When life gives you bad dough consistency, you make dumplings

I had this grand goal for the weekend - I was going to make steamed buns... and it was going to taste amazing. You know when you're eating dimsum and see the cart roll by with BBQ pork buns? Or when you walk into an Asian grocery store and see the fresh hot buns ready to be taken home and eaten?

My little dream for the weekend ended up a flop. I used a recipe I found on another site but couldn't get the dough consistency right. The dough kept on sticking to my fingers and the steamed product was a rock-hard bun. I spent the latter half of my Saturday evening sulking around and giving the leftover dough mixture the stink-eye.

So what happens when you can't make steamed buns, but went through the trouble to make a really yummy veggie filling? You forget about your initial plan and convince yourself that you intended to make wonton dumplings from the get-go!

Dumplings are really easy to make, and are so versatile. I like to eat dumplings just steamed, boiled, or placed in a rich broth with noodles. Whenever I eat dumplings, I think back to my mom's dumpling soup that my family would eat with egg noodles and vegetables.

This time, I made a filling of oyster mushrooms, onions, black fungus*, cabbage, and tofu. Dumplings however, come in a variety of different flavors.

Probably the best part of making dumplings is folding them into cute little shapes. It doesn't matter how you fold your dumplings, just make sure you eliminate as much air as possible - if you leave little air bubbles, the cooked dumplings look like little Pillsbury dough boys!

I like to lay out my dough and use water as a gluing agent (some people use egg wash, which is perfectly fine). Simply outline the dough with water and place your ingredients in the center. You want to make sure your filling isn't too much that you can't close the dumpling, so it's a matter of adjusting how much filling you have to the size of your dough piece. Then you can close the dumpling either by creating a triangle shape (connect all the corners together in a 90 degree fashion), or money bag shape (haphazardly bundling up the dough) - any way you choose is perfectly fine and a total matter of preference. I like to do a hybrid of the two types.

Then, once you have a few, you can boil them in either a broth or boiling water. I like to boil my dumplings until they are floating to the surface (2 minutes), but depending on your filling (if you have raw meat), you may want to adjust your cooking times. I love this veggie filling because you get a hefty portion of tofu and mushrooms and crunchy fungus. Fungus has this incredible texture and tastes great in soups and stir fries (you may have had it in ramen unknowingly).

Then, take out and enjoy with some sauce or alone! MOH and I spent our evening alternating in the kitchen between cooking dumplings, cooling dumplings, dipping dumplings, and folding dumplings. It was a vicious cycle, but our tummies were satisfied, and MOH was ever the gentleman with not once mentioning the words "steam bun."

Until next time, happy eating all!



Veggie filling (extremely simple, but delicious!):

- 2 cups of green cabbage shredded
- 1 onion chopped
- 1 cup of oyster mushrooms chopped
- 1/2 pack of firm tofu, chopped
- 3 tbsp of oyster sauce
- dash of salt

1. Chop up ingredients and throw into mixing bowl, tossing until fully mixed.
2. Use as filling for wonton wrappers.
3. Fold, avoiding as much empty space in filling as possible
4. Boil 2 minutes
5. Scoop out and cool prior to serving