By Michael Minorgan for Curtains Up minorgan@yahoo.ca
DUMPLINGS
On my many trips to South East Asia one of my very favorite snacks was dumplings. They can be found in food stalls all over Asia in many different varieties and they are a very inexpensive. These tasty bite size morsels are in no way restricted to Asia in fact they can be found in various incarnations in cuisines all over the world. They are easy to make and the fillings you can use are only limited by the limits of your own creativity. They can be easily cooked by boiling, steaming or frying. The accompanying dips can run the gamut of sweet, spicy, salty and creamy, it’s up to you. This week’s recipe is one I fell in love with while in the old fishing village in Hoi An in Central Viet Nam, they are easy to make and use ready made rice paper rounds for their covering, experiment and above all…...Enjoy!
Banh Quai Vat
Ingredients for the Pork and Shrimps Filling
1/4 pound of Lean Pork, cut into small cubes
1/4 pound of Shrimp, deveined, cut into 3-4 pieces
1/4 cup of shredded shitake mushroom
1 tablespoon Fish Sauce
2 tablespoon Sugar
1 teaspoon Black Pepper
2-3 cloves of Garlic, finely chopped
1 Shallots, finely sliced
1 tablespoon Oil
Heat oil in a pan, add garlic, shallots and stir until it’s golden. Add the remaining ingredients and simmers for about 20-30 minutes. If need it, adjust sugar and salt until the meat tastes sweet and salty. When the sauce becomes thick and coats the pork and shrimp and the color changes to brown, remove from heat.
For Scallion Oil
3-4 Spring Onion, finely chopped
1 clove of Garlic, sliced
1 tablespoon Oil
Making Scallions Oil
Heat a tablespoon of oil and garlic in a pan (̣using garlic will add a lot of fragrance to the oil). When garlic is golden brown, turn off the heat. Add chopped green onion and remove it from heat. Set it aside.
Fish Sauce Dip
Ingredients
1/4 cup Fish Sauce
1/4 cup Lime Juice
1/2 cup Sugar
1/2 cup warm Water
3 cloves of Garlic, finely chopped
2 red chili pepper, finely chopped
Mix sugar and water in a bowl until dissolved. Add fish sauce, lime juice, chili pepper and garlic. Mix well.
Cooking Dumplings
Set aside a large bowl of cold or ice water.
Bring a pot of water to boil. While the water is boiling, add raw dumplings in it, lower the heat down to medium high. Boiling water could cause the bánh quai vạt to burst.
When dumplings are floating, wait for about 5 minutes or until dumplings are cooked before removing them with a strainer and pour them into a bowl of cold or ice water. Let them cool down for about 30 seconds, then scoop them up with a strainer and add them in a scallion oil pan.
Presentation
Place bánh quai vạt on a plate and top with dried shrimps and fried shallot. Serve with dipping fish sauce.
