Showing posts with label Chinese. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Chinese. Show all posts

Wednesday, April 22, 2020

Mushroom Dumplings | Mushroom Potstickers

Mushroom Potstickers, a delicious dumplings with mushroom stuffing instead of the traditional meat stuffing. Dumplings can be boiled, pan fried, steamed or oil fried. Potstickers are actually "steam-fried" dumplings and it has the plus of both steamed and fried dumplings. 

In general, all potstickers are dumplings, but not all dumplings are potstickers, dumplings got various famous based on how it's being cooked. I have been making steamed dumplings for years now. In India and Nepal, the steamed dumplings are also known as momos, they are the most famous street food across the country.

When we were in Bangalore, at least 4 to 5  momos shop in our area within half a kilometer distance. Eating piping hot momos standing at the side of the road straight from the steamer on winter day evening is a pure bliss. Instead of pan fry the dumpling in this recipe, you can steam it as regular momos and have it with some spicy sauce. 

Ok, Now coming to potstickers, i got introduced to this when we were in Houston from BJ's restaurant. Instantly i loved it at once and it became our regular whenever we visited there and later even i had started to make them at home regularly. 

Basically, Chinese cooking needs a lot of prep work but cooking time is very minimal. Right from chopping the veggies thinly &  shaping the dumpling nicely all takes a lot of time unless you have a good vegetable chopper and expert in shaping dumplings.  

For a while , everytime time I make maida poori at home, I reserve some dough to try various dumpling shapes and now I can confidently say that I make decent dumplings.
While sitting to write this post, I remembered a lovely Chinese couple. Almost a year ago , when we were new in Canada, we shared a house with a elderly Chinese couple for a month before we got our own place. We both didn't know a common language to communicate with each other, still without any problem we communicate with sign language and make each other understand what we're saying. 

It's one of the most interesting experiences in my life. Actually the house belongs to their daughter, through her only, we booked the accommodation and we lived on one floor and her parents lived on another floor and we both shared the kitchen. 

Mostly, the elder man in the house do all the cooking, and don't know whether the men cooking in chinese culture is common or not. Once in a week, the lady of the house shapes the wontons after dinner and freezes them. OMG, she was so fast and literally shaped 100 of wontons in mins. 

I was looking at her in astonishment while preparing our dinner. For a quick dinner and breakfast, they boil a few frozen wontons in the broth and serve along with some boiled egg and stir fry veggies.

Related: How to make flower shape momos


She is one of a kind soul and likes to feed us whatever they cook as like any mother. Whenever their daughter visits the house, through her she gets to know whether we eat pork, beef and all, so that later she can share with us. 

One day she gave me a bowl of chicken soup as she knew through her daughter that we eat chicken and fish. In the soup, other than chicken, it had some other black stuff in it and wondering what it was, so asked her, she kindly took me to the pantry and showed all the ingredients that they used in the soup to make us comfortable and eat!! How wonderful is it, right?? 

Like the saying "One person is enough to change your perspective about something ", they did for us about the Chinese culture.  I have so many good memories from that one month stay, if i had started to write all, this post would have gone too long, so let me stop me here and head over to check the recipe of  mushroom potstickers. 


Mushroom Dumplings | Mushroom Potstickers

Preparation Time : 30 mins | Cooking Time : 15 minsMakes :
Recipe Category: Dumplings | Recipe Cuisine: Asian
keywords description.
Ingredients
For stuffing
Mushroom(finely chopped) - 2 cup
Carrot(finely chopped) - 1/2 cup
Spring onion - 3 
Garlic - 2 
Soy sauce - 1 tbsp
Oil - 2 tsp
Salt -to taste
Pepper powder - to taste
For outer cover
All purpose flour - 1/2 cup
Salt - 1/4 tsp
Oil - 1/2 tsp
Water - as needed 

