Pork and Ginger Dumplings

I made these a couple of weeks ago, but I keep forgetting to write down the ingredients from the cookbook. Oops. I decided to make my own dumpling wrappers because the last time I made anything with the store bought wrappers they wouldn't stick together properly. Plus, I was curious on how well it work to make them myself. Not surprisingly, they were amazing! I used ground pork from a local farm that sells meat at the farmer's market on campus. The other ingredients, sadly, were not local. I think this was a great recipe for such quality meat. Not too overpowering and very fresh tasting.

Homemade Dumpling/Gyoza Wrappers
2 cups all purpose flour
1/4 tbsp. salt
3/4 cups boiling water

1) Mix the flour and salt; gradually add boiling water and stir with chopsticks

2) Let dough rest in bowl, covered with a damp towel for an hour
3) On a floured surface knead the dough until tender, about 5 minutes
4) Divide dough into balls and dust with flour and put in plastic bag and place in refrigerator until ready to use
5) Now either roll dough very thin and cut out with circular cookie cutter, about 3 1/2 inch diameter. Or if you have a pasta machine you can run the dough through the pasta machine, just make sure you dust it with flour very well. Then cut into circles

6) Dust with flour and stack until ready to use or freeze

Pork and Ginger Dumplings
Adapted from Asian: The essential recipe collection

1 lb. ground pork
1 tbsp. soy sauce
1 1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. sesame oil
1 cup finely shredded cabbage
2 tsp. minced fresh ginger
2 tsp. finely chopped scallions
1/2 tsp. fine ground pepper or white pepper

1) Mix pork with soy sauce and 1/2 salt to create a thick paste. Then add the sesame oil; cover and let rest 20 minutes

2) Combine the remaining salt with the cabbage to draw out moisture; add ginger, scallions, and pepper and knead to make a thick paste, about 5 minutes; then combine with pork mixture
3) Have wrappers ready and fill one side with about 1 tbsp. of filling then seal the edges and make pleats along the edge

4) Place on floured surface until ready to cook

5) Bring 4 cups of water to a boil and add as many dumplings that will fit without sticking; depends on pot size, but try and use the largest one you have
6) Cover and cook for 2 minutes and add scant 1 cup of cold water then bring back to a boil and cover; cook additional 2 minutes then drain
7) Serve with dipping sauce of choice

20 Minute (or so) Dinner

Here's a recipe for a super easy and fast dinner. The recipe is for my version of Stir Fry Chicken with Peanut Sauce. While I can make my own peanut sauce, we have discovered a bottled version that is delicious, so when we're in a rush for dinner I forgo my own recipe and use the store bought one. I served the dish with rice and a fresh cabbage slaw.

Ingredients:
Chicken breast tenderloins, cut into bite size pieces
Fresh or frozen veggies of your choice (I used a frozen bag of stir fry veggies)
Peanut sauce (homemade or store bought)
Splash of soy sauce
Splash of rice vinegar
Splash of sesame oil
Garlic powder to taste

1) Heat a wok or large frying pan with canola or vegetable oil, when hot add the chicken and stir while adding in soy sauce, rice  vinegar, sesame oil, and garlic.

2) Once chicken is almost cook through add the veggies (if fresh, remove chicken and cook veggies until tender then re-add chicken).

3) When almost done add the peanut sauce to taste and heat through.

Serve with rice. I like to use a 1/2 measuring cup to form the rice into a shape (remember we also eat with our eyes). Garnish with chopped scallions.

Cabbage Slaw

Ingredients:
Packaged or thinly slice cabbage
Rice vinegar
Honey
Salt and pepper

1) Mix vinegar with honey to taste and add a tiny amount of salt and fresh black pepper
2) Pour desired amount over the cabbage and let sit in fridge while cooking the rest of dinner.

Suzy Wong's House of Yum Date Night

In an attempt to explore more of what Nashville has to offer, my boyfriend and I have been going out once a week to a new restaurant. This week's restaurant, thanks to a groupon, was Suzy Wong's House of Yum. I had been here before a while back and thought it was pretty good, but I wanted to try some other menu items.

We decided to share a Yum Bowl and a few small plates. We started off with Sesame Steak Yakatori Skewers. They were very flavorful and the sesame was strong. It tasted a lot like toasted sesame oil, which at times I am not as big a fan of as the regular sesame oil, but this melded well with the other flavors of the steak. We also got the Vegetable Gyoza Pot Stickers. My boyfriend was disappointed because he is used to the fried version and these were the boiled version. Next time I'll be sure to ask. In any case they were good, but not great. There was something missing in the flavor department and I though the dumpling wrappers were not as tender as they could be. Lastly in the small plate portion of the meal we shared the Five Spiced Braised Pork Ribs. Let me tell you, these were AMAZING! Definitely the best thing we ate that night. They were fall of the bone tender and the sauce was delicious with an array of spices and a little bit of heat. These are a must have when dining here.

We shared the Indian Crock Pot Chicken and Rice. This dish had flavor, sadly the flavor was one dimensional, a little too much of some spice, although I am not sure which. And despite me asking the server exactly what it was, we were still shocked to see what actually came to the table. She described it as being similar to a yellow curry. However it was really more like a fried rice with an accompanying flavored soy sauce to pour on top. Next I will ask better questions. Oh well, this is the point of trying new restaurants and new recipes.

All in all I think this restaurant is great for the food, especially the small plates, the price, and the ambiance. They have done a wonderful job with decorating and the music is great. The servers were friendly, although the one we head was not as knowledgeable about some of the food, she also seemed new.

We are looking forward to next week, especially since it will be my last dinner in Nashville for a month.