Pot Sticker Dumplings

by Liz Child

These dumplings are simpler to make than they look. Honestly! A basic dough made from flour, salt and water, an easy filling of sautéed pak choi and firm tofu and then a lot of fun rolling, filling and crimping. Put this recipe on your list of meditative kitchen moments.

I like them pot sticker style, where you fry the dumplings with a little veg oil until they have crisp, golden bottoms, then add some water and a lid and steam-fry them until they are juicy and tender. But you can pop them into a broth to simmer or even just steam them if you like. This kind of firm tofu filling is our favourite. If I have a jar of kimchi on the go, I just mix chopped kimchi, tofu, soy sauce and white pepper for an even easier filling with no need to pre-cook. Of course you can fill them with whatever you like. Just make sure the mix isn’t too wet.

Liz x

Ingredients (makes about 40 dumplings)

  • 2 mugs of plain flour (strong flour works well too)
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 1/2 mug of freshly boiled water
  • 1 pak choi
  • 4 cloves of garlic – chopped
  • 1 thumb of ginger – grated or finely chopped
  • 3 tbsp soy sauce
  • 3 tbsp toasted sesame oil
  • 1/2 tsp white pepper
  • chilli flakes to taste
  • 2 packs of extra firm tofu (400g total)
  • vegetable oil for frying
  • dipping sauces to serve – sweet chilli or a simple soy-sesame oil-lime juice mix?

Method

  1. Start by making the dough as it needs time to rest before you start rolling.
  2. Put the flour and salt into a bowl and stir in the boiling water.
  3. Squish together into a firm dough with your hands, then move onto a clean work surface and knead well until the dough is smooth and stretchy. It should be quite firm too, not sticky.
  4. Form the dough into a neat ball and put it back into the bowl. Then cover with a damp tea towel and leave to rest for 30 minutes while you make the filling.
  5. Dice the stems of the pak choi and sauté in a frying pan with the sesame oil until softened.
  6. Add the tofu to the pan. Scrunch it up with your hands into a small crumble. Then add the soy sauce, white pepper, garlic, ginger and chilli flakes. Stir and cook until well combined.
  7. Shred the green leaves of the pak choi and add them to the pan. Stir fry for just a few more minutes until the leaves are wilted.
  8. Transfer the filling to a bowl to cool down.
  9. Cut the ball of dough into quarters, put 3 of the pieces back into the bowl and cover again with the damp tea towel so that they don’t dry out.
  10. Roll the quarter of the dough you have out into a 2cm thick snake then chop it into 10 or so pieces.
  11. Roll each piece into a ball the squash it down flat with the palm of your hand.
  12. Then roll each piece into a thin circle, it needs to be just a couple of mm thick and as even and round a circle as possible.
  13. Then place a tbsp of filling in each circle and form the dumplings. There are loads of different techniques around. Have a watch of some youtube videos for inspiration.
  14. I like to place the circe and filling in the palm of my left hand, then using my right hand, fold the circle of dough over and pinch it at the top in the middle. Then pull and fold and crimp the right side towards the middle like in the photo below. Then transfer the dumpling to your right hand and do the same on the left side with your left hand.
  15. Once the dumpling is crimped and sealed, pinch firmly all along the seal to ensure it is secure. Then place it on a large tray that has been lightly floured (or lined with baking parchment).
  16. Repeat with all the dough and filling. Ensure the dumplings are not touching each other as they will start to stick together if they do.
  17. Then heat up a frying pan (one that has a lid) with a little vegetable oil to medium-high. Place as many dumplings, flat side down, into the pan that will fit. Allow them to cook until golden brown and crispy underneath.
  18. Then quickly pour in a small glass of water – enough so that there is a cm of water in the pan – and pop the lid on so that the dumplings can steam and absorb most of the water.
  19. Steam them with the lid on for 3 minutes then remove the lid and allow any excess water to evaporate. Then move the dumplings onto a plate to keep warm while you cook the rest in batches like this.
  20. Serve with dipping sauces alongside steamed greens and other veggies, or with a stir fry, noodles, rice, miso soup, kimchi… anything like that. Enjoy!

St Patrick’s Day Menu

by Liz Child

Easily get 10 portions of fruit and veg into your day with this plant based St Patrick’s Day menu. No green food colouring in sight but lots of vibrant, fun, healthy ideas. Hope you have a fab day off everyone! Let us know what you are cooking to celebrate the day in the comments or over on our friendly facebook page.

Liz x

Breakfast

Green Smoothie Pancakes

Is it even St Patrick’s Day if you don’t eat something green? Avoid the food colouring and get out your blender for these sweet (but healthy) pancakes.

Ingredients (makes 10 pancakes)

Method

Put all the ingredients except the butter and maple syrup into a smoothie maker and blend until smooth.

Heat a non-stick frying pan to medium then melt some butter and fry the pancakes in small batches for a few minutes on each side until cooked through. It’s better to cook them low and slow so that they are cooked through and not too dark on the outside.

Stack them up and serve simply with butter and a generous drizzle of maple syrup or your favourite pancake toppings.

Lunch

Golden Boxty with Rainbow Slaw

Traditional Irish potato griddle cakes (but with very non-traditional grated courgette in the mashed potato batter instead of grated raw potato) are fried in butter until golden brown. Serve these ‘pots of gold’ with a rainbow slaw of fresh, raw, crunchy veg and a dollop of mayo for the perfect lunch.

