Happy 2019! Chinese New Years is this week, and it happens to fall in line with my newest obsession: dumplings and baos! When I was a kid, I helped fold endless wontons and potstickers, but we always used the prepackaged wrappers. I got it in my head late last year to start making dumpling wrappers and baos. And once I start something... Well, you know how that goes.
The boy made me some Asian-style rolling pins, because my tapered bread pin from India wasn't made for the task at hand. Dumpling rolling pins are straight, so conveniently, you can buy a dowel rod between 3/4"-1" in diameter and cut it into 12" chunks. I wanted a fancy walnut rolling pin, not quite traditional, but they're sooo pretty!
Rolling out dumplings reminds me of first learning how to knit. I was all thumbs when I started to learn, and my garter stitch scarves would mysteriously increase and decrease in width. My dumpling wrappers are doing the same thing! But, I'll get my 10,000 hours in and rock this with time. I just have to push through the apprentice stage and realize that even ugly dumplings are good to eat. Two particularly ugly batches of dumplings are pictured below.
Now that I have the hang of the dumpling dough, I've been experimenting by replacing some of the flour and water with sourdough starter discard. For any of you making sourdough breads, you know that the hungry little starters need to be periodically fed by dumping out half of the old starter, and refreshing with new flour and water. But what to do with that old starter? I was making pancakes with it, but I'm not really a pancake person. However, I can confidently call myself a dumpling person now, so into my dumpling mix it goes! I still don't have the perfect proportions yet, but I can share if I ever get there and if you're interested and make another post.
I've neglected this blog in favor of Instagram, but I find myself constantly coming back to this blog to look up recipes and methodologies because I have a hard time keeping track of what I do and when. It's handy! I need to remember to post more often.
And since this blog started off as a knitting blog, here are some of my favorite FOs for 2018.
I linked my project pages to the captions if you would like more deets. Until next time, have a happy 2019!
Gorgeous dumplings! Happy New Year!
ReplyDeleteThank you, Alicia! I've been practicing dumplings for a couple of months now. Happy New Year to you!
DeleteHappy Lunar New Year! I should have saved this to read *after* dinner, so tasty looking!!! There is something more personal to a blog post i find over Instagram. Especially since the feeds have become packed with ads, i find i'm browsing less and less, looking instead for blog updates and actually seeing people to catch up. It's interesting how frequently behaviors come full circle. Happy Year of the Pig!
ReplyDeleteHappy New Year to you, too! I'll have to save you some baos the next time I make them. I think the texture of the filling was great, but it was a tad too salty for me to confidently give to others. Translating recipes I know for meat to seitan gets tricky because you can't do 1:1.
DeleteHappy new year! Even your not perfect dumplings are pretty! I think they all look great.
ReplyDeleteAnd I like keeping my blog, too, because it’s such a handy reference when I want to look up how I did something, or went somewhere, or whatever. Good archives of my life!
Gung hay fat choy! May many dumplings be in your future! ;)
DeleteI need to get back into the habit of posting my projects. It's just so easy to snap a picture, post it on Instagram, and interact with others to get some more ideas. However, IG is a horrible place to archive projects if you want to look up details.