Procedure
First let's prepare the dough, add flour, salt & oil in a bowl, mix it well.
Then add water and make a stiff dough . Cover it with lid and set it aside for 30 mins.
In the mean time, let's prepare the filling. Chop all the veggies finely and keep it ready. Heat the oil in a pan. 
Add garlic and white part of the green onions and saute till they are aromatic. Next add the carrot & saute it for 2-3 mins. 
Once the carrots are half cooked, add the mushroom & salt and saute.
Mushrooms tend to leave lot of water, cook till all the moisture evaporates and the veggies are cooked, add the soy sauce and mix it well.
Finally add the pepper powder and green parts of spring onion. Mix it well and switch off the flame. Let the stuffing to cool completely.
In the mean time, let's roll the dough, roll the dough into log and cut into eight equal parts and roll them into smooth balls.
Take a dough and roll into thin sheets, do the same for all the dough.
Add around a tbsp of stuffing at the center of a sheet, take the center of the dough from both sides and pinch together.
Now starting from the center, make a small pleat from the front side of the dough and seal it  together with the back side of the dough, do till it reaches the end.
Do the same way on the other side too.
Similarly shape all the dumplings. Heat 1 tbsp of oil in a pan, add the dumplings.
Cook them without disturbing until the bottom of the dumplings are golden brown. Next add water in to the pan till the dumplings are half immersed in the water. 
Cover the dumpling and cook till all the water is absorbed by dumplings and it's well cooked. 
That's it, mushroom dumplings are ready.  Serve it with some spicy sauce.

Related: How to make Roasted Butternut Squash Soup

Notes:
  • Make sure to cut the veggies as fine as possible.
  • I have used brown mushroom here, but you can use white mushroom also.
  • Soy sauce has already salt in it, so be careful while adding salt.
  • Make outer layer as thin as possible for delicious dumplings.
  • Serve hot for best taste.
  • I like to serve it with some hot sauce and soup for complete meal.


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Thursday, April 5, 2018

Baozi | Veg Baozi | Chinese Steamed Bun | Breakfast recipe

Baozi , a soft and delicious stuffed steamed bun from china. It's usually served as breakfast and also it's one of the popular street foods in china. These Chinese Steamed buns can be made with various fillings including vegetables, meats and so on. 

While browsing through Instagram, these baozi pictures from symmetry breakfast really caught my attention and immediately I noted down the dish name in my todo list. Later when I chose to make breakfast around the world as a theme for the first week in this mega marathon, I thought this could be ideal breakfast to give it a try.

Related: How to make Chinese Spring roll

Honestly, I was skeptical of making steamed buns with yeasted dough since I hadn't tried anything steamed with yeasted dough and also hadn't tasted this baozi  before, so  wondered how it would taste. Out of curiosity, I had given a try on this steamed bun and it turned out so delicious and pillow soft. 

While making the dough itself, I knew that it's gonna be delicious, all because of the flavor from the sesame oil. Never used sesame oil with APF before, i knew that this oil would go well with rice flour, but i never guessed that it could give such an amazing flavor to the APF. Truly, the flavors from ginger, soy sauce and sesame oil together are really out of the world, now I know why this dish is so popular !!!
By looking at the ingredient list and the procedure, you may think that this dish is similar to momos/dumplings, but it's not. It has a unique texture because of the yeasted dough and also it tastes good even when it's cooled unlike dumplings (it becomes chewy when it's cooled down). 

I had a few leftovers from the morning and in the evening microwaved it for 30- 40 secs before serving and it taste as good as in the morning. Before check out the recipe, if you like to know what i have shared on the past 3 days under International Breakfast, here they are 
Day 1 - Mysore Masala Dosa from India
Day 2 - Mani pittu from Srilanka
Day 3 - Mofo Gasy from Madagascar


Baozi(Chinese Steamed Bun)

Preparation Time : 40 mins | Cooking Time : 20 minsServes :
Recipe Category: Breakfast | Recipe Cuisine: Chinese
Baozi, Chinese Steamed Buns, Veg Baozi Baozi , a soft and delicious stuffed steamed bun from china. It's usually served as breakfast and also it's one of the popular street foods in china.
Ingredients
For Bun
All purpose flour - 1 cup
Instant Yeast - 1/2 tsp
Baking Powder - 1/2 tsp
Sugar - 1 tbsp
Salt - 1/8 tsp
Sesame Oil - 1/2 tbsp
Luke warm Water - 1/4 cup
For Filling
Cabbage - 1/2 (small size)
Spring onion - 2
Ginger - 1 inch piece
Sugar - 1 tsp
Salt - 1/4 tsp
Soy Sauce - 1 tsp
Sesame oil - 1 tsp

Procedure
First let's make dough for the bun.In a bowl, add flour, yeast,baking powder,sugar & salt. Mix it well. Then add the oil and mix it with your hand until the oil incorporated into flour well. Add the lukewarm water.

Make a soft and pliable dough. Cover it with cling wrap and keep it in warm place for 40  minutes to 1 hr. Now for the filling ,shred the cabbage finely.

Heat the water in the steamer and bring into boil, place the cabbage in the steamer basket and cook it for just 1 to 1&1/2 mins.

