Friday, 22 November 2013

Dim sums with pork

The approaching winter has not gone unnoticed by my body. Though in all honesty it seems to have lured itself thinking it belongs to a bear. No amount of sleep seems to be enough and there's no end to the allure of the carbs. It's not quite yet time for slow cooked stews yet, though the Facebook- followers of the blog have already been introduced to my latest flea market find - a cast iron pot from no other than Le Creuset. Some of that coming up soon without a doubt!

In addition to woolly jumpers and flannel PJ's I find myself turning to Middle Eastern and Asian cuisines for their spicy, warming comfort. So today was a dim sum day! Which in that charming waste not, want- not principle provided a convenient way to recycle mince left over from empanada and the herbs and spices left over from laksa.

Unlike last time I couldn't be bothered to stress over the perfect appearance so I pinched the dumplings in a very rustic (read: lazeeeee) fashion. For alternatives ways see the previous post

If you abhor the store-bought gyoza skins (available at the freezers at Asian supermarkets) and are a firm believer of making things from the scratch, here's a recipe I nicked from Food and Wine. Though pelmeni dough would probably work just as well.

makes 25

The dough:

3 1/4 dl all purpose flour
1 1/4 dl water

Add water into the flour in a thin stream until a raggy dough forms. Turn the dough out on a work surface and knead until smooth, about 5 minutes. Sprinkle the dough with flour, cover loosely with plastic wrap and let stand at room temperature for 15 minutes. In the meanwhile make the filling. Divide the dough into 5 portions and keep rest of the dough covered while you're working on one. Roll into a rope and divide it into 5. Roll into thin discs and fill.

The filling:

200 g (pork) mince
a couple of cm piece of ginger
1/2 chilli
handful of coriander leaves
handful of spring onion 
2 garlic cloves
1 tbsp fish sauce (or soy sauce) 
the zest of 1 lime

Combine the ingredients. Fill the skins (about 1 tsp/ dim sum) and pinch the edges shut. Steam until done (about 5 minutes) in that specifically purchased bamboo-steamer (your very limited kitchen capacity does not really have any space to accommodate) or in a steamer pot. Don't forget to line the basket/ steamer with a piece of parchment that you've punched holes into to allow the steam through.

Dipping sauce:

1 dl soy sauce
1 dl honey
the juice of 1 lime
1 tsp grated ginger
1 tsp sesame seed oil

Mix the ingredients together and serve with the dim sums. Works wonders as a marinade too!




Like I suppose all the bloggers I too am driving myself crazy fretting over the winter and the light-deficiency-related challenges it brings. The thing is, in case you lovely readers are willing to make time (which I'm sure no-one has enough of anyway!) to read my blog, I feel it's my duty to at least try and provide you quality content you can feel... well, content with. A trip to IKEA seems to be in order...!


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ANYONE FOR SECONDS?



        



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