Chives Crystal Dumpling

Chives Crystal Dumplings from scratch.....it's been a while since I last made these delectable dim sum item at home. I think it was during the first phase of  MCO that I learned to make them. Today I made them for our tea snack. Tedious but worth the effort. We love eating and homemade ones are just as good if you get the right skin dough recipe. I still need to perfect the pleating. The skin is soft and crystal clear , filling is tasty too . #stayhome and #staysafe. Have mercy for the frontliners 🙏

the dumpling skin is soft

steam for 5 to 6 mins on preboiling steamer

 

Dough for the dumpling skin

Ingredients:

110gm wheat Starch

15gm tapioca flour

1tsp sugar

1/4tsp salt

1tsp oil

185 ml hot boiling water

Mix all dry ingredients together in a mixing bowl. Slowly in the hot water till dough turns translucent. Add in oil . And knead till smooth. Rest dough for 15 mins. Divide dough into 2 portions. Cover one portion to prevent drying. Roll one portion into a long log. Divide into 16 balls, each about 8 to 9 gms. Flatten each ball with rolling pin to a round thin disc. It's ready for filling and pleating.

Once all the dumplings are ready , place them on a greased steaming plate and steam over preboiling steamer for 5 to 6 mins . Medium low heat is required for steaming the dumplings.

Nokdu-juk /Korean Mung Bean Porridge

Korean Mung Bean Porridge is what I have been wanting to cook for some time. Watching kdrama has great influence in my daily cooking. Finally, I cooked it for our breakfast.  Simple to whip up, has a mild smooth texture, has a nutting flavour and filling at the same time. Nutrients packed and easy for the stomach and great for people who are not feeling well. I used Maangchi recipe and it turned out great. A keeper for sure. Tasty and delicious as a stand alone meal.

 

Smooth, nutty and filling

I used short grain rice and split

Mung beans for this porridge

Korean sesame seed oil is best for this porridge, has a stronger fragrance

Recipe taken from Maangchi

Gimbap/Korean Rice Roll

 

Dinner is Gimbap...I used whatever ingredients that I have at home for the fillings. Gimbap is a very versatile Korean rice roll because you can use any ingredients as fillings. I learned to roll gimbap a year ago and since then have enjoy eating them. All thanks to watching kdrama 😅 The gimbap I made tonight is a very complete meal. We have sauteed beef slices, flavoured spinach, egg Crepe, Korean Fish Cake, Crab Flavoured Filament Stick as fillings. Pickled ginger, wasabi , flavoured soy sauce are great accompaniment for gimbap.  

Homemade Fresh Pasta

Homemade Fresh Pasta for dinner. Fettuccine for me and Tagliolini for the Meat Eater. Made a simple tomato herb sauce with added processed sausages for the meat eater sake 😝 Hearty meal on a rainy night. Tonight will be watching Netflix 'Marriage Contract' by Lee Seo Jin 👍good storyline. I am hooked😆

Pasta Dough Recipe by Gennaro :

150gm '00' Flour

50gm Semolina flour

2 eggs

How To Freeze Lemon

When I have a surplus of lemons , this is what I do. Sliced them up and freeze them for further use. Into my tea, into my Gin and of course in my cooking. These will last me for a few months. Thanks to my Piggy Cousin who has gifted me so many lemons . My blessings indeed 😇

Slice them into the thickness you needed, then pack the slices into individual small plastic bag. Stack them neatly in container, then freeze them. In this manner you can keep the lemon for months.

Roast Pork Belly

Dinner was late because we were waiting for this piece of Roast Pork Belly to cool down . I didn't follow the usual step of dehydrating the skin over night in the fridge as it was a last minute thing 😝 Thank God ,the skin was porous and crunchy, meat was tender and juicy. So yumm. I won't stand in the long queue, shoulder to shoulder for the famous roast pork . People forgets easily. It is pandemic time! 

As this is a last minute thing, I scored the skin and poke the whole surface as much as I can. Rub the surface skin with vinegar and salt and left it to dehyderate in the air con room for 4 hours. The meat part, I seasoned with garlic powder and salt and chinese 5 spice powder. Roast at 230c for the first 20 mins and further roast at 259c for the next 50mins till you see the skin has crackles and turned golden brown. Rest the roast pork for at least 15 mins before cutting. 

The skin turned out great, porous and crunchy, meat was tender and juicy.

HAPPY 2021 to all.