VEG DUMPLINGS

I was back from a work trip and was ex...hau..sted as you are when you get back from sleeping on uncomfortable beds, eating greasy food and waking up to an automated wake up call. So when I came home I almost crashed, but was hungry and wanted something tasty, light and quick. These dumplings were the solution along with Veg clear soup. I rummaged through my vegetable tray and used the ingredients i felt best to use in a dumpling. I had all the sauces on stand by, and also had the pastry that I bought from an Asian grocery store. You can modify this with veggies of your choice, just remember the key ingredients are fresh ginger, garlic and coriander. 

Hope you enjoy this with a nice movie in the comfort of your living room. 

Ingredients: Serves 3-4 

• 2 Carrots 
• 1 Corn on cob (scrap the corn to get the kernels) 
• 1 Large Cucumber
• 1 Medium red onion
• 1 tbsp.  Each fresh Ginger & Garlic paste
• 1/2 Cup freshly chopped coriander 
• 1/2 tsp. Red chili powder 
• 10-12 Sheets of dumpling pastry 
• Salt to taste 

Utensils: 

• Large pot with lid
• Bamboo steamer- I only bought the steamer and used my own lid as its cheaper that way. 

Clear soup:

• 1/2 lit Water 
• 1-2 tsps. Oyster sauce
• 1-2 tsps. Fish sauce 
• 2 tsps. Sesame oil 
• Fresh coriander for garnishing or you can use the tubes you get at the grocery store 

 Method: 

1.  Peel, wash and blend the carrots, cucumber, onion and sweet corn in a food processor. Make sure there is no excess water in the mixture. 
2. Drain or squeeze excess water by using a kitchen towel. 
3. Decant in a large bowl. Add the ginger paste, garlic paste, salt, chill powder and mix well. 
4. Heat 4-5 cups of water in a large pasta pot. 
5. As the water boils, prepare your dumplings. 
6. Carefully remove the sheets from the packet and place 2 tbsps. or the vegetable mixture in the center of the pastry. Fold over and secure the edges with a few drops of water. 
7. Place all the dumplings carefully in the bamboo steamer, cover and cook for 5-8 mins. 
8. To prepare the soup. simply boil about half liter water in a kettle.Pour in a bowl, to that add the oyster and fish sauce. Gently blend in the sesame oil and garnish with fresh coriander. In this instance I did not have coriander  so I used the one from the tube. It tasted just fine. I did add some boiled sweet corn to my soup as I like sweet corn with my soup. 
9. Immerse 2 dumplings in the soup and eat the rest with a dipping sauce of your choice. We had some really tasty dill and cream dipping sauce from Ikea and it went really well with the spicy dumplings.