Crispy Tofu & Chicken Dumplings

I love dumplings. Wontons, siomai, gyoza, mandu, whatever you call it, I love them. We had a slight blunder in ordering chicken delivery (what we got was super-spicy fried chicken). There were only a couple of pieces that were eaten from that order so I decided to strip the meat from the bones and chopped it up. I figured I could use it in burritos, quesadillas or even dumplings. I decided to do the latter.

Fried Tofu and Chicken Dumplings

Ingredients:

1 pack dumpling wrappers 

2 cups chopped cooked chicken

1 cup crumbled tofu (firm variety)

1 egg

2 tablespoons grated carrots

1/4 cup grated onions

1 teaspoon minced garlic

2 tablespoons soy sauce

salt & pepper

oil for frying

Directions:

1. Combine all the listed ingredients (except for the oil) in a large mixing bowl. Salt and pepper the mixture to taste. Make sure everything is well combined.

2. Take one dumpling wrapper and place a tablespoon of the mixture in the middle, seal up the edges with egg white (the best "glue" to seal your dumplings). Set aside on a plate.

3. Do the rest for all the wrappers and mixture.

4. Prepare your steamer and steam the dumplings for about 5-7 minutes. Remember, these will be fried later.

5. When all the dumplings are cooked, take them out and let them cool on a plastic-lined tray (or oiled, so that the dumplings don't stick to the surface).

6. Heat about 1/2 cup of oil in a deep frying pan. Put the heat to medium and drop dumplings one by one. When one side gets golden-brown (about 1-2 minutes) flip them over and fry that side. Take out the dumplings and put them on papertowels to drain.

Serve hot with your preferred dip: ketchup, soysauce with vinegar, chili-garlic sauce, etc.

I tried one, it was amazing!

I fried a couple to test them out. They were amazing! The first bite was crunchy and then the filling was good and savory. It went well with my soup and tofu salad meal for lunch. If you can see below the filling turned out nice and done. If you plan to freeze them, do it on a tray first (spaced apart, not touching together). Then once it's frozen, just take them out and let thaw a bit and fry them. 

This was a serendipitous recipe borne out of a botched chicken order. I can't wait to have these again tomorrow for a late afternoon snack.

Egg Drop Soup for a Sick Boy

A couple of weeks ago, my eldest son and I had the cold virus. After a week's rest and a gazillion of horse pills from my doctor, I am finally over my cold. Eldest son is still coughing a little but it looks like he's getting over it soon. The bad news is, my youngest son Billy woke up with a slightly sore throat. He still went to school because he thought it will be gone after a couple of hours. When he came home, the sore throat had worserned and he had a raging headache.

I knew Billy was sick when he wasn't hungry after coming home from school. He always ate a big snack (growing boy = Bottomless Pit). He promptly headed to his room and laid down. For dinner, he asked if he can have some soup. When I asked him what he wanted, he replied he wanted some of my Egg Drop Soup. Thank goodness I just made some chicken broth the previous day. I had everything in my refrigerator for the soup.

Egg Drop Soup

Ingredients:

2 cups chicken broth

1 egg, lightly beaten

1 tsp. grated ginger

1 tablespoon finely minced white onion

1/4 cup cornstarch mixed with 1/4 cup water

1 tsp. finely chopped spring onion or chives *(optional)

salt & pepper to taste

Directions:
1. Boil the chicken broth in a large sauce pan or a small pot. When it starts to simmer, add the ginger and onion.
2. Let it simmer for five minutes. Taste the broth, if it needs it, salt it to your liking.
3. Bring it to a boil and add the cornstarch slurry that you made with the cornstarch and water. Add the slurry slowly in a thin stream while slowly stirring the soup. If you see the soup thicken up to your liking, stop pouring the cornstarch mix.
4. Turn the heat down and let the soup simmer for about a minute. Turn the heat off and slowly drop in the beaten egg. While you are pouring the egg, use your ladle to stir the soup to create wispy feathers of egg throughout the soup.
5. Ladle into individual bowls and sprinkle with black pepper and chopped spring onions/chives.

Tofu Pockets

I love tofu. There are days when I crave it. Of course, I buy them fresh from the local artisan tofu maker in town and I get fresh, steaming blocks of tofu. The problem with tofu is that a block of tofu is a LOT of tofu. I bought 2 blocks of tofu, thinking I needed two to make a dish of Mapo Tofu to bring to a potluck dinner. Turns out, I only needed one. So, what can I do with my extra tofu? Make Crispy Fried Tofu Pockets!





I modified this dish from a Chinese recipe that uses minced meat to stuff square tofu blocks and steamed. I make mine by crispy-frying it and then covering it with a savory sauce. First thing you need to do is to drain that block of tofu. Now cut it carefully into little blocks, say 2 inch by 2 inch pieces. make sure you have firm tofu, the soft ones will crumble on you. Then with a teaspoon, carefully dig out the center of the tofu square. Make sure you don't puncture the bottom.





