Pan-fried pork dumplings (Potstickers)

May21

I find any food that’s comprised of dough stuffed with meat – be it a pork bun, wonton or Russian pirozhok (chewy yeast dough stuffed with minced meat and deep-fried) – irresistible. Foods like this allow you to have your protein and starch in one bite and I’m all about that efficiency. I wonder who was first to try this cooking technique because frankly, she/he deserves a monument.

Store-bought dumpling skins and a few pantry staples make this recipe a breeze. If you have kids, feel free to recruit them to help fill the potstickers.

(Yield: 30 dumplings)

Ingredients:

2 scallions, chopped

1 tbsp sesame oil

2 tbsp soy sauce

1 tsp sriracha sauce (optional)

1 garlic clove, crushed

A pinch of salt

1 lb ground pork

About 30 store-bought dumpling skins

Vegetable oil

Procedure: In a large bowl, combine the first six ingredients. Stir and add pork. Using your hands, gently mix all the ingredients until homogenous. Do not over-mix. To form a dumpling, place skin on a flat surface and add a heaping teaspoon of filling into the center. Dip an index finger into water and moisten half of the circumference of the dumpling skin (like a half moon). Then fold over and seal edges, making sure to seal out all air from the dumpling.

Repeat with remaining ingredients.

To cook, heat a large non-stick skillet over medium heat. Add enough vegetable oil to cover the bottom. Place 6-8 dumplings into skillet at once – do not overcrowd the pan. Fry 1-2 min, until dumplings are starting to brown. Then add about 1/4 c water into skillet, reduce heat to low and cover tightly with a lid. Let steam for about 5 min. When the water is almost entirely evaporated, remove lid and turn heat back up to medium. Cook 1-2 extra minutes, until the bottoms are brown. Remove dumplings from skillet and repeat with remaining pieces. Serve immediately.

Roasted garlic bean dip: take 2

May9

Almost exactly three years ago, I posted a recipe for roasted garlic white bean dip. That dip is not unlike hummus except that hummus calls for chick peas instead of beans. Last week, I was craving that dip again but wanted to change things up. I added tomatoes for tang and sriracha for heat, and thus, this fragrant, irresistible hors d’oeuvre was born. I’m not going to go as far as saying that this recipe will replace guacamole in your party snack repertoire but it will certainly make a valiant try. And I assure you, no one will even miss that green standby if you serve this.

The best part is, served alongside some Finn Crisps, this is a healthy vegan snack, full of fiber, protein and other essential nutrients.

(Yield: 1 bowl will serve about 4 people)

Ingredients:

1 15 oz can kidney beans, drained and rinsed

1 head of garlic, roasted*

3/4 tsp sriracha

2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil, divide

1/2 c finely diced tomatoes

1 tbsp finely chopped shallot (red onion also ok)

Salt + pepper

*How to roast garlic: Heat oven to 400F. Peel the papery outer layer of garlic head, leaving the cloves intact. Cut off 1/3″ off the top of the head and discard, exposing the flesh of the cloves. Drizzle with 1 tbsp of oil, and using your hands, coat the head evenly. Wrap in foil and roast for 35 min. Cool completely before handling.

Procedure: Squeeze garlic cloves out of the head and add to food processor along with 2/3 of beans (reserve 1/3 beans for later). Puree. With the motor running, add sriracha and oil. When fully incorporated, stop motor and remove the blade. Using a spoon, stir in tomatoes, shallot and remaining beans. Add salt and pepper to taste.

What is your standby party snack?

Mango and Muenster baked quesadillas

Mar29

It’s easy to get stuck in a jack cheese, chicken and/or bean quesadilla rut. But, crispy flour tortillas are actually a great vessel for all types of ingredients and there’s no reason why we shouldn’t let our imaginations run wild! And while Muenster cheese (my favorite melting cheese) and mango slices aren’t exactly a crazy combo, they’re a start.

(Yield: 4 quesadillas)

Ingredients:

8 flour tortillas

1 c shredded Muenster cheese

1/2 mango, thinly sliced

2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

Procedure: Preheat oven to 350F. Place four tortillas on baking sheet and brush the top-facing side lightly with olive oil. Flip tortillas oiled side down and sprinkle each tortilla with cheese. Divide mango slices evenly amongst four tortillas and sprinkle with remaining cheese. Cover with remaining four tortillas and brush tops with remaining olive oil. Place into oven and cook for 10-12 min until crispy. Serve hot.

