Fried Salty Dumplings

This is a simple Vietnamese recipe for salty fried dumplings, perfect for cold winter days with chili sauce or fish sauce and green papaya slices in vinegar and sugar.


Ingredients:


Sticky rice flour: 250g
Rice flour: 50g
Sweet potato: 50g
Water: 240 ml
Sugar: 30g
Salt: 5g
Cooking oil: enough to cover the dumplings
Mince pork: 100g
Rice vermicelli: 50g
Perfume dried mushrooms: 8-10 pieces
Onion: 1/2 piece
Carrot: 1 piece

Method:


1. Boil the sweet potato and mash.

2. Cook the sugar, salt and water till dissolve (warm only, not boil).

3. Mix both flour with 2 table spoons of oil, the mix of warm water with salt and sugar and knead then add the mashed sweet potato. Cover and keep for one hour.
4. Make the fillings: Soak the mushrooms in hot water then cut into small pieces. Soak the rice vermicelli till soft and cut into small pieces. Cut the carrot into long thin strips then cut the onion in small pieces.

5. Mix the minced pork, rice vermicelli, carrot, onion together. Add 1/3 tsp pepper, 1/3 tsp sugar, 1/3 tsp salt. Mix well and leave for half an hour then make small balls.
6. Divide the flour into equal pieces with the size like an egg. Make it flat then put the fillings in, cover it carefully.

7. Pour the oil in to a frying pan and fry the dumplings till they are cooked, don't put too many dumplings at a time to avoid them sticking together.


Now you can enjoy your yummy hot dumplings with your sauce as you wish. Perfect in winter days ;)


Tips: to make sure the dumplings are cooked inside and not burnt outside, cook at low temperature first for about 10 minutes each side then turn the temperature higher to make the cover crunchy and become golden so they look nice.

Mini Pancake with Black sesame seeds

Got up very late one Saturday morning with an empty stomach, I found almost nothing I could eat in the fridge, no yoghurt, no fruits, not even juice. Checked out the cupboard, only flour and black sesame seeds left, luckily, one egg left also in the fridge. I remember I read in some cook book that black sesame is very healthy and can be one of the ingredients for pancake, which takes only a few minutes to cook, then I will have a quick breakfast to fill my empty stomach.

I was so happy with that breakfast, just need to top what ever you like to make the pancake less dry, butter, jam, honey.... or simply just have a glass of milk like I did.

Here is the recipe to make 30 of the mini pancakes (yes, I also made for my flat mates :P ): 

1 1/2 cup flour

1 egg

1/2 cup water

1/2 cup milk

1/2 cup olive oil

2 tablespoons black sesame seeds

small pinch of fine salt (or sugar) as you wish

Method:

Combine all ingredients in a large bowl, whisk till the batter is very smooth then allow it to sit for at least 15 minutes. Stir again.

Heat a small splash of oil in a large skillet over medium heat, just enough to coat the pan. Add spoonfuls of batter to the pan, one at a time, be careful not to over crowd as the batter will spread around. Cook around 1-2 minutes each side or till the edges are golden. For me, I could make 4-5 pancakes at one time. Then transfer to paper tower to get rid of the oil if you wish, or straight to your plate. The pancakes taste much better when they are hot so you should eat them immediately.

Chinese cabbage salad

Papaya salad with dried shrimps is very popular, and I really love the recipe, love the flavours of the hot chilli with garlic in fish sauce, the sweet and salty dried shrimps, the fresh taste of the papaya. As I am on a diet dinner, I was thinking of making this salad today, but I decided to replace the Chinese cabbage with green papaya to see how it goes. And I was very happy with the result, I even prefer to the taste of green papaya.

Here is the simple recipe.

200 g Chinese cabbage, clean and thinly sliced.
3 bird's-eye chillies
3 cloves garlic
1 small carrot cut in half length way and thinly sliced
2 tablespoons unsalted roasted peanuts
1 tablespoon dried shrimps
1 ripe tomato
2 tablespoons lime juice
1 pinch of sugar
1 tablespoon fish sauce

Pound roughly the garlic and chillies in a mortar and pester or process very briefly in a blender. Mix with the cabbage, carrot then add peanuts, dried shrimps and tomato, mix well. Add the rest of the ingredients and mix again.
Cover and chill in the fridge for half an hour. Served best with roasted chicken. Enjoy!

Pork adobo

I must say I am a very lucky person. During my visit to the Philippines, I have met and made so many new friends, see many new birds, and I was taken care of by very kind and friendly people, I was so touched for the warmth and kindness I got from people there.

I was invited to stay with a very sweet birding couple, Tito Bob and Tita Cynthia. (Tito and Tita is a respectful way to address people who are at the same age like your parents in a formal way, I was told).
More than that, I had a chance to enjoy the home cooking by Tita Cynthia and I really loved the pork dish. I could not hide it on my face that I love that dish so much, thus Tita Cynthia sent me the recipe and she said its simple, you can try.

I told my friend about the dish and asked her to come and try my new recipe as I love to share my cooking with others. It turns out very tasty, though not as good as Tita Cynthia's Abodo, and here is the recipe I got from her.

This Adobo can be made either with pork, beef or chicken. What Tita Cynthia made was with pork and I really missed that so I decided to make with pork.

Ingredients:

300g pork with little bit fat
1/3 cup vinegar
1/3 cup soya sauce (I used dark soya sauce, the taste and the color are better than the normal one)
Garlic, salt, peper and one bay leaf.

Method:

Cut the pork in small pieces then put all ingredients in a pot. Boil then add a cup of water, boil then simmer till the pork is tender.
If you like egg, you can add one egg. Boil the egg then peel and put in the port together with the pork.

We ate this with steam rice and some pickle cabbages, so yummm!

Thank you so much Tita Cynthia for the recipe!