Do this with all the tofu blocks. Save those tofu discards for later. They make for good tofu crumble to add to stews (as a thickener) or minced meat stir-fry (as an extender).





Now we need to season the minced meat. You'll need about a cup of minced pork. Make sure it has some fat in it, it'll add to the flavor. Add about a teaspoon of each:

> Light soy sauce
> Oyster sauce
> Rice wine or sherry
> minced garlic
> grated onion
> grated carrot

Also add 1 egg (to make everything combine together), 2 tablespoon of cornstarch plus a dash of salt and pepper. Mix everything well in a bowl and use about two teaspoons of meat to stuff the hollow centers of the blocks.


Now heat enough oil to deep-fry these stuff pockets. When the oil gets hot, lower the pockets into the oil with the stuffed side facing down on the pan. This is to help cooked the minced meat stuffing. Then after about 5-7 minutes, or when that side turns golden brown, turn it over to cook the other side.



When everything is golden brown all over, drain the tofu pockets on paper towels. Let them sit for a minute or two. These will be too hot to serve. Which gives you enough time to make your garlic-soy sauce dip.



In a little bowl, combine 2 tablespoons of vinegar to 1 tablespoon of soy sauce. Add 1/2 teaspoon minced raw garlic. Stir to combine. Now you can use this dip for your tofu pockets or as a sauce that you can pour over the entire dish.

A Dimsum Favorite - Spareribs with Black Bean Sauce

Everytime we go to a Chinese dimsum restaurant, my family tend to order our favorites: Siomai dumplings, Chicken Feet, and Steamed Spareribes in Black Bean Sauce. Tender morsels of meat clinging to ribs with tasty sauce... my mouth is watering just thinking about it.

Just in case you don't know, these black beans are the Chinese fermented black beans. They're extremely salty and should be rinsed before use. The beans have a very nice, savory taste that blends well with many foods. It is also used in the spicy Mapo Tofu dish.

Steamed Spareribs With Black Bean Sauce (Dow See Jing Pie)

Ingredients:

1/2 kilo Spareribs
1 Clove garlic, minced fine
2 tablespoon Salted black beans
1 tablespoon Fresh ginger, minced
1 tablespoon Dark soy sauce
1 tablespoon Cornstarch
1 tablespoon Chinese rice wine or Sherry


Here's how to fix it:
1. Have your wok ready by filling it with water halfway and letting it boil. You can also use a steamer for this.
2. Cut the spareribes into into 1-inch pieces. To make it easier for you, have the butcher do this. Trim off fat.
2. Place spareribs in a heat proof dish.
3. Wash and rinse black beans 2 or 3 times, then mash them with garlic, ginger, soy sauce, cornstarch and sherry. Mix with spareribs.
4. To cook the dish, place the sparerib dish on steaming rack in wok. Cover. Steam for 30 minutes.

This is a great side dish for rice, either steamed or Chinese Fried Rice.

Stuffed Tofu

Here's a great recipe for those of you who are left with a block of tofu sitting in the fridge. I mean, who can eat all that tofu? I remembered there was a Chinese recipe of hollowing out tofu blocks, stuffing it with meat and deep-frying it. Lastly, the golden-crunchy blocks are covered with sauce.

The result? Crispy tofu with soft, creamy meaty innards. Your block of tofu will be gone in no time.

Recipe:

1 block firm tofu
1/2 cup ground meat (pork, chicken or beef)
1/4 cup finely minced carrot
2 mushrooms, finely minced
1/4 cup finely minced onion
1 garlic clove, finely minced
2 sprigs of spring onion, minced
1 egg
1 cup cooking oil

Sauce ingredients:
1 cup chicken broth (or vegetable broth)
1 tablespoon corn starch
1 tablespoon oyster sauce

1. Combine ground meat with egg, carrots, mushrooms, onion, garlic and spring onions. Salt and pepper the mixture and set aside.

2. With a sharp knife, cut the tofu into 8 blocks. Take a small spoon and hollow out the center of each tofu block. Be careful as not to pierce a hole in it.

3. Take your stuffing and stuff the holes that you carved out. If you have leftover meat stuffing, combine it with the tofu pieces that you took out of the blocks and you can fry these as fritters.

4. In a deep pan or wok, heat the oil until it is very hot. Carefully place the stuffed tofu (meat side down) on the pan and fry until all the sides are golden. Take these out and let drain on paper towels.

5. In the same pan, take out the oil and wipe the pan down. Heat it up again and in a bowl combine all the sauce ingredients. Put the mixture in the pan and stir like crazy. When the sauce gels up, add the fried tofu blocks and let everything get covered in the sauce. Serve hot as a side dish.