To make dipping sauce, combine 3 tbsp sour cream, 1 tbsp lime or lemon juice, and 2 tbsp chopped cilantro together. Serve with quesadillas.

How would you re-invent the classic quesadilla?

Chinese scallion pancakes

Feb25

Last week I made my way back to Nom Wah and sampled some more of their goodies. (Those of you who follow me on Instagram may remember this photo?) And it’s official – they can do no wrong!

I have never had a scallion pancake up until that evening and as soon as I tasted the crispy, chewy awesomeness, I knew I had to make it at home as soon as possible. I found this recipe on The Sophisticated Gourmet blog and it can easily go down in history as one of the easiest recipes ever; the dough consists of only four ingredients, one of which is water.

This treat can play the role of a snack or replace chips/crackers at a cocktail party.

Recipe source: The Sophisticated Gourmet

(Yield: 8 pancakes)

Ingredients:

1 ½ cups all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting

1 ¼ teaspoons fine grain sea salt

3 scallions, divided (chop the green parts; thinly slice the white)

½ cup boiling water

Neutral tasting oil, for frying (not olive oil!)

Hoisin sauce for garnish or dipping

Procedure: In a large mixing bowl, whisk together flour, salt and the green parts of the scallions. Then slowly start to add the water and knead with fingers until it’s no longer sticky. If the dough is too dry, keep adding tablespoonfuls of hot water until a soft dough forms; it should be similar to the consistency of chewing gum. Remove the dough from the bowl, and knead on a lightly floured surface until soft and smooth, about ten minutes. Cover the dough with a damp cloth or plastic wrap, and let it rest for 30 minutes, or up to a day in the refrigerator.

Then divide the dough into 8 pieces.

…And shape into balls.

Using your hands, form each piece of dough into flattened rounds. Using a rolling pin, roll each round of dough into pancakes on a floured surface, with about a 5″-circumference. To get perfect discs, give the dough a ¼ turn each time you roll. Then, heat a dry stir-fry pan, cast-iron skillet, or heavy-bottomed skillet over medium-high.

Pour in about ¼-inch of oil into the pan or skillet. Shallow fry each side of the pancake until light golden brown (about 1 minute for each side), pressing down around the edges of the pancake with a large spoon or spatula. Add more oil to the skillet and repeat the same for the remaining pancakes. Drain on paper towels, cut pancakes into quarters, drizzle with hoisin and top with remaining scallions. Serve immediately.

Vegetable pancakes

Nov7

I am currently in the last semester of my undergraduate education, and with each day, I care about schoolwork less and less. Some of you are probably thinking, “Oh no! But school is so important.” While I agree, I also believe that tending to that which makes one’s heart smile is equally as important (unless it’s killing babies/cooking drugs, in which case one should seek help). That is why on the first day of my Sandy “staycation”, I was ecstatic – no school, no work, can’t go outside, nothing to do but make love to my kitchen. Seriously, at this point, all I want to do is explore new recipes, work on my photography, choose my words, and hit “Publish”.

These pancakes are just one of the scrumptious things I made that day.

This is another one of my mom’s recipes. The outside crisps up while the inside stays delicate and soft – topped with cold sour cream, these little guys kick ass. Warning: next day fridge leftovers will not be good so I urge you to eat these fast, with which I don’t foresee you having a problem.

(Yield: about 20 little pancakes)

Ingredients:

2 medium russet potatoes, peeled

1 green squash, peeled

1 large carrot, peeled

2 garlic cloves, minced

2 eggs, beaten

1/2 c all-purpose flour

Salt + freshly ground black pepper

Vegetable oil for frying

Sour cream for serving

Procedure: Shred vegetables (preferably using a food processor).

Working with a handful of vegetables at a time, squeeze out as much liquid from vegetables as possible with your hands. Then combine vegetables with garlic, eggs and flour in a bowl. Season with 3/4 tsp salt and 1/2 tsp pepper.

