Chinese Pan-Fried Dumplings (锅貼）

It has been a long while since I last made potstickers. My two girls like the Chinese pan-fried dumplings with meat and Chinese Chive filling a lot but I do not make for them often enough as it is a time-consuming process to make the dumpling skins from scratch.

I finally made the dumplings for them over the weekend to satisfy their cravings. The recipe that I am sharing below is taken from a chinese cook book that I borrowed from the library many years ago. I jotted down the ingredients required for the wrappers. As for the fillings, I simply mix  up minced meat and chive and season it to my preference.

Chinese Pan-Fried Dumplings / Potstickers (锅貼)

Making Dumpling Wrappers from scratch

• 250g plain flour
• 70g boiling water
• 30g water at room temperature

1. Add boiling water to the flour
2. Mix with a pair chopsticks to combine
3. Add in the cold water
4. Knead into a dough and let it rest for at least 15 minutes before use (cover dough with wet cloth)
5. Pinch a small ball of dough, flatten it on a floured surface.
6. Using a rolling pin, roll the dough into a thin round wrapper about 3 inch in diameter. Repeat the same until all the dough are used up.

 

Making the dumplings

Ingredients for dumpling fillings:

• minced pork
• a bunch of chive, thinly sliced
• Salt, pepper, light soy sauce, sesame oil for seasoning 

 

Sauce for pan frying dumplings:

• 1 tablespoon of black vinegar
• 1 tablespoon of light soy sauce

1. Mix the minced pork and chives together, season with salt, pepper, sesame oil and light soy sauce.
2. Combine the pan frying sauce together. Set aside.
3. To make dumplings, place a teaspoonful of the meat fillings on the center of the skin. Dab a little water with your index finger and go around the edge of the wrapper. Fold up the wrapper and pleat into dumpling shape. Repeat the same for the rest.
4. To pan fry the dumpling, heat up a little oil in a non-stick frying pan over medium heat. Place the dumplings on the frying pan and then turn the heat to high. Pan fry the dumplings until the bottoms turn golden brown and crisp. Add about 2 teaspoon of the vinegar sauce over the dumplings and cover the frying pan with its lid immediately. Cook until sauce has evaporated and turn the heat to low. Remove the lid and cook the dumplings for another 2 minutes, dish out. 

 Serve hot with Chinese black vinegar and thinly sliced ginger.

 I am submitting this post to Aspiring Bakers #19: Dim Sum Affair (May 2012) hosted by SSB of Small Small Baker.

Oatbake with Blueberries and Chocolate Chips

This recipe caught my attention as rolled oats are used in the baking. Any recipe with rolled oats must be healthy, isn’t it?

This is truly a healthy and yummy loaf of baked rolled oats with honey and fresh fruits. I added some chocolate chips as my younger girl does not really fancy blueberries. Another good option for home-baked breakfast.

Oatbake with Blueberries and Chocolate Chips

Adapted from Nordic Bakery Cookbook by Milsa Mink

Ingredients

• 100g rolled oats
• 300ml hot milk
• 100g unsalted butter, room temperature
• 60g caster sugar (I reduced to 35g)
• 50ml runny honey
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 egg, lightly beaten
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 125g plain flour
• 150g blueberries (I used one punnet)
• 150g raspberries (I replaced this with mini chocolate chips, at about the same quantity as the blueberries)

 Methods

1. Grease a 900-g loaf tin. Preheat oven to 180 degree C.
2. Heat up the hot milk in a small pot. Once it started to boil, off the gas. Pour in the rolled oats and set aside to allow the oats to absorb the liquid and cool down slightly.
3. Cream the butter and sugar until pale and fluffy. Stir in the honey and vanilla extract. Gradually add in the beaten egg, a little at a time, beating well after each addition.
4. Sift the flour and baking powder together, then fold into the butter mixture. Drain any remaining milk from the oats, then stir the oats into the mixing bowl.
5. Pour the mixture into the prepared loaf tin and sprinkle the blueberries and chocolate chips evenly on top.
6. Bake in the pre-heated oven for 50-60 minutes, until a knife inserted into the centre comes out clear. (Mine was done at 175 degree C for 45 minutes. I used a foil to cover the top of the tin after 35 minutes to prevent over-browning the top.
7. Leave to cool in the tin for 10 minutes before turning out onto a wire rack to cool.

Crepes with Cameralised Bananas, Ice-cream and Granola

I made some crepes on Saturday for our afternoon tea time treat. the warm crepe filled with sweet caramelised bananas, topped with a ball of cold yummy vanilla-chocolate ice-cream and sprinkled with home-made granola, this is the best dessert to us in a hot afternoon.

The crepes recipe below yield about 12 pieces of thin crepes. We finished up half of them on Saturday. I store the remaining half in the fridge (wrapped with cling film) and had another round of crepes dessert on Sunday afternoon, this time with fresh strawberries added too :).  







Home-made Crepes Recipe

Ingredients:

• 3 eggs
• 1/2 cup milk (I used soya milk)
• 1/2 cup water
• 45g unsalted butter, melted
• 3/4 cup all-purpose flour, sifted
• 1/2 tsp salt

Methods:

1. Place all ingredients into a mixing bowl, whisk until smooth (if there are small little flour lumps in the batter, use a sieve to filter them away)
2. Heat a lightly buttered non-stick pan over medium heat.
3. Pour about 1/4 cup of the batter into the centre of the pan. Lightly move the pan in circular movement to let the batter spread evenly over the pan to form a thin layer of crepe.
4. Cook for a few minutes until the crepe is set and can be flip over without breaking. Flip over and cook until both sides are lightly browned.
5. Stack cooked crepes over each other on a plate .

