Vegetable Dumplings

 

Ingredients

Dough

2 Cups All purpose flour

4oz Frozen chopped spinach

¼ cup fresh Italian parsley

Water

1 Teaspoon kosher salt

Filling

2 Carrots, shredded

½ Cup cabbage, shredded

¼ Red bell pepper, finely diced

3 Scallions, finely diced

1 Cup button mushrooms, finely chopped

2 Celery stalks, finely chopped

3 Garlic cloves, finely chopped

1 Tablespoon fresh ginger root, finely chopped

2 Tablespoons hoisin sauce

2 Tablespoons lite soy sauce

2 Tablespoons sesame oil

2 Tablespoons Mirin (rice wine)

1 Tablespoon granulated sugar

1 Large egg, well beaten

Salt

Directions

In a small sauce pan cook the spinach in enough water to cover it. Simmer for 20 minutes, remove spinach and reserve the water(keep hot).

In the bowl of a food processor, combine flour, salt, spinach and parsley. Run the food processor and slowly add approximately 1 cup of the reserved spinach water.

Dough should pull away from the sides of the food processor bowl.

On a lightly floured surface begin to knead the dough, it will be sticky, so be sure to continuously add flour. Dough should be soft but not sticky.

Cover with a damp towel for 10 minutes, allowing dough to rest.

Cut dough into 3 equal parts, and form 3 balls. Return 2 of the 3 balls to the damp towel, and begin to roll out the 3rd ball into a long rope like form. The dough should be approximately 1 inch in diameter. Slice the dough into ½ - ¾ inch pieces. Roll dough into small balls and place under the damp towel. Only remove 3-4 dough balls at a time to avoid the dough from drying out.

On a floured surface flatten the dough balls into disks. Take the disk into your hands and crimp the edge of the dough with your fingers as you turn it. This takes some practice so don’t worry if the first few don’t work out. Now with a rolling pin, flatten the disk, be sure not to apply too much pressure and to continuously turn the dough so that you get a full circle. Flour the disks and stack the one on top of the other, cover with a damp towel.

Time to work on the filling… Place all the vegetables into a strainer and add 1 tablespoon of salt, mix it throughout all the vegetables and allow to sit for 20 minutes. This will extract the extra moisture from the vegetables so you won’t have soggy dumplings.

Heat a non-stick skillet on medium heat and add the sesame oil. Add the vegetable mixture, garlic, ginger, hoisin sauce, mirin, soy sauce and sugar. Cook for 15-20 minutes. Remove from heat, place in a mixing bowl and let cool for approximately 30 minutes. Once mixture has cooled, add the egg and mix well.

With your finger dampen the edge of the dough (with water), place disk in the palm of your hand and spoon 1 heaping teaspoon of the filling into the center of the dumpling. Fold the disk into a ½ moon shape and begin to crimp the edges with your finger tips. You and make the dumpling as simple or as fancy looking as you like. Once you get the hang of making dumplings you can try pleating the dumpling like in my photo.

Always remember to cover the dumpling or the dough with a damp towel when not working with them. If you place the finished dumplings on a parchment lined baking sheet you can place the baking sheet into the freezer until the dumplings are frozen then transfer them into a zip top bag and store in freezer for future use.

Cooking the dumpling… Heat 1-2 tablespoons to a non-stick skillet on medium-low heat. Arrange your dumpling, making sure they do not touch (they tend to stick together and are next to impossible to take apart). Add ½ cup of water and place a lid on the skillet. Once all the water has evaporated, remove the lid so the dumplings will brown on the bottom. Once browned, remove and place on a plate. Serve with a simple dipping sauce (recipe follows)

Dipping sauce

6 Tablespoons lite soy sauce

1 ½ Tablespoon rice vinegar

2 ¼ Teaspoon fresh ginger root, grated fine

1 Large garlic clove, grated fine

1 ½ Teaspoons granulated sugar

1 ½ Teaspoons sesame oil

Dash of black pepper

Mix all ingredients and serve with dumplings.

**TIP**  You can buy either wonton or gyoza skins from your local supermarket, but more often then not they will not be spinach skins.  Buy the wrappers would make the dumpling process a lot faster, since making the wrappers is the most difficult part.