S’s Swap: 9-7 Dumplings & Noodles

DUMPLINGS & NOODLES FOR A SPECIAL DAY

The Meal:

Appetizers:  Won-Ton Strips with Duck Sauce

Main Entrée:  Chicken Dumplings with Noodles

This meal might obliterate the “no pasta” rule of our swap.  Dave and I had a discussion about selecting this menu for the swap and he told me that I could blame him if this was in fact the case.  He thinks our reasoning for the “no pasta” rule is to avoid the “usual” pasta preparation, but this he says is “unusual” and therefore okay.  So, here’s my unusual meal for the week…

I made this for the first time two weeks ago.  Two Tuesdays ago was Rakhi, which is a Hindu festival that celebrates the bond between a brother and a sister.  On this day, sisters tie a rakhi (i.e., a colorful bracelet) on the wrists of their brothers and the brothers promise to always be there for their sisters and protect them from all harm.  Sweets are exchanged; brothers also usually give gifts to their sisters.

The brother-sister pair in our household celebrates it slightly differently…they both tie rakhis on each other and promise to love and protect each other always.  The rakhis are homemade; in the future, I hope they will make them for each other.  They feed each other sweets (this year, squares of dark chocolate…the only sweet that they both like) and exchange gifts.  I took Kavya shopping a few days before so she could pick out her gift for Alex and when Alex gets a bit older, I’ll take him to do the same.  I simply love this day…for what it celebrates, for the adorable (short-lived) promises they make to each other (“Alex, I will always love you and protect you and share things with you”…half hour later, they were fighting over the new toy), for all the hopes that we have about what they will always mean to each other.

So, to celebrate Rakhi this year, I decided to make a meal that would please both kids.  Kavya loves dumplings and Alex loves noodles.  This dinner is basically noodles with dumplings.    The kids absolutely LOVED this meal…Dave might have loved it even more than them.  It was immediately something that I HAD to make for the swap.

I had never made dumplings before; apparently, it’s not that hard at all!  I was inspired by a recipe posted on a pretty neat blog called momofukufor2:

http://momofukufor2.com/2010/05/spicy-wonton-noodle-recipe/

I’ve changed the filling and the style of folding the wonton wrappers.  I’ve also omitted the sesame oil (a swap rule that I refuse to break) and added mushrooms.  Here’s what I did…

Chicken Dumplings:

– 1 large onion, chopped

– 1 teaspoon chopped ginger

–  1 teaspoon chopped garlic

–  ~2/3 cup chopped carrots

–  1 cup (may be a bit more) chopped spinach

– 1 tablespoon 5 spice powder

– 1 teaspoon sriracha sauce

– 1 tablespoon soy sauce

– 1/2 cup chopped cilantro

– 1 package of ground chicken

– Wonton wrappers (50 if you want to use up all the chicken)

– Flour-water paste (mix 1 tablespoon of flour to a couple of tablespoons of water)

Directions:

– In a wok (or wok-like cookware), heat oil and sautee onions, ginger, garlic, carrots for a few minutes.

– Add spinach and sautee some more.

– Add five-spice powder, sriracha sauce and soy sauce.

– Remove from heat.  Check the flavor.  Should be on saltier side since it will get mixed up in chicken.  In my case, bit more soy sauce was needed.

– In a mixing bowl, add chopped cilantro, sautéed mixture and ground chicken.  Result: (uncooked) dumpling filling.

– Now, prep the wonton assembly line: filling, flour-water paste (to seal wontons shut, although I believe plain old water would also work), wonton wrappers, and a plate (to place finished product).

– Take a bit of filling and place in center of wonton wrapper.  Follow instructions on wonton wrapper package to fold.

– One dumpling complete.  Repeat over and over and over and over….yes, it’s a bit tedious but I find it strangely relaxing.

– One plate done!  Place the plate in the freezer.  Repeat till all 50(!) dumplings are done.

NOTE: If I was making this for myself, I would stop at about 16 or so dumplings and save the rest of the chicken for another night.  (Another use for the leftover chicken filling:  add some breadcrumbs, mix and make in to little balls.  Bake at 400 degrees for 7-8 minutes and enjoy.)

The accoutrements:

1) I made a spicy soy sauce (sans sesame oil) by mixing together oil, soy sauce and Sriracha sauce.  Basically following the proportions on momofukufor2.

2) Then I sliced some mushrooms (two cups…all for Heather; I’ll make mine the night of) and sautéed them in oil (sprinkle of salt).

3) Finally, I chopped up some scallions (1 bunch…again, all for Heather).

And we are done!  Here’s the full package ready for the Johnson-McCormick Family:

Besides the dumplings, spicy soy sauce, mushrooms and scallions, I also packed (uncooked) noodles and for a snack: wonton strips with duck sauce.

To Reheat/Serve:

–       Get two pots of water boiling.

–       Serve wonton strips with duck sauce while doing the rest of the prep work.

–       In the first pot, put in dumplings (roughly 16-18).  Agitate the dumplings so they don’t stick to the bottom of the pan.

–       In the second pot, add one pack of noodles.

–       Let dumplings boil till they rise and start to float.

–       Add a cup (may a bit more) of cold water (to dumpling pot) and return to boil, again with dumplings floating.

–       Dumplings should be done…just cut one open to make sure.

–       In serving dish, add noodles, dumplings, spicy soy sauce (add a bit at a time, to taste) and mushrooms and mix.  (If you want, at this point you can add a dash of sesame oil and mix.)

–       Garnish with scallions and serve.

ENJOY!

The Verdict:

Tuesday:  To enjoy the fresh bread, we decided to have Heather’s meal first and save our dumplings/noodles for Wednesday dinner.  And let me start with said bread!!  Braydon…you ARE the BREAD MASTER!  That HUGE loaf was almost all gone in a matter of minutes.  All four of us loved it! We ask that we get Braydon’s bread more often!  Alex focused almost entirely on the soup/bread part of the meal, whereas Kavya decided to experiment with sliced apples in her soup and claimed “this is better than anything!”  As for Dave and I, we enjoyed the salad the most (after the bread of course!).  Thanks, Heather & Braydon!

Wednesday:  Our 9th anniversary.  We used to plan special outings for our anniversary…go to restaurants and places we have never been…have long elaborate meals…plan and dream about our future.  Now that those dreams are here (in the sprightly shapes of K & A)…no point going anywhere…we celebrate by staying home and enjoying a special meal.  So, this year our special meal was the kids’ special meal from two weeks ago.  Like before, Kavya gobbled up the dumplings and Alex slurped up the noodles.  Should have taken some pictures but was too much in the moment to remember.