Wok with Me: Saucy Braised Tofu with Mushrooms, Scallion or Black Sesame Pancakes and Riffing the Szechuan Master Meat Mix
February 16, 2020
Wrapping and then eating dumplings 餃子 (jiǎo zi) together is a Chinese family tradition designed to bring happiness and prosperity into the New Year. Two years ago, I started a local dumpling club to share this tradition with friends, and stimulate the exploration and enjoyment of multi-cultural versions of dumplings. Homemade Chinese wrappers made with just water and flour, or using gluten-free starches, are remarkably versatile and easy to use. Plus, savory or sweet fillings wrapped in dough are so much fun to eat, and everybody loves these delicious packets of love.
This year, the Spring Festival extends from Chinese New Year Day on January 25 to February 4. Dumpling wrapping, having fish (有魚 yǒu yú), and the red packet of money 紅包 (hóng bāo) are some of our Chinese New Year family traditions. Eating dumplings together symbolize a wish for prosperity and wealth, as the traditional crescent shape of the Northern Chinese dumpling resembles ancient ingots of silver and gold. Whereas round or spherical dumplings celebrate peace, prosperity and family completeness. Round treats are eaten at the first full moon of the year in the form of glutinous rice balls 湯圓 tāng yuán for the Lantern Festival, or moon cakes 月餅 (yuè bǐng) for the mid-Autumn festival 中秋節 (Zhōng Qiū Jié), which celebrates the fullest moon of the year .
My mom spent a good part of her childhood in Northern China as her father fought in the war against Japanese aggression. As such her dumpling wrappers, consisting of only two ingredients -- flour and water -- are stretchy and chewy in the Northern style where wheat is a major crop. And we find that a simple dip of vinegar tinged with fresh ginger slices brings out the best flavors of the dumpling.
Later on, I would discover that there are major differences in texture between wheat flour dough made with cold water, as we had always made them, and hot water dough in which boiling water is added to the flour. While cold water dough dumplings are resilient enough for cooking as boiled dumplings or 水餃 shu jiǎo, hot water doughs are best steamed or pan-fried. Cold water dough is stretchy because of gluten networks, whereas the hot water disrupts these networks allowing the dough to be rolled out thinner without bouncing back.
Because of this, hot water dough is frequently used to make scallion pancakes, a type of filled doughy treat with sesame oil and scallions encased in flaky layers. By necessity, gluten-free dumpling wrappers are also made using hot water methods. These include the translucent wheat starch and tapioca starch wrappers for shrimp dumplings or har gow in Cantonese, or the black sesame paste filled glutinous rice balls 湯圓 (which evolved into mochi after it spread to Japan) mentioned above.
Overall, cold water dough is more versatile. If you accidentally put too much filling, you can often simply stretch it to cover. In contrast, you have to be much more careful not to overfill hot water doughs. We often use leftover cold-water dough to make scallion pancakes. You simply have to let the gluten relax by resting the dough if it seems to bounce back too much. Cold water dough dumplings are also wonderful cooked pot-sticker style, a combination of steaming in a tiny bit of water to cook the insides, while pan-frying the bottoms to a golden crisp.
This year, the Spring Festival extends from Chinese New Year Day on January 25 to February 4. Dumpling wrapping, having fish (有魚 yǒu yú), and the red packet of money 紅包 (hóng bāo) are some of our Chinese New Year family traditions. Eating dumplings together symbolize a wish for prosperity and wealth, as the traditional crescent shape of the Northern Chinese dumpling resembles ancient ingots of silver and gold. Whereas round or spherical dumplings celebrate peace, prosperity and family completeness. Round treats are eaten at the first full moon of the year in the form of glutinous rice balls 湯圓 tāng yuán for the Lantern Festival, or moon cakes 月餅 (yuè bǐng) for the mid-Autumn festival 中秋節 (Zhōng Qiū Jié), which celebrates the fullest moon of the year .