In the mean time, chop the green onions and finely shred the ginger and keep it ready. After 1&1/2 mins, remove the cabbage from heat and let it cool a bit and then squeeze the water from the cabbage as much as you can.

Place it in a bowl and then add the green onions & ginger. Add the soy sauce.
Next add the oil, sugar & salt and give a good mix.
After the dough is doubled, gently punch it down and take the dough from the bowl & place it on the working surface. Cut the dough into 4 equal pieces.
Take a piece of dough and roll into 4 inch thick disc with the rolling pin(if needed use the flour for dusting). Place 1/4 of the filling in the center.
Start pleating the dough on the edges as shown in the pic below and seal the end together. Place it on the parchment lined steamer basket.
Steam cook the bun for 10-12 mins on medium flame. Gently remove the buns from the parchment paper  and it's ready to serve.
Serve hot with soy sauce.
Notes:
  • While rolling the dough, make sure that the center is thicker than the edges, it really helps to pleat the edges easily.
  • The main reason for steam cooking the cabbage ahead is to remove the excess water from the cabbage. Otherwise the bun would be soggy.
  • Once the bun is steamed, it's very soft to handle immediately. Give it a rest for few mins before removing from the steamer basket.
  • Highly recommend to use sesame oil in the dough and filling. It gives great flavor to the bun.
  • This buns would be doubled after steamed, so leave enough space in the steamer basket.
     
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Thursday, September 24, 2015

You Tiao | Chinese Cruller | Chinese Oil Stick| Chinese Doughnut

You Tiao, is the chinese doughnut also know as Chinese Cruller, Chinese Oil Stick .It's usually serve with soy milk or congee as breakfast.This dish is very popular in East and South East Asian countries like Indonesia, Thai, Vietnam, Philippines, Malayasia & Singapore. In each country, they called them with various name and it's one of the popular street food in those countries.

Actually, i loved the process of making this, especially shaping them, it was so much fun.I referred almost 20 recipes for this. They use various leavening stage like yeast , ammonium bicarbonate, Sodium bicarbonate, Baking powder, Alum Powder and also i read that ammonium in food is not good for health , so i stick with the recipe using baking powder alone as leavening agent.

I tried it twice, first time, it's total disaster, it doesn't puff up  and it's dense inside, i didn't leave the dough in refrigerator for overnight,may be due to that , it didn't puff up i think. Next time, i followed the recipe blindly without any change, always fry the first one, if it didn't puff up, put in refrigerator for more time & try afterwards(suggested in one of the source recipe). 

Chinese Cruller

Preparation Time : 12 hrs | Cooking Time : 20 minsServes : 10 
Recipe Category: Snacks | Recipe Cuisine: Chinese
Ingredients
Recipe source - here
All purpose flour - 1 cup
Baking Powder -1 tsp
Oil - 1 1/2 tbsp
Normal cold water - 50 ml(approximate)
Sugar - 1 tsp
Salt - to taste.

Procedure
First add all the dry ingredients(Flour,salt, sugar,baking powder) in a bowl, mix it well, then add oil and water ,mix it well to form a dough. Knead the dough for 3 mins.Rest it for 1 hr, after that take the dough, stretch the dough at one end and punch it together, do the same process for 20 min. Then put it in cling wrap , covet it & refrigerate for overnight.Next morning, take the dough and keep it at room temperature for 1 hr or until it comes back to room temperature.Grease the working surface with oil, take the dough and elongated into rectangle shape with 1/2 inch thickness & 2 inch width.Cut into 1/2 inch strips(try to cut into even strips, i got 10 strips). Take one strip and place it over the other strip.Now take a lengthy needle or bamboo stick , dip in water and make a impression at the center along lengthwise.Heat the oil in the deep kadai or pan, when it's hot(if you drop a small piece of dough, it should be immediately come up,that's the correct temperature ), take the strips with two hands, elongate a bit and drop in oil, immediately it will puff up. Rotate it continuously for even coloring and it will ready in 1.5 to 2 mins.Do  the same for the remaining. Fry one at a time.Super crispy  You Tiao is ready to serve , Serve it with Soy milk or congee.We had it with regular milk.
Notes
  •   Knead the dough as per metioned timing and also keep the dough overnight at refrigerator, it will help to puff up nicely.
  •  Oil temperature is very important, bring to correct temperature before drop each strips in oil
  • The dough is very delicate to work, make the impression in dough,just before dropping in oil.
  • Use bigger pan for frying, it elongate much, mine get bends because of small kadai.


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