Photo Diary: Just Call Me, Dumpling

Jun 5

We love one another (most days) + we love to cook (everyday) = cooking class, together

We do the bonding.

After scouring the class list we decided on something neither of use has ever prepared, along with the prerequisite the class had to be hands on.

Enter, Chinese Dumplings.

The menu was vast(!):

Traditional Chinese dumplings (pork/shrimp)

Shrimp/Lobster dumplings

Crab rangoon

Potstickers (same filling as dumplings)

Egg rolls (vegetarian and mushroom)

Home Made Dumpling dough

Wonton Soup

Sauces:

Caramel Soy

Black Vinegar-Scallion

Cilantro Mustard

Nuoc Cham

Sweet Chile

Peanut

Plum Ginger

We learned dough, two ways:

Package.

and homemade.

I wasn't on dough duty, but that group said it was easy to prepare.

Chopped lemongrass for the first time.

You gotta put your back into it, but the result speaks for itself. I kept asking if I was done, and the instructor was like, "keep going".

Fantastic arm workout, trust.

Dumpling filling.

Photo credit on this gem goes to Mr. Piper, who was against snapping photos during class. For the record.

Shumai.

Loosely translated to mean, "money purse".

Plum sauce, in the making.

Whisk it.

Crab Rangoon prep.

Did you know crab rangoon is not traditional Chinese cuisine?

Me either.

We learned how to make whole lobster (no photo, I was entranced). Its far less scary than I thought. But I also did not touch the actual lobster. And, no, it didn't make noise, or jump out the pot like I imagined.

Pot Stickers (with package dough).

We did potstickers two ways, traditional

and restaurant, which includes boiling first to pre cook the filling, then quick frying in the pan.

Photo above is the homemade dough.

In my opinion, I favored the homemade dough taste, but the package dough has a crispness/texture that I liked more. Both were delicious, so you can't go wrong.