(Amazing) Asian Dumplings

A while back one of my flatmates and I decided to make dumplings. We think we’re pretty handy in the kitchen and we decided that if we can make pasta, we can make a simple dumpling wrapper. … How wrong we were. OH IT’S AN ART. Anyway, I decided to try these dumplings again and to try and coax my flatmate into it I bought an authentic asian steamer. As you do. £20 from Muji. Done. She went on holiday this week, but not before buying some dumpling wrappers from the local Korean shop… I’ll replace them love. I swear. I decided to make two types. One spicy meat and the other, fish. For the meat one I used both pork AND beef mince – pork mince binds better – and a special spicy Korean beef sauce. It tasted like a little slice of Korea. Perfect. The fish one – I didn’t want it to be bland. You know that AWFUL moment when you have fish with lemon and parsley and it reminds you of school dinners? What an English tradition – no wonder most people my age hate fish. So I added wasabi paste and some fish sauce. Done. The great thing about these is that not only are they incredibly healthy as they’re steamed and not fried, and NOT ONLY do they only take 5-7 minutes to steam, but they’re so incredibly EASY to freeze… Wonderful news I know… My other flatmate (also Korean) got home from an evening out and ate 14 of these without catching a breath whilst mumbling happily. I’m taking that as a compliment…. Asian Dumplings Makes 48 dumplings Ingredients Needed: For the meat dumplings 1 pack of dumpling wrappers (24 per pack) 1/2 pack of pork mince 1/2 pack of beef mince 3 Spring onions – chopped Spicy beef marinade Toasted sesame oil For the fish dumplings 1 pack of dumpling wrappers (24 per pack) 1 fillet of haddock pack of raw prawns, de-veined Fish sauce Parsley Juice of half a lemon Wasabi Paste Method – Pork/Beef Put the pork and mince in a bowl and add the onion, 2 tsps of the sesame oil and 5 table spoons of the sauce and mix with your hands. Messy but you will get the best results. Leave to marinate for half an hour. Put a tiny amount in the centre of a wrapper and wet the edges with some warm water – this will help it stick – then pinch the wrapper and seal the edges. Put a cup of water into the bottom of a wok and bring the water to the boil. Place the bottom layer of the steamer to it’s sitting just above the water in the wok. Put little strips of baking paper onto the tray (this will stop it sticking) and place the dumplings on top. Put the lid on the steamer and cook for 5-7 minutes or until done. I served mine with some greens, chilli and corriander salad. Wonderful. Method – Fish Chop the prawns and the fish and mix together with the fish sauce and the lemon juice. Mix with your hands. Put a pea sized amount of the wasabi paste onto the dumpling and spread with your finger. Add a small amount of the fish mix and seal in the same way as above. As before – cook for 5-7 minutes and ENJOY. HOW EASY IS THAT MAN.