My mom spent a good part of her childhood in Northern China as her father fought in the war against Japanese aggression. As such her dumpling wrappers, consisting of only two ingredients -- flour and water -- are stretchy and chewy in the Northern style where wheat is a major crop. And we find that a simple dip of vinegar tinged with fresh ginger slices brings out the best flavors of the dumpling.
Later on, I would discover that there are major differences in texture between wheat flour dough made with cold water, as we had always made them, and hot water dough in which boiling water is added to the flour. While cold water dough dumplings are resilient enough for cooking as boiled dumplings or 水餃 shu jiǎo, hot water doughs are best steamed or pan-fried. Cold water dough is stretchy because of gluten networks, whereas the hot water disrupts these networks allowing the dough to be rolled out thinner without bouncing back.
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| Left, Cold water dough with pork-cabbage filling cooked three ways: boiled, steamed and pan-fried potstickers. Top right, hot water dough with fish-scallion filling. Middle right, Shrimp dumplings with sweet potato starch-tapioca blend. Lower right, translucent shrimp dumplings made according to a recipe from the Spring Moon restaurant in Hong Kong. The pink shrimp peeks through the translucent wheat starch-tapioca dough, which can also be made using chives water as detailed in The Breath of a Wok. |
Overall, cold water dough is more versatile. If you accidentally put too much filling, you can often simply stretch it to cover. In contrast, you have to be much more careful not to overfill hot water doughs. We often use leftover cold-water dough to make scallion pancakes. You simply have to let the gluten relax by resting the dough if it seems to bounce back too much. Cold water dough dumplings are also wonderful cooked pot-sticker style, a combination of steaming in a tiny bit of water to cook the insides, while pan-frying the bottoms to a golden crisp.
While many people know about the fabulous Shanghai-style soup dumplings 小籠包 (xiǎo lóng bāo) at the worldwide Taipei chain Din Tai Fung, their fish dumplings 魚餃 (yú jiǎo) stand out even more from the crowd. Craving these, I turned to Andrea Nguyen's recipe for Fish & Chives Dumplings just before my daughter returned to college, so she could get in both her New Year's fish and a dumpling wrapping session to usher in the Year of the Rat!
My parents grew up in a war-torn China, fleeing their homes, country and hemisphere in search of stability, liberty and democracy. As one of the only Chinese families in a neighborhood dominated by Mexican-American and Filipino families, we did not grow up with a deep sense of tradition for celebrating either Chinese or American holidays. Thanksgiving became our favorite holiday, celebrated initially with roasted duck, and then at the kids' request, turkey roasted with the same Chinese seasonings. Ever so often, we would go watch the colorful lion and dragon dances in the Los Angeles Chinatown. And my mom always served whole fish sometime during the New Year season. The Chinese phrase for "having fish" 有魚 -- yǒu yú -- sounds the same as the words for "having surplus" 有余, signifying prosperity, abundance and the ability to share with others.
When relatives came to visit, the grown ups would sit around wrapping Chinese pork dumplings. While we liked eating them, we kids gave one or two desultory tries at wrapping leaky, deformed (criticizable) dumplings before running off to play. It was not until I got to college that I made my first dumplings at a huge New Year's event. Other Chinese-American students assumed I knew how to do it, and asked me to teach non-Asian participants. I was able to surreptitiously watch the guy next to me, and picked it up quickly enough to fake my way through the lesson. See one, do one, teach one...
That summer, I came home and asked my mom to show me how to make dumplings from scratch. She makes a pretty stiff dough, as she enjoys the toothy springiness of Northern style boiled dumplings, as opposed to the thin, unsubstantial gyoza-style wrapper that fades from the senses after conveying what are essentially meatballs to the mouth. To my surprise, it was a lot easier and less messy to wrap dumplings using the freshly made two-ingredient (flour, cold water) dough than using store bought circles that required dipping an increasingly messy, starchy finger into cups of water. And the dumplings made with fresh dough stay sealed easily throughout the boiling, pan-frying or vinegar-dipping process to deliver all the tasty juices into the mouth.