Caramelised Bananas

Ingredients:

• 3 ripe bananas, peel off the skin and cut into slices
• 1 tablespoon of butter
• 1 tablespoon of caster sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon of ground cinnamon

Methods:

1. In a small pot, melt the butter over low heat.
2. Add in the bananas and sprinkle the sugar and cinnamon over the bananas
3. Stir lightly to allow the bananas to be coated evenly with the caramel.

To assemble:

Place a piece of the crepe on a serving plate, fill about one tablespoon of caramelised bananas over the crepe, fold up 2 sides of the crepes. Top with one scoop of ice-cream and sprinkle crispy granola over it. Enjoy!

To heat up the crepes:

1. Heat up a non-stick pan on low heat.
2. Please one piece of cold crepe into the pan to warm it up. Flip to the other side once the first side is warmed up. Be careful not to burn the crepes.  

Mushi Pan (Japanese Steamed Cake)

This is a simple steamed cupcake that can be whipped up easily in the late night for next morning breakfast, with ingredients that are always available at my home.

With some tweaks, you can also add different flavours to this simple steamed cake recipe. For instance, with 1 tablespoon of green tea added to the flour mixture, I get Matcha Mushi Pan! Other variations to try - creamy sweet corn flavour, azuki/red-bean flavour, pandan flavour, e.t.c.

Mushi Pan (Japanese Steamed Cake)

Ingredients (yield 4 regular muffin-sized cake):

• 100g cake flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 egg
• 40g sugar
• 60ml milk
• 1 tbsp vegetable oil

Methods:

1. Sift cake flour & baking powder together. Set aside.
2. Lightly whisk together eggs and sugar. Add in milk, flour mixture and whisk until combined. Fold in vegetable oil.
3. Pour mixture into muffin cups until 3/4 full. Place the filled muffin cups in steamer and steam in hot boiling water on medium high heat for 15-20 minutes. Off the hear but leave the cakes in the steamer for 5-10 minutes before taking them out to cool down.

Potato Gnocchi

Gnocchi is a traditional Italian dumpling made with combination of potatoes or ricotta with flour and egg. It is a light comfort-food option that is quite fun to make at home. Texture wise,  they are soft to bite and spongy to chew. My younger girl said "it is like eating pillows".

Potato Gnocchi, served with pasta sauce

Ingredients

(Serving: dinner for 4 - 2 adults, 2 children)

• 5 russet potatoes (about 700g after boiling)
• 1 - 1 1/3 cups plain flour
• 1 tablespoon salt
• 1 egg

Methods

1. Skin the potatoes and boil them in salted boiling water until tender.
2. Once they are ready, scoop the potatoes out from the pot and mash them up using a fork. Let cool completely. Keep the water in the pot for later use.
3. Once the potatoes have cooled, sprinkle 1 cup of the flour and the salt over the potatoes. Mix them together and add the egg into the mixture.
4. Lightly knead the mixture by hand until all ingredients are combined and not sticky to your fingers. You may need to add extra flour (one tablespoon at a time if the dough mixture is too wet). Gather it into a ball. Do not over-knead the dough as this will make the gnocchi heavy and tough.
5. Divide the dough into 12 pieces. On a lightly floured surface, roll each piece out into a rope about 1/2-inch in diameter. Cut into 1/2-inch pieces.
6. You may take some time to create ridges in the individual gnocchi using a fork or simply give each piece a quick roll into a oval-shaped tiny ball.
7. Re-heat the salted water used to cook the potatoes. Gently place the gnocchi in the boiling water, stir lightly to prevent them from sticking together. Once the gnocchi float up to the surface, scoop them out from the pot.
   
   

Once they are dished up, I served the gnocchi with store-bought tomato pasta sauce which I have heated up.  A light and hearty family dinner on weekday evening.

To freeze -  place the pre-boiled gnocchi in a single layer on a baking sheet and place into the freezer. Once they are individually frozen, you can place them together or on top of each other in a bag or container.

Adapted from: foodloversodyssey and zoomyummy

Granola with Mixed Nuts and Dried Fruit

My elder girl likes rolled oats very much. But this is not the case for the rest of us in the family. To satisfy her cravings while not making the rest of us to consume plain rolled oats against our liking, I incorporate rolled oats in my bakings.

I made Oat-baked Loaf with Blueberries and Chocolate Chips last week (posting up soon) and this delicious and healthy Home-made Granola with Mixed Nuts and Dried Fruit yesterday. We enjoyed the crispy granola as toppings for our after-dinner yogurts last evening and my daughter was looking forward to have granola with milk as breakfast for the morning.

Easy Recipe for Granola with Mixed Nuts and Dried Fruit

(adapted from Yummymummykitchen)

Ingredients:

3 cups organic rolled oats

1/2 cup assorted nuts (I used walnuts, pecans and almonds)

2 tbsp raw sugar

1/4 tsp salt

1 tsp ground nutmeg

1/4 cup maple syrup (or honey)

2 tbsp cooking oil

1/2 cup assorted dried fruits (I used cranberries and raisins)

Methods:

1. Preheat oven to 135 degree C.
2. Combine rolled oats, nuts, sugar, salt and ground nutmeg in a large bowl. Mix well.
3. Combine oil and maple syrup and pour it over the oats and nuts mixture. Stir with spatula to ensure the oats and nuts are evenly coated with the syrup.
4. Pour the mixture over to a baking tray (lined with baking paper). Spread out the mixture evenly.
5. Baked for 25 minutes. Give the mixture a good stir and bake for another 25 minutes.
6. Remove from the oven and let the granola cool completely before stiring in the dried fruits. Once cooled down, the granola will be crispy. Store the granola in air-tight container.