Crazy Dumplings Cook
Book
By Amanda
Roberts
Hi! My name is Amanda and I am an American who has
been living, writing, and cooking in China for nearly three years. China’s
favored dish, the dumpling (or jiaozi in Chinese), can be found on every street corner, in every
restaurant, and in every kitchen in China, but they are all pretty much
prepared the same way: a bit of meat, some garlic and ginger, and a bit of
vegetables if you’re lucky. Even a visit to the freezer section at any grocery
store displays hundreds of packages of dumplings that all look and taste the
same.
But the dumpling is so versatile! Have
you ever tried stuffing a dumpling with chicken? Refried beans? Cheesecake
filling? No? Hardly anyone has! My
cookbook, Crazy
Dumplings, takes this simple staple food
and prepares it in ways you never thought possible! From buffalo chicken
dumplings to pizza dumplings to apple pie dumplings, a world of foods is
available to you in an easy dumpling wrapper
with Crazy
Dumplings.
EXCERPT/SAMPLE
Basic
Dumpling Wrapper
3/4 cups
flour
1/3 cup boiling
water
Dash of
salt
Flour for
dusting
1) Mix flour and salt
together in a mixing bowl.
2) Drizzle in water,
mixing with a chopstick or fork.
3) Leave in bowl,
covered with plastic wrap for 15 minutes.
4) Gather dough up
into a ball and kneed on counter for a minute or two (until the dough is
smooth)
5) Pinch off small
portion of dough and roll into a ball (about 1 inch in diameter). Roll out into
a flat circle on the counter, dusting with flour to keep dough from
sticking.
6) Put small amount of
preferred dumpling stuffing mixture into the middle of the flat dumpling
wrapper. Pinch the dumpling closed.
7) Cook
dumplings.
a. To fry dumpling,
preheat oil for 30 second then lower heat. Cook dumpling on each side for only
about one minute or until golden brown.
b. To steam dumplings,
place in a steamer or on an elevated plate in a wok over water for about 10
minutes.
c. To boil dumplings,
place in boiling water for about 5 minutes.
8) Always cut a
dumpling open to make sure it cooked through.
9)Serve!
Taco
Dumplings
½ lb ground meat
(beef, pork, or turkey)
½ cup shredded
cheese
1 tablespoon chili
seasoning
1 tablespoon ground
cumin
½ tablespoon garlic
powder
¼ cup chopped cilantro
(optional)
12 dumpling
wrappers
Salsa, guacamole,
cheese sauce, sour cream (as optional dip options)
1. Mix ground meat,
shredded cheese, spices, and cilantro together in mixing
bowl.
2. Spoon mixture into
dumpling wrappers.
3. Fry dumplings for
about 1 minute on each side or until golden brown (be sure to open one to make
sure the meat is thoroughly cooked).
4. Serve hot with sauces for
dipping.
Guacamole
2
avocados
1 small tomato, finely
chopped
¼ of an onion, finely
chopped
1 clove of garlic,
pressed
a few sprigs of
cilantro, finely chopped
1 lime or lemon,
halved
Dash of
salt
1) With a spoon remove
the avocado meat from the rind and remove the seeds. Mash the avocado meat with
a spoon and fork.
2) Mix in tomato,
onion, garlic, and cilantro
3) Squeeze in lemon
juice (watch out for seeds!)
4) Add salt to
taste
5)
Enjoy!
About the
Author
Amanda Roberts
received her master’s degree in English from the University of Central Missouri
in 2009. In 2010, she and her husband moved to rural Hunan, China to teach
English. Amanda has been
chronicling their
adventures on her blog Two Americans in China for nearly 3
years.
One of her biggest
obstacles to overcome was learning how to cook all over again. She discovered
that this is a major frustration for most expats living abroad. Crazy Dumplings
is her first book in what will hopefully become a full line of cookbooks for
expats and people living at home who want to learn fun and more natural ways of
cooking.