The first time I had fish dumplings was at the Din Tai Fung restaurant in Arcadia, CA, which we had visited for their Xiao Long Bao soup dumplings, so named because each dumpling contains a bit of delicious, steaming soup. I still think they have the best soup dumplings I have ever tried. The skins are always thin, translucent and bulging with rich, savory broth. But, comparably tasty (if more expensive) soup dumplings can be had in many cities around the US, in a smaller city like Pittsburgh. The best soup dumplings in Pittsburgh are served at a Taiwanese bistro, Cafe 33.
While the soup dumplings are delicious, the Din Tai Fung fish dumplings were really special. Elegant, elongated dumplings zipped closed with an abundance of fine pleats, they were filled with tender, white flaky fish with a delicate, yet distinct, savory richness. What they lacked in color, they more than made up for in pleasurable flavors and texture.
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| Steamed Fish & Scallion Dumplings with Scallion pancakes in the background |
Dumpling wrapping as a family, eating fish, and the red packet of money 紅包 (hóng bāo) are the Chinese New Year traditions that I have tried to impart to my children. The first two stemmed from my childhood, whereas my husband and I added the red packet when our children were small.
My parents grew up in a war-torn China, fleeing their homes, country and hemisphere in search of stability, liberty and democracy. As one of the only Chinese families in a neighborhood dominated by Mexican-American and Filipino families, we did not grow up with a deep sense of tradition for celebrating either Chinese or American holidays. Thanksgiving became our favorite holiday, celebrated initially with roasted duck, and then at the kids' request, turkey roasted with the same Chinese seasonings. Ever so often, we would go watch the colorful lion and dragon dances in the Los Angeles Chinatown. And my mom always served whole fish sometime during the New Year season. The Chinese phrase for "having fish" 有魚 -- yǒu yú -- sounds the same as the words for "having surplus" 有余, signifying prosperity, abundance and the ability to share with others.
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| https://www.theyucatantimes.com/2020/01/chinese-new-year-2020-year-of-the-rat/ |
When relatives came to visit, the grown ups would sit around wrapping Chinese pork dumplings. While we liked eating them, we kids gave one or two desultory tries at wrapping leaky, deformed (criticizable) dumplings before running off to play. It was not until I got to college that I made my first dumplings at a huge New Year's event. Other Chinese-American students assumed I knew how to do it, and asked me to teach non-Asian participants. I was able to surreptitiously watch the guy next to me, and picked it up quickly enough to fake my way through the lesson. See one, do one, teach one...
That summer, I came home and asked my mom to show me how to make dumplings from scratch. She makes a pretty stiff dough, as she enjoys the toothy springiness of Northern style boiled dumplings, as opposed to the thin, unsubstantial gyoza-style wrapper that fades from the senses after conveying what are essentially meatballs to the mouth. To my surprise, it was a lot easier and less messy to wrap dumplings using the freshly made two-ingredient (flour, cold water) dough than using store bought circles that required dipping an increasingly messy, starchy finger into cups of water. And the dumplings made with fresh dough stay sealed easily throughout the boiling, pan-frying or vinegar-dipping process to deliver all the tasty juices into the mouth.
Fish Dumplings 魚餃 (yú jiǎo)
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| Juicy Pork Soup Dumplings or Xiao Long Bao at Din Tai Fung |
While the soup dumplings are delicious, the Din Tai Fung fish dumplings were really special. Elegant, elongated dumplings zipped closed with an abundance of fine pleats, they were filled with tender, white flaky fish with a delicate, yet distinct, savory richness. What they lacked in color, they more than made up for in pleasurable flavors and texture.
