Kitchen Visit: Vegetable Dumplings

Visiting my friend Jeana's kitchen this past Sunday was one of those days that seemed almost too perfect for real life. There was the beautiful, 80 degree weather in January; there was my first-ever trip to HK market in Koreatown; there was the sweet potato latte at Holly's Coffee; there was the fact that I had the day off; there was Jeana's beautiful, sun-filled kitchen; and, of course, there was Jeana—a stand-alone wealth of inspiration.

I know I've mentioned Jeana's art and blog in previous posts, but have you seen her videos? I love them. The whole time we were making these dumplings, I was thinking of the one titled Summer Day and that montage of shoes and sweets from Sofia Coppola's Marie Antoinette.

Here is the Bon Appetempt version:

Kitchen Visit: Vegetable Dumplings from amelia morris on Vimeo.

Another kitchen visit success!


Vegetable Dumplings

Ingredients
for dumplings:
1 bunch Asian chives (buchu), finely chopped
1 onion finely minced (We used a food processor.)
4 small carrots finely minced (Again with the food processor.)
1 10 oz. package of soft tofu, patted dry and mashed with a fork
6 oz. mushrooms, finely minced (Again, we employed the food processor. It was fun. See video.)
Korean glass noodles (japchae), about as much as you can hold in one hand (dry).
salt & pepper
2 packages of gyoza wrappers
vegetable oil

for dipping sauce:
2 tablespoons soy sauce
1 teaspoon white vinegar
1 tablespoon minced green onions
1 teaspoon Korean red pepper flakes or 1/4 teaspoon (or to taste) cayenne


Boil water for noodles. Mix first five ingredients in a bowl. Cook noodles for about 5-6 minutes or according to package instructions. Rinse with cold water to stop cooking, and then, while still in colander, cut into small pieces with scissors. Add minced noodles to bowl with other ingredients. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Prepare an area for dumpling making. Grab a gyoza wrapper from the package. Spoon a healthy spoonful of the filling into the center of the dumpling. Dip your finger into a ramekin of water and wet the outer edge of half the wrapper. Fold dumpling up like a taco and then pinch the edges together, making sure to stuff back in any wayward filling and to seal edges completely. Set raw dumpling on a lightly floured surface, and repeat until the filling is gone.

Make dipping sauce by mixing all four ingredients together and set aside.

Lightly film a frying pan with vegetable oil and let it get nice and hot. Add some raw dumplings to pan and fry for a couple of minutes on each side, or until browned. Feel free to add a bit more oil or water if they are sticking and cover with a lid to ensure the dough is fully cooked through.

Serve with dipping sauce (and in our case, kimchi fried rice) and enjoy!