GUINEA FOWL DUMPLINGS

I'm crazed over little wanton wrappers and, despite having to queue through the back door of Loon Fung for them, they're within (quite) easy reach for a last minute supper, or sneaky dim sum in the middle of the day.  You can even cook them in the office microwave.

They're a great vehicle for leftovers - the weekend's roast, a couple of raw prawns that need cooking, shrinking vegetables, or stray rice noodles at the bottom of the packet.

For this recipe I used leftover stuffed guinea fowl made by my darling housemate - all hard work done. Make sure you have always have fish sauce, sesame oil and rice wine vinegar on hand and you're away. Peel the wrapper, fill it, crimp it, steam it, dip it and pop it in.

 ASIAN-STYLE BROTH WITH GUINEA FOWL DUMPLINGS

SERVES 2

ingredients

FOR THE DUMPLINGS

150g leftover guinea fowl, roughly chopped

2 tsp sesame oil

1 tsp fish sauce

1/2 tsp rice wine vinegar

1 spring onion

10 wanton wrappers

FOR THE BROTH 

750ml guinea fowl stock (or chicken)

3 tbsp fish sauce

1 tbsp mirin rice wine

1 tbsp soy sauce

2 star anise

thumb-sized knob of ginger, peeled and finely sliced

1 red chilli, finely sliced at an angle, extra to serve (optional).

5 shitake mushroom, sliced

3 spring onions

Place all the dumpling ingredients in a food processor, and blitz to a rough paste. Transfer to a small bowl, cover and set aside.

Heat the guinea fowl stock in a medium-sized saucepan over a medium heat. Add the fish sauce, rice wine and soy sauce and bring to the boil. Turn down the heat and add the star anise and chilli. Cook on a low simmer for 10 minutes so all flavours can infuse.

Meanwhile, assemble the dumplings. Lay a dumpling wrapper in the palm of your hand and place a heaped teaspoon of the mixture in the centre. Fold up the sides around the filling to form a flower shape. Press to hold, using a little water to bind if necessary. Place on a lightly floured and continue until all the mixture has been used.

Drop the dumplings into the simmering broth along with the shitake mushrooms and cook for two minutes until the pastry is soft and they are hot all the way through. Ladle the broth into two bowls and divide up the dumplings. Scatter with the spring onions and the extra red chilli. Serve with a cold beer and extra soy sauce. 

MARI LOU'S BUNS

Mari Lou and I made a pact. If I turn up early an hour early for work, keen to cook, she'd teach me how to make steamed buns for our lunch. Without hesitation, I greedily agreed and hauled myself out of bed the next morning, elbows greased, ready for a knead.

And Boy! was it worth it and Oh! what a lunch we had. Gorgeous little steamy parcels stuffed with sweetly spiced onions, soft roasted squash and salty feta, with Clara's beautiful green lentil salad on the side. Slicing into a dumpling with its gentle puff of air and sinking teeth slowly into the dough with its soft texture and springy bite was nothing other than Faint.

BUTTERNUT SQUASH, CARAMELISED ONION AND FETA STEAMED BUNS


makes 10-12 medium sized dumplings
ingredients

The dough:
750g self raising flour
300ml warm water
1 tsp sugar
1/2 cup milk
1 sachet Easy dry yeast
Pinch salt

The filling:
1 large butternut squash, peeled and chopped into 2cm x 2cm cubes

10 white onions
2 tbsp sweet chilli
2 tbsp oyster sauce
2 tbsp Kikkomam soy sauce

200g feta, crumbled

Mix the dry ingredients with the flour in a large bowl and make a well in the centre. Fold in the wet ingredients and delicately mix the ingredients with your fingers. When the dough is fully combined, turn it out onto a floured surface and knead until smooth, adding flour to prevent it sticking to the table and your hands.

Cover, and leave to rise for almost 2 hours in a warm, draught-free spot (on top of a cooling oven or in the airing cupboard) so the dough has doubled in size. Then, knock the air out, pulling the dough gently so the gluten becomes active. The dough should be soft and spring back when you press it. If not, knead a little more, and leave to rise, covered, for another hour.

Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 200°C/400°F/Gas mark 6. Place the butternut squash in a roasting tin, drizzle with olive oil and roast for 25 minutes until soft. Set aside

Soften the onions in a pan with a large knob of butter. Add the sweet chilli, oyster sauce and soy and reduce down for about 10 minutes so the onions have caramelised. Set aside.

When the dough is ready, cut off equal sized pieces with a sharp knife. Roll out into circles on a floured surface with a rolling pin. Place approx. 2 tbsp of the squash, onions and feta into the centre, and fold the edges round it like a little handkerchief bundle. To seal the corners dab a little bit of water and twist together so there are no gaps. Leave the buns to rise for 30-45 minutes in a bamboo steamer, off the heat.

Heat a pan of enough water so that, when placing the steamer on top, the water does not touch it. Bring the water to the boil and steam the buns for 15 minutes. Remove from the heat and serve. They will be very hot inside so, after slicing, leave a few seconds to cool before sinking your teeth in. The dough should be white, soft and moist and the filling hot, salty and sweet.


Truly dumpling-scrumptious and always room for another. Thank you Mari Lou, you genius you.

WONDERFUL WON TON

I've always said that if there were one cuisine I'd rather not eat over here it would be Chinese. Doesn't sit well in the stomach. Too greasy, too heavy, too fried. The translucent slime that coats chicken and beef has always made me want to eat my chopsticks instead.

Last week, I had a change of heart. Staring ignorantly at a seven-column menu outside a heaving restaurant on Gerrard St, I was persuaded inside by my hungry other and a lovely, however persistent, front-of-house. He ordered the usual Chicken Cashew and Chow Mein; I ummed and ahhed and, being menu-struck, went for a simple Won Ton Soup and Bok Choi with Oyster Sauce.

The best Chinese I've ever had. Not greasy, not heavy, not fried. No shiny sheen.

So, I've stocked up on Won Ton wrappers and pork mince and made myself enough beautiful little pork dumplings to last a month.


And maybe one day I'll venture for something else on the menu. 可口. Delicious.

WON TON SOUP


ingredients
serves 4 (5 approx. dumplings each)
2oog pork mince
6 spring onions, finely chopped
1 tbsp ginger, finely chopped
1tbsp rice wine
1tbsp soy sauce
1/2 tsp oyster sauce
25g bamboo shoots, finely chopped
20 won ton wrappers (available fresh from most oriental supermarkets)

1 ltr organic chicken stock
2 spring onions, sliced
2 large pak choi
tbsp soy sauce

Mix together the pork, spring onions, ginger, rice wine, soy sauce, oyster sauce and bamboo shoots in a large bowl. Leave to rest while you heat the chicken stock in a large pan.

Lay out the won ton pastry wrappers one by one, covering the rest with a damp cloth so the wrappers don't dry out. Place a teaspoonful of the pork into the centre of the wrapper. Fold in half, wetting the further edge with water to stick the pastry. Fold in the sides and press down with your fingers so the pork is held in its own pocket.

Bring the stock to the boil. Add the white stems of the pak choi and gently drop in the dumplings. Turn the stock to a simmer for about 5 minutes, adding the onions and green pak choi leaves at the last minute.

Serve into bowls, adding a splash of soy sauce. Eat with chop sticks and a spoon. Beware of dribbly nose and soupy chin, but otherwise slurp away. Freeze any excess dumplings for last minute dinner parties, man-flu, normal flu or desperate midnight feasts.