Pork and Shrimp Dumplings

These were an excellent dinner.  The dumplings had lots of flavour inside and we just drizzled a little soy sauce on them.  From Fresh Juice Magazine March 2014.

150 g Bok Choy halved crosswise
225 g Lean ground pork
8 medium shrimp peeled, deveined and chopped
1 green onion, minced
1 tbsp freshly grated ginger
1 tsp each cornstarch and soy sauce
1/2 tsp sesame oil
1/4 tsp pepper
1 egg, beaten, divided
1 pkg (450g) round rice flour dumpling wrappers (I couldn’t find these so I just used wonton wrappers)

1. In small pot of boiling lightly salted water, cook bok choy until tender, 4 to 5 minutes.  Drain and cool in cold water; squeeze out excess liquid.  Thinly slice; place in large bowl.  Add pork, shrimp, onion, ginger, cornstarch, soy sauce, sesame oil, pepper and half of the egg; mix to combine.
2. In small bowl, mix 1 tsp water into remaining egg (this wash will be used to seal dumplings).  Take 1 dumpling wrapper and moisten around edges with egg wash.  Place heaping teaspoonful pork mixture in centre of wrapper.  Fold over to match edges making a semicircle.  Gently pinch and pleat edges to seal; press lightly to flatten bottom.  Place seam side up on parchment lined baking sheet; cover with damp towel.  Repeat with remaining wrappers and filling.  
3. Place large bamboo steamer (mine isn’t bamboo and it worked fine) fitted with parchment in shallow skillet or wok filled with water until just below steamer bottom.  Place half of dumplings in steamer, cover and bring to a boil over medium high; cook for 10 minutes.  Repeat with remaining dumplings.

Danish Chicken Soup

A great meal this time of the year!

1 1/2 kg soup hen
2 L cold water
3 carrots
1 bunch green onions
2 beef soup bones
10ml (1tbsp) salt
1 celery stalk

Meatballs for soup:
250g ground lean beef
75 ml (5tbsp) flour
2 tsp salt
1 onion, finely grated
250g ground lean pork
2 eggs
2 tsp pepper
200ml water

Dumplings:
250 ml butter
1 tsp salt
7 eggs
400 ml flour
500 ml boiling water

Place hen and soup bones in a large pot of cold water; bring to a boil and skim off foam.  Add salt and vegetables.  Let boil about 2 to 2 1/2 hours.  Remove hen and bones; strain soup.  To serve, add cooked, diced carrots and celery, meatballs and dumplings.  Add salt to taste.

Meatballs for Soup:  Grind meat 3 or 4 times with onion.  In large mixing bowl, combine meat, flour, eggs, salt, pepper and water.  Drop by teaspoon into lightly salted boiling water.  Boil gently for 3 to 5 minutes.  Remove and strain.  Serve in soup.

Dumplings:  Melt butter; add flour.  Add boiling water, a little at a time, to make a very thick paste.  Bring to a boil.  Remove from heat and let cool.  Add salt and eggs, one at a time.  Using a teaspoon drop into lightly salted very hot water, not boiling.  After 5 minutes, remove to a bowl of cold water; drain.  Remember do not let the dumplings boil.