Egg Drop Soup and Moo Goo Gai Pan

Dinner was tasty, I will post links to recipes and insight tomorrow (like leave out the white pepper next time) but I am battling a KILLER headache so I will do a full-post tomorrow. Sorry!

Happy Chinese New Year

So, I bought some wonton wrappers at the store today, plus some scallions and ginger and 1.85 pounds of ground pork. When I got home I realized the recipe only called for a pound of pork, whoops! I just cut the package in half, added a good handful of sliced purple cabbage, (that's what I had on hand). I also minced 2 scallions, added a half teaspoon of ground ginger, 1 TB of white wine and 1 tsp of corn starch. When you are making cabbage I find it always works better if you lightly salt it and put it in a colander to drain for awhile. At least 20 minutes or so will help it discharge some of the water and keep things crisp. I even wrung the cabbage out in some paper towels to really get it dry. I mixed all of the ingredients together and then took a tiny portion scoop and put about a teaspoon of filling in the middle of a wonton wrapper; to seal it simply wet your finger with water and push two sides together and really pinch them to seal. I made a little rectangle shape and then folded down the top two corner and sealed them. There are approximately a million videos on Youtube and Google that will show you a lot of ways to seal your wrappers, but the main thing is to make sure the edges are really sealed tightly. I steamed 2 dozen of them in a steamer basket over boiling water on the stove for about 6 minutes and then I fried them lightly in oil for about another 2 minutes.

The main discovery here was that I have found a way to get the kids to eat cabbage! They tore into these dumplings as soon as they were cool enough to eat.

As the dumplings were being eaten I boiled some spaghetti noodles to be my "long life noodles" and set them aside. The long unbroken noodles are meant to symbolize a long healthy life! So I took my cue from that and sliced a bunch of vegetables into long thin strips. I cut up bell pepper, carrots, purple cabbage, scallions, and some cauliflower. I sauteed them in oil and seasoned them with salt and pepper and a about a half teaspoon of ground ginger. I made a slurry of corn starch and soy sauce and sizzled it all together, When the veggies were done I added half the noodles to the to the pan and tossed the veggies and noodles together. A few more dashes of soy sauce and my long life noodles were done!

Happy Chinese New Year to you all!

Tomorrow is Chinese New Year!

The Year of the Rabbit! I am busy today looking up recipes for chinese food. I am thinking of making some chinese dumplings by hand if I can find the wonton wrappers in the stores. Do you ever cook Chinese food? What are your favorite recipes or ingredients?

My tentative menu is:

fried rice with vegetables
chinese steamed dumplings
egg drop soup
fortune cookies

I realize this is heavily influenced by my love of take-out Chinese food, but if I can find some simple recipes for more authentic dishes, I will definitely change the menu. There was a restaurant in Orlando where I used to go with some friends and get genuine Dim Sum from the little steam carts, I would love to know how to make some steamed buns. Maybe I can find a recipe today. I think I will avoid the chicken feet though. I tried them once and they aren't my favorite part of the chicken, though I would use them in a soup stock for sure.

Anyhow, Gung Hay Fat Choy!