Chinese fried dumplings ♬ 焼き餃子（手作りの皮）

This is maybe my favourite dish in the whole world! I know Marcia loves it too :)
There are many recipe versions for chinese dumplings, but this one is my mother Setsuko's original recipe.
She was experimenting with all different combinations of ingredients and this is the golden combination!

Ingredients: (serves 2-3)
DUMPLINGS
- plain flour 100g
- strong flour 200g
- salt 1 tea spoon
- pepper 1/3 tea spoon
- minced pork 200g
- chinese cabbage (or plain cabbage) 400g
- spring onion 1stick
- grated ginger 1 tea spoon
- sugar 1/2 tea spoon
- white wine (or if you have 紹興酒 - Shaoxing chinese wine) 1 table spoon
- soy sauce 1 tea spoon
- oil 2 1/2 table spoon

SAUCE
- finely chopped garlic 1 clove (or more if you like)
- chopped fresh chilli 1 piece
- paprika power 1/2 tea spoon
- soy sauce 2 table spoons
- vinegar 2 table spoons
- sesame oil (1 table spoon)

Directions:

1. Create the dumpling dough from plain and strong flour with 150ml of cold or warm water. Add 1/3 tea spoon of salt and one tea spoon of oil. Mix all the ingredients until you get a smooth dough.
2. While you are mixing, hit the dough from around 50cm height to hit the cutting board - in order to get all the air out. Cover the dough with a wet towel and leave it for about an hour.
3. Mix the minced meat, finely chopped spring onion, pepper, grated ginger, sugar, white wine (or chinese wine), soy sauce and a little oil. Then add finely chopped (chinese) cabbage which was previously left with 1/2 teaspoon of salt, and drained all the excess water from it.
4. Cut the dough into 4 pieces and create a long oval from it, 2-3cm thick. Cut the oval into pieces 2cm long and on the floured surface spread the dough into circles about 7-8cm.
5. Place the meat mixture (1.5 teaspoon) in the middle of the circle and create this shape:

6. Fry the dumplings in the saucepan with some oil, add 1 teaspoon of water at the beginning), and fry until it turns a beautiful golden colour.
7. Serve with some special sauce!

You can also boil the dumplings, or steam them if you have a steamer!! :)
If you go to China Town, or Japan Centre, you can buy dumpling wrappers - but homemade is the best!

Enjoy!

Irena

head-over-heels ♥ chicken

This recipe is one of my favourites.
Ana Reljin, my childhood friend and I created it while we were living together in Belgrade.
The yogurt makes the chicken soft like a cloud, and it makes you feel so happy :)

I illustrated the recipe for They Draw and Cook, and it will be published in a book in spring 2011! Yay!

Ingredients:

CHICKEN
- chicken thighs (or breasts) cut into little pieces
- yogurt
- olive oil
- garlic
- ginger
- soy sauce
- garam masala
- salt and pepper

DRESSING
- olive oil
- lemon juice
- soy sauce
- finely chopped spring onion
- finely chopped garlic
- finely chopped parsley and coriander (lots of it!!)
- salt + pepper
- a little bit of cayenne pepper (if you like it hot)
- little honey (half of teaspoon)

Directions:

1. Place the chicken pieces in a bowl and all other ingredients.
2. Use your hands to massage in all the spices and yoghurt to make the chicken soft.
3. Leave the chicken like that at least for 10-20 minutes (if you are leaving it for a few hours, cover it with cling film and place it in the fridge)
4. Heat the sauce pan and some olive oil and add the chicken, stir fry it until it turns a bit gold.
5. Place it on a plate with some dressing. You can also add some rocket salad or ruccola!!

It is called the head-over-heels chicken because once you make this dish, you fall in love with it, and how soft the chicken becomes :)

Enjoy!!!

Irena

pumpkin soup (butternut squash soup)

Another winter recipe from Irena :)

If you are in Europe - use a butternut squash!
It is much sweeter than the pumpkin.

If you are in Japan or Asia, use this kind of pumpkin. It is not too watery and it's very sweet :D

ingredients: (serves four)


- 1 pumpkin (or butternut squash)
- 1 medium onion
- a few cloves of garlic (as much as you like!)
- 1 carrot
- a little bit of ginger
- butter
- water
- milk (or soy milk)
- salt, pepper
- cinnamon
- soup stock cube
- olive oil
- cream (if you like)
- coriander or parsley


directions:


1.  Preheat the oven to 200C
2. Remove seeds and peel the pumpkin and cut it into small squares
3. Place the pumpkin in the dish, put a little bit of olive oil, and sprinkle a little salt, and cook for about 30-40 minutes.
4. When the pumpkin is ready, cook chopped onion, garlic and ginger with some butter in a pot.
5. Add some pumpkin and water, carrots, a little cinnamon and soup stock.
6. When carrots get soft, remove the pot from heat, and mix everything in a blender, until it gets smooth (no need to pass the soup through a sieve! :)
7. Return the soup to the pot, add some milk (or soy milk) and heat it up a little more. Taste and add some salt and pepper if needed.
8. When serving, decorate with a little cream and chopped fresh coriander or parsley.


If you add less water, it becomes like a paste - and you can put it on bread :)
Adding more water or milk makes it look more like a soup.


Please do not skip the step of using the OVEN!!
It makes the pumpkin / butternut squash many times yummier and sweeter!


Enjoy!! :D


Irena