Cheng's Dumplings

So remember this post about my Chicken fried rice? Well after eating Cheng's dumplings that night, I really wanted to put them on the blog. He was so kind to come over and make them again with me so I could jot down the recipe and so we could enjoy them again :)

Preparation Time: 20 minutes
Cooking Time: 10-15 minutes

Ingredients:

1 lb (.5 kg) ground/minced pork*
3 chopped green onions
2 cups finely chopped cabbage
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp soy sauce
1-2 tsp salt
1/2 cup corn (optional)
1 egg
oil
dumpling skin

* I don't know about you, but we can't go to our supermarket and pick up ground pork. If your store offers that, Awesome! If not, just ask someone at the meat counter for some ground pork and they will be happy to ground some for you.

Instructions:

Mix pork, onions, cabbage, garlic powder, soy sauce, salt, corn and egg together.

Take dumpling skin, add about a 1/2 spoonful of meat to the middle. Dip you fingers in water and wet the edges of the dumpling skin. Fold in half pressing the sides together and fold to insure that the seal is tight.














This process might be a little confusing, so here is Cheng himself showing us how it's done!

There are two ways you cook these. Cheng is from Taiwan and he says they like things fried, but boiling them also works.

Method One (Frying)
Heat oil on medium in a frying pan. Add the dumplings to the pan and let them get brown (3-5 minutes). Put some water in the pan and cover for 5 minutes (or until water is evaporated). Turn the dumplings over to brown on the other side (3-5 minutes). Serve hot :)


Method Two (Boiling)
Boil water. Add dumplings to pot. Boil for 10 minutes (or until all dumpling have raised to the top). Serve on a platter (so they don't stick to each other)

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My husband prefers his dumplings fried. I like them both ways. Boiling them does give them a smooth texture. I also like the dumplings with or without the corn. The corn does give the dumplings a sweeter taste, but I didn't notice that big of a difference. The first time we ate them, we just put soy sauce on them.

This time Cheng made a special sauce with soy sauce, sesame sauce, and minced garlic. It was really good! It had a very savory taste. I recently got some sweet chili sauce (my favorite from when we lived in Australia!) and tried it on them. Boy, was it yummy! So just experiment with whatever sauces you have at home and Enjoy!

Thanks for helping me Cheng!

Chile Verde

This is one of my favorite Mexican dishes my dad makes! My dad is one of those amazing cooks that just throws things together and judges all measurements by looking at it. When I called him to get this recipe he would say things like " then put some water in." I would ask, "how much" and he would just reply "like a cup or so." We decided it would probably be best if I just went over to my parents' house to make it with him, so I could get some measurements.

Preparation Time: 30 minutes
Cook time: 5 hours

Ingredients:

2 lbs Tomatillo's (peeled and washed)
1 1/2 cup water
1/2 onion
3 garlic gloves
handful of cilantro (For you Aussie's a handful of coriander) *
1/4 tsp oregano
1/4 tsp cumin
1/4 tsp garlic powder
1 Jalapeno
5 chicken bullion cubes
1 TBS olive oil
salt to taste
Pork Roast

*I couldn't get a real measurement what a handful
was, but this is what it looked like in my dad's hand.

Instructions:

Prepare your pork roast (I cooked mine in a crockpot for 4 hours with some oil).

Boil tomotillo's, onion, garlic cloves, and cilantro in water

Spoon out ingredients and reserve about a cup of water



Blend boiled ingredients with oregano, cumin, garlic powder, and jalapeno.

Warm olive oil up in pan, then add blended sauce. The sides of the blender will have the remains of salsa on them. Pour the reserved water in the blender to get as much out as possible. Return the pan to heat. Add chicken bullion cubes and salt to taste and let simmer for a 3 minutes.

Once your roast is done cooking, cut or break apart your roast, add the green salsa and cook for one more hour.

Serve with tortillas, rice, and beans :)