Heat a skillet/griddle pan over medium heat and add enough oil to cover the bottom. When hot, spoon batter onto skillet and press down on each pancake with spoon to flatten. Pancakes should be 2-3″ in diameter.

Cook about 4 min per side, flipping once, until golden brown. Drain on paper towels. Repeat with remaining batter. Serve immediately, topped with sour cream.

What would you be doing if you didn’t have to study/work?

Fried carrot & coconut pockets

Jul16

My enthusiasm for stuffing wonton wrappers has taken me from cheese and pumpkin ravioli to Chinese style fried wontons. What I’ve learned thus far is that deep frying stuffed store-bought wonton skins yields far better results that boiling them. Because they are so thin, they expand and cannot keep their shape in the process of boiling. Deep frying, meanwhile, turns them into crispy, golden pillows of delight. I have yet to use the simmer-then-pan-fry technique though, which may be the best of both worlds. If you have any expertise in this area, please share!

This foray into the wonton wrapper world (ugh, I’m afraid by the end of this post neither you or I will be able to stand the word wonton) has been, hands down, the most successful. For the filling, I literally threw in a bunch of stuff from my fridge and cabinets, and the results were spectacular.

Ingredients:

20-25 store-bought wonton wrappers

2 medium carrots, peeled shredded

About 1/2 c sweetened coconut flakes

2 garlic cloves, minced

1 scallion, chopped

1 tsp yellow curry powder

1 tbsp sesame oil

1 tbsp corn starch

1 tbsp sesame seeds

2 tbsp soy sauce

1 egg, beaten

Vegetable oil, for frying

Procedure: Combine all ingredients from carrots through soy sauce in a bowl.

Pour about one inch of oil into frying pan and place over medium heat. While it heats up, start to form the pockets. Working with one skin at a time, lay it flat and place about 1 tbsp of filling in the center. Brush the side that is furthest from you with egg, as well as the top two thirds of the right and left sides. Roll/fold, starting from the bottom, to form pocket. Press down to seal the sides and seal the back. Repeat with remaining skins. Place 6-8 pockets into oil at once and fry about 2 min per side.

Final results should be golden brown, not dark. Drain on paper towels. Serve with hoisin sauce.

I call these pockets because I didn’t want to wrap them in the traditional wonton shape. Served with hoisin sauce for dipping, this recipe makes for the best party appetizer.

Pan-fried plantains w/ kick-ass sour cream dip

Jun28

Latin-American cuisine is not something I cook a lot of at home. I am not quite sure why since it is one of my favorites, but ever since these tequitos and now these ah-mazing platanos, I hope my patterns are changing.

I tweeted about how excited I was to finally cook this exotic fruit and my e-friend Olga – from one of my favorite food blogs, Mango & Tomato – tweeted back and helped me figure out how it’s done. Thanks, gurrl!

You’re probably wondering just what is so kick-ass about this dip but I am not going to tell you. I guess you’ll just have to make it and taste for yourself…

Ingredients:

2 very ripe plantains

2 tbsp olive oil

2 tbsp butter

Salt

“Kick-ass dip”:

3 tbsp sour cream

1/2-1 tsp sriracha sauce (to taste)

1 tbsp lime juice

1/2 tsp lime zest

1 small garlic clove, crushed

Procedure: Cut off about 1″ of both ends of plantains. Peel and slice on a diagonal into 1/2″-thick slices. Place skillet over medium heat and add oil and butter. When oil is hot, add about half of slices into oil and cook 2-3 min per side, until golden brown. Remove and drain on paper towels. Sprinkle with salt while plantains are still very hot. Fry the second batch and repeat procedure. Serve warm.

To make dip, simply stir together all ingredients in a bowl. Taste and adjust seasonings if necessary.

This dip would also pair fabulously with crudités (that’s raw vegetables to you un-cultured Americans) or tortilla chips.

In other news, I will be spending next week camping in Cape Cod. The thought of going an entire week sans manicure kind of gives me the shakes, but I am pretty excited for the change of scenery and the much, much needed relaxation. While there, I plan to visit Provincetown so I was wondering if you guys had any suggestions as to where I should eat/drink while there? Any and all suggestions will be greatly appreciated!

