Chinese dumplings are all about the taste combination between a meat and a vegetable, and the chicken-cilantro is a classic combo. In Chinese culture, cilantro is a believed to be a detoxifying herb. It cleanses the body of poisons, and chelates heavy metals. Cilantro is also packed with vitamins and good phytonutrients, but contains very few calories. And chicken, of course, is a classic low calorie meat. This chicken cilantro dumpling is therefore a nutritious choice for those on a diet, and is considered a detox food.
Major Ingredients:
• Chicken meat, minced, 2 cups
• Cilantro, chopped finely, 4 cups
• Shrimp, minced, ½ cup
• Vegetable oil, 3 tablespoon(tbsp)
• Salt, 2 teaspoon(tsp)
• White pepper, ½ teaspoon
• Soy sauce, 2 tablespoon
• Dumpling wrappings (all purpose flour, 3 cups; water, 1.4 cup)
Cooking instructions:
To prep the chicken, I use lean chicken breast meat, cut it into small pieces, and put it through a meat grinder. If you don’t have a meat grinder, you can chop the meat finely on a chopping board. This is more laborious, but will give you identical results. You want enough minced chicken meat to fill about 2 cups. Put the minced meat into a large bowl.
Devein the shrimp, and then use a knife to chop and mince it. You want enough for half a cup. Put the shrimp into the large bowl. The shrimp brings a “fresh” taste to the dish, and helps to bring the tastes of the chicken and cilantro together.
To prep the cilantro, chop the herb into fine pieces, and pack it into a cup. When you fill up a cup, put it into the large bowl. Do this 4 times.
Add 2 tsp of salt, ½ tsp of white pepper, 2 tbsp of soy sauce and 3 tbsp of vegetable oil to the bowl. If you don’t have white pepper, black will be fine. After you’ve made the dish several times, you may want to adjust the salt at this step to suit your taste buds. As an optional step, for added chicken flavor, you can add a small chicken bouillon cube.
Mix the ingredients above thoroughly, and then allow them to rest on the kitchen counter for 20 minutes. During this time, the oil will help the various flavors blend together.
Boil a large pot of water on the stove. Add a pinch of salt to the water. This helps to prevent the dumplings from sticking together.
While the pot of water is heating up, start wrapping the dumplings. For instructions and details on how to wrap a dumpling, you can refer to other Dumpling recipes.
Once the water has begun boiling, put the dumplings gently into the pot, and stir it for a minute to prevent the dumplings from settling onto the bottom of the pot and sticking to the hot bottom. Once the water has warmed up and the wrapper is slightly cooked, the dumplings will no longer stick to the bottom or to each other.
The traditional Chinese way to boil dumplings is to wait for the water to come back to a boil after you put in the dumplings, then add a cup of cold water so that it stops boiling, and repeat that twice (for a total of 3 times). I personally find this laborious, and simply let the pot simmer on low or moderate heat for 15 minutes, which also works just fine.
After 15 minutes, use a strainer to take the dumplings out from the water onto a dish.
Enjoy your freshly cooked dumplings with your favorite dipping sauce!
Major Ingredients:
• Chicken meat, minced, 2 cups
• Cilantro, chopped finely, 4 cups
• Shrimp, minced, ½ cup
• Vegetable oil, 3 tablespoon(tbsp)
• Salt, 2 teaspoon(tsp)
• White pepper, ½ teaspoon
• Soy sauce, 2 tablespoon
• Dumpling wrappings (all purpose flour, 3 cups; water, 1.4 cup)
Cooking instructions:
To prep the chicken, I use lean chicken breast meat, cut it into small pieces, and put it through a meat grinder. If you don’t have a meat grinder, you can chop the meat finely on a chopping board. This is more laborious, but will give you identical results. You want enough minced chicken meat to fill about 2 cups. Put the minced meat into a large bowl.
Devein the shrimp, and then use a knife to chop and mince it. You want enough for half a cup. Put the shrimp into the large bowl. The shrimp brings a “fresh” taste to the dish, and helps to bring the tastes of the chicken and cilantro together.
To prep the cilantro, chop the herb into fine pieces, and pack it into a cup. When you fill up a cup, put it into the large bowl. Do this 4 times.
Add 2 tsp of salt, ½ tsp of white pepper, 2 tbsp of soy sauce and 3 tbsp of vegetable oil to the bowl. If you don’t have white pepper, black will be fine. After you’ve made the dish several times, you may want to adjust the salt at this step to suit your taste buds. As an optional step, for added chicken flavor, you can add a small chicken bouillon cube.
Mix the ingredients above thoroughly, and then allow them to rest on the kitchen counter for 20 minutes. During this time, the oil will help the various flavors blend together.
Boil a large pot of water on the stove. Add a pinch of salt to the water. This helps to prevent the dumplings from sticking together.
While the pot of water is heating up, start wrapping the dumplings. For instructions and details on how to wrap a dumpling, you can refer to other Dumpling recipes.
Once the water has begun boiling, put the dumplings gently into the pot, and stir it for a minute to prevent the dumplings from settling onto the bottom of the pot and sticking to the hot bottom. Once the water has warmed up and the wrapper is slightly cooked, the dumplings will no longer stick to the bottom or to each other.
The traditional Chinese way to boil dumplings is to wait for the water to come back to a boil after you put in the dumplings, then add a cup of cold water so that it stops boiling, and repeat that twice (for a total of 3 times). I personally find this laborious, and simply let the pot simmer on low or moderate heat for 15 minutes, which also works just fine.
After 15 minutes, use a strainer to take the dumplings out from the water onto a dish.
Enjoy your freshly cooked dumplings with your favorite dipping sauce!
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