Knead and Fold

The story should begin with my adventure in stock making.

I used to make chicken stock. I love it so much I was fussy enough to make a trip to the Village Grocer to get the perfect roasted chicken because the stock taste marvelous when you simmer it with roasted chicken carcass.

The trip became a hassle when I realised how difficult it is to finish the entire chicken just because all I wanted was that perfectly roasted bone.

I ran out of idea of what to do with those meat!

Sandwhich? Done to death.

Go with pasta? Done to death.

Go with salad? Done to death.

Fried rice, noodle, porridge... Boring~~~~~

After a while of storing in the fridge, the chicken became greasy and not as yummy as it first came out of the perfectly heated oven at the perfect timing.

Not long ago I discovered vegetarian stock, which only need the usual ingredients with button mushroom to replace the carcass!

It is so yummy I stock away for noodle, pilaf, pasta sauce, porridge and risotto.

I do it in batches, separate it in jars (enough for one serving) and store them in the freezer.

Recently I started making dumplings (jiao zi) and I got hook!

Ingredients:

For the filling you'll need...

Minced Pork (can substitute with minced chicken)
Chinese Chive (ku cai)
A dash of sesame oil
Splash of Chinese Rice Wine (Shao Xing)
Pinch of salt and pepper

Mix all the above ingredient together, cover and marinate in the fridge for an hour or overnight.

For the dough you'll need 2 cups of flour and half cup of water.

Knead the tough until it is nice and soft. You may like to add more water if the dough are not coming together and/or become tough.

Separate the dough into 2 equal portion and roll them into cylinder. Cover them with wet towel and set aside.

Cut the dough into quarter inch length, and flatten it with rolling pin until it becomes a round skin about 3 inches in diameter.

A small spoonful of the filling into the center of the skin and seal it tightly with fingers. Line them up on non-stick baking paper.

It should look like this.

Neatly folded meat packets ready to cook :)

Boil a pot of stock. Drop the dumplings into the stock and cover the pot. As soon as the dumplings start to float, it's ready!

Served

A dash of sesame oil and little bit of soy sauce, the best comfort food ever!

I like to serve it with rice, noodle or on its own.

If you don't have stock, boil it with water, and serve with vinegar and ginger for dipping.

Well... since there should be about 30 dumplings (10 of which should be safely deposited in my tummy), stock them in airtight container(s), don't put them too close together or they'll stick, and freeze until ready to use.