Homemade Baked Chicken Tequitos

May30

Well obviously these are homemade because this is a blog where I share my recipes but I thought it best to specify since the only tequito experience I’ve personally had prior to this were the 7-Eleven variety. This recipe has been floating around the blogosphere for some time now and enough is enough, I thought – It’s my turn!

If there’s anything I learned while making these is that a rotisserie chicken and I cannot be in the same room. I’m pretty sure I devoured at least a third of it (and that’s just before I started cooking). Yeah… my thighs will thank me later.

This tequitos are really easy to make and perfect for a cocktail party (Margaritas, anyone?) The coolest thing is that the tortillas seal themselves during the baking process, making them into perfectly crunchy tubes of creamy goodness.

From what I gather, THIS is the original source. This recipe is my adaptation.

(Yield: about 10 pieces)

Ingredients:

3 oz cream cheese, at room temp

1 tomato, finely diced

1 tbsp lemon juice

1 tsp chili powder

A pinch of salt

2 cloves garlic, minced

2 scallions, chopped

2 c cooked shredded chicken (Rotisserie is best)

1 c grated Mexican queso blanco

10 6” tortillas (I used whole wheat)

1 tbsp olive oil

Preheat oven to 425F.

In a large bowl, combine everything except tortillas and oil (duh) together. Spread 2-3 tbsp of filling in the middle of each tortilla.

Tightly roll up tortilla and place seam side down on a baking sheet.

Brush tequitos with oil.

Bake for 15-20 minutes or until golden and crispy.

Fred was impatient and decided to snack on my boyfriend’s feet

Serve with sour cream.

Chinese fried wontons

Apr27

Ever since I started feeling comfortable deep frying, I wanted to make wontons at home. They’re one of my favorite items to order from Chinese restaurants. Deep-fried dough pockets filled with pork? One would have to be crazy – or worse yet, a vegan – not to like these things.

The whole process turned out to be super easy (in large part thanks to THIS VIDEO). However, I would have rather served the wontons with duck sauce instead of soy sauce, but I didn’t have it in the house. Also, the pork filling seemed a bit dry to me. I’m not sure how to salvage this problem but I’m taking suggestions!

(Yield: about 30 pieces)

Ingredients:

About 30 store bought wonton wrappers

1 egg, beaten

1 lb ground pork

2 scallions, chopped

1 tbsp soy sauce

1 tbsp sesame oil

1 tsp corn starch

¾ tsp black pepper

Frying oil

Procedure: Using your fingers, combine pork, scallions, soy sauce, sesame oil, corn starch and pepper in a bowl until homogenous.

Then form wontons – watch the video referenced above!

Heat about 2” of oil to medium-high heat in a wok or saucepan. Fry 6-8 wontons at a time, for 4-6 min or until golden brown, flipping as necessary. Do not overcrowd the pan. Remove wontons with slotted spoon, letting any access oil drain off, and place on paper towels. Repeat with all wontons.

Remove wontons with slotted spoon, letting any access oil drain off, and place on paper towels. Repeat with all wontons.

Roasted tomato bruschetta

Mar29

It so happened that we had an over-abundance of bread and tomatoes chez moi this week. This situation could have also been dealt with by making this French toast but I’ve already blogged about it and what would be the fun in that? So I got creative.

Bruschetta - "BROO-SKET-AH"

(Yield: About 12 pieces)

Ingredients:

4 large vine-ripe tomatoes, quartered

2 tbsp olive oil

2 tbsp balsamic vinegar

2 cloves garlic, chopped

1 tbsp sugar

Salt/pepper

A generous handful of parsley

Graten Parmesan cheese for garnish

Crostini (recipe follows)

Procedure: Preheat oven to 450F. Toss tomatoes in oil and vinegar and leave cut side up. Sprinkle with sugar, salt, pepper and garlic.

Roast for 30 min. Remove from oven.

Place tomatoes into food processor and add parsley. Pulse until combined but still chunky.

How to make crostini: Preheat broiler. Place slices of day old bread on broiler-safe baking sheet and drizzle lightly with olive oil. Place into broiler and toast until golden brown – this shouldn’t take more than 2-3 min. Top crostini with bruschetta and cheese, and serve immediately.

Flavorwise, this bruschetta turned out ah-mazing. For a thicker texture next time, I think I will squeeze some of the juice out of the tomatoes prior to roasting them.