Crisp Mango Wonton Cups

Courtesy of Flavor and Fortune Magazine, the Chinese food magazine

3 tablespoons vegetable shortening, melted
12 round dumpling wrappers
3 ripe mangoes, diced, peels removed and pits discarded
4 tablespoons brown sugar

1. Preheat a muffin tin for one minute in a 450-degree F oven. Remove it and quickly brush a 12-cup muffin pan with half the vegetable shortening before neatly pleating the dumpling wrapper, one to a cup. Brush this dough with the remaining shortening.

2. Put six to eight pieces of mango in each cup. Sprinkle each cup of mango pieces with a teaspoon of brown sugar and put the muffin tin back into the 450-degree F oven, and then bake them for about three minutes. Brush the tops of each filled cup, and put them back in the oven for another minute; then serve them, one or two to a person.

Tibetan Momo’s

Courtesy of Flavor and Fortune Magazine, the Chinese food magazine

½ pound ground lamb, beef, or a mixture of both
1 onion, peeled and minced
2 cups fresh mustard greens, another firm green, or spinach, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, peeled and minced
2 slices fresh ginger, peeled and minced
1 tablespoon thick soy
2 tablespoons tsampa or barley flour
24 to 26 wonton wrappers, at room temperature
6 lettuce leaves or the leaves of napa cabbage
½ teaspoon sesame oil
dipping sauces such as: black rice vinegar, thin soy sauce, hot chili oil, etc.

1. Mix ground meat, minced onion, chopped greens, minced garlic and ginger, thick soy, and the flour gently and thoroughly, preferably stirring on one direction. Then refrigerate until very cold.

2. Put two tablespoons of meat mixture in the center of a piece of wonton dough, wet the edges, then fold in half and pinch the edges to seal each of them.

3. Put the lettuce leaves on a steamer rack, and the momo’s on them, each one about an inch apart from the others.

4. Cover and steam over rapidly boiling water for eighteen minutes.

5. Prepare a bowl coated with the sesame oil, put the momo’s in it, and gently stir to coat them, then serve with the dipping sauces on the side.

Beef Dumplings

Courtesy of Flavor and Fortune Magazine, the Chinese food magazine

2½ cups flour
1 pound hand-minced or coarsely ground beef
½ teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons mushroom soy sauce
1 teaspoon sesame oil
1 scallion, minced
1 egg white mixed with 1 tablespoon of water
2 teaspoons sesame seeds, black, white, or mixed
2 tablespoons vegetable oil

1. Put flour in a bowl, add half cup of boiling water, and stir until combined, then slowly add half cup of cold water and stir until the dough makes a ball. Then knead it until the dough is smooth and shiny. Cover and allow to rest for half an hour.

2. Divide the dough into eight parts, cover, and let it rest another fifteen minutes before rolling each piece into a six-inch circle keeping the edges thinner than the center.

3. Mix beef, salt, soy sauce, sesame oil, and the minced scallion until combined. Divide into eight parts.

4. Brush each piece of dough with egg white then fill each center with one-eighth of the meat mixture making each into a half-moon-shaped dumpling. Close each crescent-shaped dumpling being sure the egg white seals the dough putting each one sealed side down on a platter.

5. Brush the top of each dumpling with egg white and sprinkle the sesame seeds on it pressing them into the dough.

6. Heat fry pan or wok, add the oil, and fry half the dumpling patties, sesame seed side down first for two or three minutes or until brown, then turn them over and fry them on the other side until brown. Remove and drain on paper towels. Repeat with the second batch. Serve alone or with a sauce of your choice.

Seaweed Noodle Dumplings

Courtesy of Flavor and Fortune Magazine, the Chinese food magazine

½ pound shrimp, shell and veins removed, shrimp coarsely chopped
¼ pound ground fatty pork
1 egg white
1 tablespoon minced peeled fresh ginger
1 tablespoon Chinese rice wine
1 teaspoon cornstarch
1 scallion, green part only, minced coarsely
5 eight-inch squares of black or purple seaweed, soaked in cold water for two minutes
5 thin spring roll wrappers
1 cup vegetable oil

1. Mix shrimp, pork, egg white, ginger, rice wine, cornstarch, and scallion pieces.

2. Put one sheet of seaweed on one spring roll wrapper. Then put one-fifth of the shrimp mixture on it, and roll as if rolling an egg-roll, turning in the sides. Put these on a platter, seam side down, and repeat until all five sheets of seaweed are rolled.

3. Heat a wok or fry pan, add the oil, and put the dumpling rolls in, seam side down. Fry about four minutes or until golden and crisp, turning once onto their other side. Drain on paper towels. 4. On an angle and off center, cut each dumpling in half and stand on a platter, on its end. Serve.

Fish Dumplings

Courtesy of Flavor and Fortune Magazine, the Chinese food magazine

½ pound flounder and another white fish, coarsely chopped together
½ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon granulated sugar
1 teaspoon Chinese white rice wine
⅛ teaspoon ground white pepper
8 wrappers, each three-inches square (you can use rice paper wrapper, egg roll wrappers, wonton wrappers)
1 egg yolk
1 cup vegetable oil
dash ground Sichuan pepper mixed with teaspoon salt

1. Gently mix fish, salt, sugar, rice wine, and the ground white pepper.

2, Brush egg yolk on all four edges of the noodle wrappers, then put one heaping teaspoon of the fish mixture on each and roll as you would an egg roll, folding the sides in. Put each roll on a plate seam-side down.

3. Heat wok or a fry pan, add the vegetable oil, and fry half the dumplings on one side until golden, turn over and fry the other side. Remove them to drain on a paper towel covering them lightly with another paper towel. Repeat until all are fried, then serve.