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| Din Tai Fung Fish Dumplings with side of Seaweed & Beancurd in a Vinegar Dressing |
Brown Sugar-Glazed Bacon, Potatoes and Eggs: Easy gluten-free breakfasts for a crowd
January 20, 2020
Who doesn't love bacon, eggs and potatoes? While there are plenty of baked casseroles that combine these, nothing beats picking up crisp strips of bacon glazed in brown sugar and dipping breakfast potatoes into soft yolky eggs. Instead of spending long hours at the stove, you can prepare all three at the same time in a 400°F oven.
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| Sheet pan brown sugar-glazed thick cut bacon over seasoned fries |
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| Brown sugar-glazed bacon, sunnyside egg and fries |
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| Baked cheesy eggs coddled in salsa |
Long winter weekends were meant to be spent with family. Each winter, we host a family ski weekend attended by 19-25 people. Although everyone loves bacon, I have always avoided putting it on the menu for such a large group because the strips would start disappearing before I could get done cooking, even when using a large two-burner griddle.
Slivers of pork stir-fried with two kinds of dried mushrooms, cabbage and a mix of green and gold strands, wrapped in paper thin pancakes with a glossy, rich sweet and savory sauce... One of our favorite Chinese dishes mu shu, moo shu or moo shoo pork 木須肉 is made simple in Grace Young's The Breath of a Wok, down to the translucent pancakes of Peking duck fame, which are surprisingly easy to make using only two ingredients!
Each month, the 3000+ members of the Wok Wednesdays Facebook group cook two new dishes from the award-winning cookbook The Breath of a Wok. We share our photos, thoughts and suggestions for great camaraderie and a chance to win some fabulous cooking prizes. Without this group, I would never have discovered that I actually like tofu, nor would I have sought out a hand-hammered pow wok to recreate a favorite childhood dish using traditional cookware. I would have never had the confidence to make har gow 蝦餃, those beautiful and delicious shrimp dumplings wrapped in translucent rice flour, that grace the carts pushed around Cantonese dim sum 點心 restaurants. These little bites really do "dot or touch the heart," although "order as your heart desires" may be a more accurate translation for these small, à la carte dishes.
Each month, the 3000+ members of the Wok Wednesdays Facebook group cook two new dishes from the award-winning cookbook The Breath of a Wok. We share our photos, thoughts and suggestions for great camaraderie and a chance to win some fabulous cooking prizes. Without this group, I would never have discovered that I actually like tofu, nor would I have sought out a hand-hammered pow wok to recreate a favorite childhood dish using traditional cookware. I would have never had the confidence to make har gow 蝦餃, those beautiful and delicious shrimp dumplings wrapped in translucent rice flour, that grace the carts pushed around Cantonese dim sum 點心 restaurants. These little bites really do "dot or touch the heart," although "order as your heart desires" may be a more accurate translation for these small, à la carte dishes.
Classically made with golden slivers of day lily buds, matchsticks of sliced pork, crunchy wood ear mushrooms, winter mushrooms, cucumber, ginger, garlic, scallions, soy sauce and rice wine, mu shu pork is a Northern Chinese dish, thought to have originated in Shandong. The name of the dish 木須肉 literally means "wood whiskers meat (pork)," which may relate to the thin strips of wood ear fungus 木耳 (Mù'ěr) in the dish. Some people believe the name may also be 木犀肉 in reference to the yellow and white flowers of the Sweet Omanthus, which is used to make tea or wine rather than in cooking, as the scrambled eggs commonly found in this dish are thought to resemble these blossoms.
Beef and broccoli is a classic Chinese restaurant dish that is so much better when made at home! The secrets to a great beef and broccoli dish is both a perfectly balanced sauce and techniques to make sure the broccoli is sufficiently cooked without overcooking the slices of beef. Inspired by the wok evangelist Grace Young's delicious recipe, I sought an even simpler, greener method to achieve the outstanding flavors and textures of this dish.