Ingredients (serves 4-6)

Method

Start with the slaw. Shred the cabbage, grate the carrot and thinly slice the peppers, spring onions and chives. Mix in a bowl with the juice of half a lemon to start with and the olive oil. Taste and add more lemon juice if you like.

Preheat a frying pan and mix up the boxty batter. Put the mashed potato, grated courgette (or raw potato), flour, milk, vinegar, baking soda and salt in a mixing bowl and stir to combine. You should end up with a batter that’s a dropping consistency. If not, add more milk.

Fry in melted butter on a medium heat for about 5 or so minutes on each side. You can fry them in little fritters or in large rounds the size of the pan. Carefully flip them over when the bottom is golden brown. Add more butter to the pan before flipping if it’s looking a bit dry.

Serve warm with the rainbow slaw and a dollop of mayonnaise.

Supper

Irish Stew with Soda Dread Dumplings

Meaty mushrooms and bitter Guinness makes this stew rich and delicious and what better way to mop up the juices than with some Irish soda bread? I steam it as dumplings on top here for a hearty one pot supper but you could bake it separately if you prefer and serve it alongside. Looking for a gluten free alternative? Why not make some colcannon (mashed potato with wilted green cabbage or kale and spring onion stirred through) to go with the stew instead and use a gluten free stout in place of the Guinness?

Ingredients (serves 4-6)

  • 2 tbsp sunflower oil
  • 1 large onion
  • 3 carrots
  • 3 sticks of celery
  • 400g mushrooms
  • 4 cloves of garlic
  • 1 mug of green lentils
  • 1 stock cube
  • 1 can of Guinness
  • 2 tbsp dark brown sugar (optional – to counteract the bitterness of the Guinness)
  • salt and pepper to taste
  • chopped chives to serve
  • 500g flour (I like 250g plain and 250g wholemeal)
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
  • 300ml oat milk
  • 2 tbsp apple cider vinegar
  • 2 tbsp sunflower oil

Method

Get a large pot on the hob and heat it to the highest setting.

Roughly dice the onion and add it to the pot with 2 tbsp of sunflower oil.

Roughly dice the carrots, celery and mushrooms and add them to the pot next.

Stir occasionally and allow the vegetables to take on some colour and caramelised flavour for around 10 minutes. Then peel, chop and add the 4 cloves of garlic.

Rinse your mug of green lentils and add them to the pot with the can of Guinness, the stock cube and an additional mug of water. Season the stew with salt and lots of black pepper. Give the broth a taste and add some brown sugar to counteract the bitterness of the Guinness if needed.

Then let the stew come up to a simmer while you make the soda bread dough.

Measure the dry ingredients (the flour, salt and bicarb) into a large mixing bowl and mix well to evenly disperse the bicarbonate of soda and salt. Check for lumps and sort them out now before you add the wet ingredients.

Measure the wet ingredients (the oat milk, oil and vinegar) into a measuring jug and give it a stir. This is the plant based alternative for the traditional buttermilk in the recipe. Then add the wet ingredients to the dry and stir well with a wooden spoon to form a rough dough. No need to knead, just stir well to ensure there are no dry, floury bits in the dough.

Use wet hands to form 6-8 balls of dough and place them carefully in the top of the simmering stew. Put the lid on the pot, make sure it’s turned down ow and allow the stew to simmer an the soda bread to steam for about 20-30 minutes.

Check that the lentils are cooked through then serve the hot stew and dumplings with chopped chives on top.

Dessert

Mint Choc Chip Ice-Cream

This ice cream is vibrant green, creamy and sweet…but made with peas and bananas! Don’t be put off by the healthy ingredients, blended frozen banana is a creamy revelation and peas are naturally so sweet. It’s especially good if the banana is frozen when super-ripe. If you eat through your bananas from your weekly delivery then this recipe is a good way to use up those reduced over-ripe bananas at the shops. A win-win for you and for the epic food waste problem the planet is facing. I’ve used cacao nibs instead of chocolate chips because I love their bitter, dark chocolate flavour, but do feel free to substitute with real chocolate chips…especially if you are serving this to children.

Ingredients

  • for every frozen banana
  • you’ll need a handful or so of frozen peas
  • 3 sprigs of fresh mint
  • optional sweetener of your choice to taste (eg maple syrup)
  • and a tbsp or so of cacao nibs (or sub with chocolate chips)

Method

Peel and chop as many over-ripe bananas as you like. About one per person. Freeze them overnight on a tray until solid (with gaps between the pieces otherwise they’ll all freeze together and be very difficult to blend).

You’ll need a strong food processor with an S blade attachment. A food processor works better that a jug/smoothie blender for this.

Put the frozen banana chunks and frozen peas into your blender along with fresh mint leaves to taste.

Blend into a frozen, crumbly texture then stop the blender, scrape down the sides and blend again until vibrant green and creamy.

Taste the mixture and add a sweetener or more mint leaves if you like and blend again.

Scrape the nice cream out into a tub and stir through cacao nibs or chocolate chips. Scoop into balls and serve (they will be quite soft at this stage so for quickly) or move to the freezer to firm up until you are ready to serve.