Shrimp Dumplings

Courtesy of Flavor and Fortune Magazine, the Chinese food magazine

1 cup wheat starch, sifted three times
½ cup tapioca flour
1 tablespoon peanut oil
1 pound shrimp, shell and veins removed, shrimp coarsely chopped
1 egg white
4 water chestnuts, coarsely chopped
1 scallion, white part only, minced
1 tablespoon thin soy sauce
1 tablespoon white Chinese rice wine
1 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 teaspoon tapioca flour
1 teaspoon salt
⅛ teaspoon ground white pepper

1. Sift wheat starch and tapioca flour together, then add one cup very hot water and the peanut oil. Stir until it starts to cool.

2. Knead until this dough is smooth and soft; and when it is, roll half of it into a one-inch cigar-shaped piece, cutting this into one-inch pieces. Cover and repeat with the other half of the dough.

3. Roll each piece of dough into a three or four inch circle. Be sure to keep them covered after they are rolled out.

4. Mix shrimp, egg white, water chestnuts, and the scallion white parts. Then add soy sauce, rice wine, tapioca flour, and the salt and pepper, and mix gently.

5. Brush the dough circle with a mite of vegetable oil, and put a heaping tablespoon of the filling on this. Fold in half and pleat the edges. Continue until all are filled. Use any remaining oil to brush on the steamer basket before setting dumplings on it. Be sure they do not touch each other. Cover and steam over boiling water for four minutes. Serve.

Chinese Open Dumplings

Courtesy of Flavor and Fortune Magazine, the Chinese food magazine

1 sprig cilantro, minced
½ cup hand-minced or ground pork
2 Chinese black mushrooms, soaked, stems discarded, and minced
1 tablespoon rendered chicken fat
¼ teaspoon coarse salt
2 tablespoons cornstarch
1 teaspoon sugar
½ teaspoon sesame oil
½ teaspoon chicken bouillon granules
12 round wheat flour dough with egg wrappers
1 large sheet of lettuce
1 teaspoon shrimp or crab meat roe (optional)

1. Mix cilantro, pork, mushrooms, chicken fat, salt, cornstarch, sugar, sesame oil, and chicken bouillon granules with three tablespoons cold water, stirring until sticky.

2. Put one tablespoon of the meat mixture in the center of one sheet of dough and make a round dumpling, pleating the dough, leaving the top side open, and putting a very small amount of roe on the top.

3. Place the lettuce leaf on a steamer basket, and put the dumplings on it. Be sure they do not touch each other.

4. Steam over rapidly boiling water for ten minutes, remove to a pre-heated platter, and serve.

Baked Glutinous Rice Dumplings Recipe

Courtesy of Flavor and Fortune Magazine, the Chinese food magazine

½ pound glutinous rice
1 tablespoon sugar (optional)
1 cup chicken or vegetable broth
3 salted duck egg yolks, simmered for fifteen
minutes (or ten pigeon eggs, hard-cooked,
then cut in half)
1 tablespoon black sesame seeds
3 tablespoons sugar
1 tablespoon thin soy sauce
1 two-inch square ground or finely minced
sheet of green seaweed

Soak glutinous rice in four cups of water for two or more hours, then drain the rice. Put rice in a pot with the broth and simmer until the rice is soft. Mash the duck egg yolks, and mix with the rice and the sesame seeds. Divide into 20 portions and roll into balls. If using pigeon eggs, put half a hard-cooked egg in the center before rolling the rice mixture. Put on a baking sheet with sides. Mix sugar and the thin soy sauce and pour over the rice balls. Bake at 400 degrees F for about seven minutes. Remove to a fancy serving plate, sprinkle the seaweed on the rice balls and serve while still hot.

Three Almond Flavor Snack

Courtesy of Flavor and Fortune Magazine, the Chinese food magazine

4 tablespoons almonds, skins removed andfinely chopped
3 tablespoons almond powder, sugar-free
and prepared for an almond drink
8 tablespoons brown sugar (do not pack
these spoonfuls)
3 tablespoons maltose
½ teaspoon almond essence

Dry-fry the almonds until very crisp. Then mix with the almond powder and the brown sugar. Put the above almond powder mixture and maltose into a small pot. Add one tablespoon of cold water, turn heat to low and stir with a chopstick, lifting it often until a thin stream of liquid falls off. Then turn off the heat, add the almond extract and the chopped almond mixture. Mix well, then pour onto a large sheet of microwave-safe plastic wrap. Roll the mixture into a one-inch cigarshaped tube, and while still warm, slice it into half-inch pieces. Let these cool, and as soon as they are, remove from the plastic wrap and store in a plastic wrap-lined well-sealed container until ready to serve.

Broiled Apples and Sweet Potatoes

Courtesy of Flavor and Fortune Magazine, the Chinese food magazine

½ pound of sweet potatoes, peeled and sliced about an 1/8-inch in thickness
2 Chinese pears, cut in half, cored and sliced the same way
4 tablespoons dried goji berries or dried
cranberries
1 cup soy milk
2 tablespoons honey
1 teaspoon fresh basil, minced

1. Put half the sweet potato slices slightly overlapping each other. Use a disposable aluminum pan or line a pan with aluminum foil. The sweet potato slices should not be more than two layers thick.

2. Layer half the sliced Chinese pears on top of them, also slightly overlapping them, and then sprinkle the berries over the fruit slices. Repeat with another layer each of sweet potato and then pear slices.

3. Mix milk and the honey and drizzle this mixture over the top. Sprinkle the minced basil on top, and cover the pan with aluminum foil. Put into a hot oven, about 400 degrees F for 20 minutes. Remove the cover and broil until the sauce has almost disappeared and the top is nicely browned. Then cut into squares and serve while still hot.