrette
Chapter 5: Finger Foods & Snacks
Herby Summer Rolls
Umami Popcorn
Edamame with Sansho Pepper Salt
Szechuan Pitcher Peanuts
Lotus Root Chips
Quickles
Outdoor Rice Dumplings
Thai Beef Jerky
Chinese Tea Eggs
Party-Planning Tips
Chapter 6: Drinks
Minty Sun Tea
Thai Iced Coffee
Watermelon Juice
Calamansi-ade
Ginger Limeade
Pineapple Drinking Vinegar
Honeyed Ginger Ale
Micheladas
Sangria
Chapter 7: Desserts
Chocolate Soup Dumplings
Mango Lassi Ice Pops
Watermelon Ice Pops
Vietnamese Coffee Pudding Pops
Cardamom Rice Pudding
Matcha Shortcut Shortbread
Green Tea–Marshmallow Treats
Acknowledgments
Index of Searchable Terms
INTRODUCTION
One night, I was at this super-buzzy, New York-y
party and a friend introduced me as “Kenny, the
founder and owner of Rickshaw Dumplings” to a
group of polished, suited lawyers and finance types.
One of the women screamed, “Oh my god! I love your
Thai chicken dumplings!” loud enough for the whole
room to hear. A second later, a guy yelled from across
the floor, “Peking duck dumplings rule!” And the rest
of the night, people kept coming up to me to tell me
their favorites: vegan edamame, Korean beef bulgogi,
sweet potato. At first I thought, “Whoa. This is
crazy.” Then I thought, “Man! This is awesome!”
Growing up in Pasadena, California, as the kind of
kid who was regularly sent to the principal’s office, I
never thought that one day I’d be recognized because
of dumplings in New York City. But that’s the power
of dumplings. It’s what’s inside that counts.
I spent a decade running that dumpling company, and there’s one thing I can
say with absolute certainty: Everyone loves dumplings! What food lovers across
the country don’t know yet is how easy dumplings are to make at home. And
how fun they are to make with friends. That’s where this book comes in.
Dumpling-making parties totally rule. They were the ultimate inspiration
behind my business and the reason I still love making dumplings at home today.
There’s a great shared experience in wrapping and cooking dumplings with
friends and family—it’s a little competitive, a lot of yummy.
Doing dumplings is a kind of casual, social get-together where you end up
with chopsticks clashing across the table for hot “yeah-we-just-made-this!” food.
In these pages, you’ll find awesome recipes for noodles, salads, soups, side
dishes, snacks, drinks, and desserts; cool cooking and party tips; and memories
from my Chinese-American upbringing.
Party On
I lived for dumpling parties as a kid; they made me feel like I was part of a way
bigger family. When I was three, my parents divorced. So it was just me and my
mom in Pasadena, living near the curvy, hilly streets by the Rose Bowl, where
every other house has a big USC football flag hanging over the front door. My
mom and I are really close, so our peaceful lives together had this great feeling
of us against the world. But growing up as an only child with just my mom, I
always wondered what I was missing out on. I wondered if every night was like
dumpling night…
On dumpling nights, which rolled around every few weeks, the Tan family
would come over for dinner. The Tans lived down the street and had a daughter,
Tracy, who was a year older than me, and a son, Jason, a year younger. We
aren’t related to them, but they are definitely family. As a kid, I’d get so excited
about our dumpling nights, I’d wear my favorite red E.T. t-shirt. You know, the
one where the fingers are touching? (Whoa, eighties!) My mom would warn me,
“Kenny! You’ll get your favorite shirt dirty!” She was always right, but it was
totally worth it.
I’d wait by the door and swing it open when I saw them walk out of their
house. The second they stepped into mine, the whole energy in the room would
shift. We’d all get chatty-chatty and the noise would build like the Dolby
surround sound ad before movies rolled. I’d get enveloped in that frenetic
familial energy and start bouncing off the walls before settling down for
dumpling duty.
Everyone always headed straight for the kitchen. There was no formality to
our dumpling parties, but there was definitely a system. We worked assembly-
line style, setting up the counter with spots for making fillings, stuffing,
wrapping, and all the way down to the stove for pan-frying and steaming. On the
other side of the stove, we set up a sauce station like a cocktail cart. I had to start
at the bottom of the prep totem pole when I was young, the way I did as an adult
in high-end kitchens. All I got to do was plop the stuffing in the wrappers. Then
I stepped up to wrapping, along with the other kids. Woohoo! From there, I
graduated to making fillings and sauces and, finally, to the stove. By the time
Jason and I were in high school, we got fry duty and steam duty. We nailed the
system and kept the dumplings coming out batch after perfect batch.
That may sound intense, but it was actually totally relaxing. Once you figure
out how to make dumplings—and it’s way easy—you get into muscle-memory
mode. I still get into that mode when I throw dumpling parties with friends. Just
like on my childhood nights with the Tans, we gossip and get zen-like
comfortable hanging out, all while turning out hundreds of dumplings. Whatever
we don’t eat that night, we freeze to tide us over until the next party. But that
feeling of just chilling and chatting and stuffing our faces with hot dumplings—
that’s the best. It turns a night with friends into the sort of family night I imagine
big families have. I’d never go so far as to call my childhood dumpling nights
“dinner parties” because the casual communal cooking was the point. But they
were really special.
Everyone loves dumplings and knows how tasty they are when they get them
from a restaurant. But the point of making dumplings at home is to enjoy the
process with others. Best party ever—plain and simple. It doesn’t hurt that you
end up with a freezer full of 10-minute dinners!
Dumpling Delicious
I’ve spent my whole life making and eating dumplings, and my all-time faves
are in this book. They’re packed with flavors everyone loves. And I don’t just do
dumplings. Even at our childhood parties, we always had salads—we’re such
Californians!—and noodles, too. Whatever veg didn’t make it into a dumpling
filling ended up as sides. Of course, a party isn’t a party without drinks and
desserts. I’m drawing on all the dishes I’ve learned and loved over the years to
show you how outrageously fun and easy it is to throw together a dumpling
party. Or a simple dinner on any night, for that matter.
At my family dumpling parties, we covered all the proteins, from pork to beef
to turkey to chicken to seafood. We did tons of vegetarian options too, even
though none of us was actually a vegetarian. And we stirred those same veggies
into the meat fillings. The ones I really loved were dark, leafy greens like baby
spinach worked into ground chicken or turkey so you could see the green under
the thin wrappers. So gorgeous! My mom loves cilantro, so she’d chop a whole
huge bunch for her specialty, cilantro and pork dumplings (this page).
We all seasoned the fillings with our basic pantry items: soy sauce, sesame
oil, rice vinegar, Shaoxing wine, chiles, sugar. We’d use those same staples to
make awesome sauces. We all got into mixing different concoctions. That’s how
I learned early on the basics of balancing sweet, sour, salty, and spicy by tasting
and experimenting. That’s the great thing about dumplings: The process isn’t
complicated. Just build a basic pantry of supermarket ingredients, then stuff the