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| Beef and Broccoli modified from Stir-frying to the Sky's Edge. |
Homemade beef and broccoli used to be hit or miss for me. I marinated the meat in soy sauce, rice wine, garlic and black pepper, but the slices came out tougher than I liked until I learned the secret of including a bit of cornstarch in the marinade. And unless the broccoli was finely cut, there would be pieces that still had the raw, slightly bitter taste. I have also had many disappointing restaurant versions of the dish, with huge, coarsely cut, raw rather than crisp, broccoli.
In contrast, I had learned from my mother a great way to cook all sorts of vegetables in a 12-inch stainless skillet with a lid. This involved heating oil and adding sliced garlic. Then any type of cut up vegetable would be tossed in and stir-fried until the outside turned a bright shade of green and the vegetable released its subtle fragrance. For spinach, that was all that was needed aside from seasoning with salt and pepper. For other vegetables that required longer cooking times such as carrots, broccoli and even cabbage, she would sprinkle on some salt, splash a bit of water on the inside of the lid and cover the pan for 2-3 minutes to allow the vegetables to steam in their own fluids. It was amazing how flavorful and delicious vegetables cooked this way tasted and looked, with their intensified color. The raw edge or bite was gone, but they retained their body and crispness.
When I discovered Grace Young's recipe for Beef and Broccoli, in Stir-frying to the Sky's Edge, a number of light bulbs went off for me. Although the recipe ended up being a bit too salty (to my taste) for the 3/4 lb of beef, the sauce had a rich, complexity that elevated this popular dish to new heights. In addition to unami-laden soy and oyster sauces, she adds a bit of the funky flavors of Chinese dried, fermented black beans (click here for brand info) with a hint of mellow sweetness from onions. I knew instantly that I would never again be happy with restaurant versions.
Watch this American Test Kitchen video to see how easy it is to make this beef and broccoli recipe in either a wok or a skillet!
In contrast, I had learned from my mother a great way to cook all sorts of vegetables in a 12-inch stainless skillet with a lid. This involved heating oil and adding sliced garlic. Then any type of cut up vegetable would be tossed in and stir-fried until the outside turned a bright shade of green and the vegetable released its subtle fragrance. For spinach, that was all that was needed aside from seasoning with salt and pepper. For other vegetables that required longer cooking times such as carrots, broccoli and even cabbage, she would sprinkle on some salt, splash a bit of water on the inside of the lid and cover the pan for 2-3 minutes to allow the vegetables to steam in their own fluids. It was amazing how flavorful and delicious vegetables cooked this way tasted and looked, with their intensified color. The raw edge or bite was gone, but they retained their body and crispness.
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| Beef and Broccoli modified from Stir-frying to the Sky's Edge. |
When I discovered Grace Young's recipe for Beef and Broccoli, in Stir-frying to the Sky's Edge, a number of light bulbs went off for me. Although the recipe ended up being a bit too salty (to my taste) for the 3/4 lb of beef, the sauce had a rich, complexity that elevated this popular dish to new heights. In addition to unami-laden soy and oyster sauces, she adds a bit of the funky flavors of Chinese dried, fermented black beans (click here for brand info) with a hint of mellow sweetness from onions. I knew instantly that I would never again be happy with restaurant versions.
Watch this American Test Kitchen video to see how easy it is to make this beef and broccoli recipe in either a wok or a skillet!
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| The recipe makes just the right amount of a light, savory sauce to soak up with rice. |
Grace achieves the marriage of perfectly cooked broccoli with tender steak by blanching the broccoli in advance. While this results in a delicious dish, I try to avoid blanching vegetables for a number of reasons. You have to bring a large pot of water to boil so the water is not cooled too much upon addition of vegetables. This takes a lot of time and energy as water has a high heat capacity. Water soluble vitamins are leached out and discarded. And you have to expend energy on ice-making for the ice water bath to prevent overcooking. Plus there are extra pots, strainer scoops and bowls to be washed. While blanching is efficient in the restaurant workflow, it adds quite a bit to the time, energy and cookware used to make a single dish.
