Text 38368, 95 rader
Skriven 2010-05-28 08:02:00 av JIM WELLER (1:123/140)
     Kommentar till en text av CAROL SHENKENBERGER
Ärende: Picnic stuff
====================
-=> Quoting Carol Shenkenberger to Jim Weller <=-

 >  CS> may want a light jacket in the morning (64-66 lows).
 > 
 > uh... why?  (VBG)

 CS> Snicker, us southern critters find that chilly!

I was wearing a long sleeve shirt of course. I don't switch to short
sleeves until it hits 60.

 CS> Weather forcast.  [...] 90.

It was an amazing 72 here today. 50 is a normal high.

MMMMM-----Meal-Master - formatted by MMCONV  2.10

     Title: Asian Dumplings On The Fly: How To Create Your Own Filling
Categories: Asian, Dumplings, Info
  Servings: 1

           dumplings

If you've worked your way through a few recipes in the Asian
Dumplings cookbook, you may want to break out on your own. You have
a lot of dumpling leeway in the filling, which are mostly
interchangeable in the cookbook recipe chapters. Read the recipe
introductions and think of a mix-and-match ensemble wardrobe.
Once you understand the foundational filling flavor profile and
texture, try winging one. Below are few pointers on how I did that
today.

My fridge was overloaded with odds and ends of ingredients that I
had prepped, cooked, or over purchased. There was leftover grilled
steak, a partial bunch of bok choi, finely chopped wood ear mushroom
from recipe development, and too much scallion, which I bought on
impulse at our farmer's market yesterday.

Key size, moisture, and ingredients. After making a steak sandwich
for my husband's lunch, a few slices remained. I wondered if I could
chop them up fine and put them into a dumpling filling. I went at
the beef with my knife until it was reduced to bits. You want things
small for dumpling fillings. When improvising an Asian dumpling
filling, do it with cooked meat as you can safely adjust the flavors
by taste. A pot of water was boiling on the stove for blanching
tomatoes destined to be peeled. As the tomatoes sat in the hot
water, I quickly washed and chopped the bok choi. After plucking the
tomatoes from the pot, I threw the bok choi in to cook. I then
drained and squeezed excess moisture from the greens. To avoid
diluting Asian dumpling filling flavors, get rid of as much liquid
from high-water content vegetables such as bok choi, spinach, or
cabbage. Cook it or salt it raw (see the Pork and Cabbage Water
Dumpling (shuijiao) recipe in Asian Dumplings, page 31, for an
example). 

Then I mixed in the woodear mushroom for crunch and chopped up rau
ram (Vietnamese coriander) leaves that I'd picked from the garden
for pizazz. But I couldn't forget am ample half cup of finely
chopped scallion and a tablespoon of minced ginger. Scallion and
ginger are present in many Asian dumpling fillings. You need them
for the ‘right' taste.

Finessing the seasoning. Then I added salt, pepper, sugar, soy
sauce, sesame oil, and Shaoxing rice wine in small quantities. I
aimed for a savory flavor that was stronger than what I'm
comfortable with. That's because the dumpling wrapper is flavorless.
The filling carries the dumpling in many regards. When seasoning
fillings on the fly like this, do it incrementally by the pinch or
partial spoon measurement, depending on the ingredient. It is easier
to add flavor than to reduce flavor in food.

Tweaking the texture. The dumpling mixture got denser with the
seasonings. Then I added water by the teaspoon as I wanted it to
have a certain rich texture, not crumbly. The filling is good when
you can mound it on a fork. If the filling got too wet, I figured
that my workaround would be cornstarch. I let the filling sit for 30
minutes, then tasted it again before I used it.


  From: Andrea Nguyen, Viet World Kitchen
 
MMMMM-------------------------------------------------



Cheers

YK Jim


... ALL CAPS IS NOW A BONA FIDE WRITING STYLE IN SOME CIRCLES!!1!

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