Potsticker madness

There is less than 2 months before Krissy is back in Copenhagen, and I am definitely becoming more and more giddy from excitement. During her stay in Asia, she has tasted an impressive palette of street–as well as in door–cuisine. From the get-go, a love that we share has been Asian cuisine. However, having the opportunity to delight herself with such food on a day-to-day basis, it has only strengthened her appreciation for it. As such, dim sum is slowly becoming the center of her universe…literally.

Being the amazing boyfriend that I am, I have taken it upon myself to read more about these various bite-sized, bundles of joy, with the goal of learning how to make them. This way, Krissy will not miss her delicious meals in Hong Kong (as much), and I become a better cook. I have always been into cooking, and I certainly developed culinary skills growing up under the tutelage of my step father, an adept French chef. And so I cannot say that I am diving into this gastronomic escapade blindfolded. I have my kitchen instruments and I have my senses. Time to cook up a symphony. ♫
I embark on my dim sum journey with a dish that I believe almost everyone has heard of: the dumpling. Specifically, pan-fried dumplings, or as they’re normally called, guotie, for which the literal translation is “pot stick,” hence the title. The choice was made based on several things: my eagerness to learn (high), my general laziness (low), my budget (low), much I wanted to impress Krissy (sky high), and how much I drool at the pictures I see (for this one, the droolage level was definitely high). The recipe I follow is from Rasa Malaysia. This blog features some great recipes and mouth-watering food photography. I urge you to have a looksies, if you’re into Asian cuisine. She has a recipe for-it seems-the best dishes Asia has to offer.

Thankfully, I had most of the ingredients at home. All I needed to buy was Napa cabbage and some dumpling wrappers.  Consequently, this would bring me to Chinatown. The trip would normally not be anything out of the ordinary for me. This time, however, my hunger got the best of me, and I swear everything in my path turned into a dumpling. Yikes.

When hunger is at its worst (best?)

With the goods in my inventory, I continued to read through the recipe.

“Right. Seems easy enough,” I thought to myself, having only the slightest bit of conviction in my tone. I mixed the ingredients in a bowl and set it aside. Normally, this would be the step where I take a small test piece from the mix and fry it. This would enable me to determine whether the mix is fine as-is, or if it needs more adjustments.

Normally.

This blob actually smelled so delicious

I put a spoonful of the mix onto the wrapper and stood there staring. The eerie silence was only broken by the surrendering sigh I let out. “How would I be able to create such a thing of beauty?” I thought to myself, “Dumpling? More like…Dump-King”

Heh.

Nevertheless, I figured that since I have always been good with papercraft, this task could not be that much different. All I had to do was try.

:D

Above is my very first dumpling pleat – colour me impressed. Looks good, doesn’t it? After approximately 8 hours, I finally covered the pan with dumplings (yes, there is already oil in the pan.)

Gather around, little children

“Knock, knock.”
“Who’s there?”
“Dumpling.”
“Dumpling, who?”
…

I fried the little guys until the bottoms are golden and crisp. At this point I was so hungry that I could have shoved the whole pan in my mouth. Without the lid of course.

The crispy bottom creates a beautiful texture together with the soft, almost fluffy upper layer, that only steaming can provide.

The final part of the cooking involves some steaming. Then simply serve with a dipping sauce to your liking. I had mine with soya sauce, rice vinegar, sesame oil and some Guilin chili sauce.

NOM NOM NOM.

This is for you, baby ♥

And so there it is. I think it turned out pretty good. I did not follow the recipe perfectly, though. For example, I did not use cilantro leaves, but I did add black fungus. Sadly, I only had a few shrimps left in my freezer – I could really taste that it needed a few more pieces. Just to give it that extra oomph!

The recipe needs:

• 50 tablespoons of patience
• 3 dashes of courage
• 2 set of delicate fingers

Surely, the batch I make for Krissy will be perfect. When she comes back home, I know that she will long for the scrumptious food that she was able to treat herself with while in Hong Kong. My dream is to one day take her on a round-trip in Asia. For now, however, I’ll bring Asia to her — through food.

Thanks for reading. Look forward to more of my adventures in the kitchen.

Gideon