Lunar New Year & Taco Night

In order to ignore (as best as possible) some of the uglier white noise in our collective background, I have enjoyed a great deal of kitchen time this week.

To celebrate the Lunar New Year (last Saturday) and welcome the Year of the Rooster, and also because Jack is finally exiting his phase of mind-numbingly dull eating and has discovered a mad passion for pork dumplings, I made, wait for it, many pork dumplings yesterday.* Oliver and his sweet hands were huge helps in the folding and crimping department, and we crafted about sixty half-moons in no time flat.

I steamed most of them but also friend about a dozen for Jack because he prefers pot stickers. Mine were definitely on the crisp side but he declared them delicious, so I'll take it. Meanwhile, Oliver inhaled approximately 35 of the steamed version. 

I also made some soba noodles, peanut sauce, fried tofu, and steamed broccoli, and tossed all that together for a nice salad. Oranges made for a perfect, good luck dessert. 

Tonight was taco night which, because of our embarrassing POTUS' lack of knowledge of Frederick Douglass, also included a margarita for moi. 

Frederick Douglass is an example of somebody who’s done an amazing job and is being recognized more and more, I noticed.

Is POTUS aware that Frederick Douglass died in 1895? I just don't have words. So really, you can easily see why I made the margarita. 

Otherwise, Tacos. Family dinner. Good!

And my darling fur baby. 

Pork dumplings:

1 pound ground pork
the white/light green ends of two scallions, minced
a couple teaspoons minced chives
~2 teaspoons grated ginger
~1-2 teaspoons sesame oil
about the same of soy sauce
~2 teaspoons salt.

Mix everything together well and refrigerate for at least an hour.

I only had egg roll wrappers, so used a 3" cup to press rounds for the big dumplings. I used a biscuit cutter to cut rounds for the potstickers. One by one, fill the rounds and then seal by dabbing a bit of water around the edge of the circle, folding the circle in half, and crimping it shut.
I steamed the dumplings and fried the potstickers.

Make a good dipping sauce. We did roughly this:

1⁄4 cup soy sauce
1⁄4 cup rice wine vinegar
2 1⁄2 teaspoons sugar (didn't do this, or only did a bit; I don't know, I put Tom on the sauce)
1⁄2 medium scallion, minced
2 teaspoons minced fresh gingerroot
1⁄2 teaspoon toasted sesame oil
1⁄2 teaspoon hot red pepper flakes

Mix. Serve.

Dashi soba soup

 

This, after enough added salt and tamari, really hit the spot. Dashi is simple to make (tonight was my first go), and the poached egg was the crème.

What's dashi? Most basically, it's a stock made from steeping ginger, kombu (a seaweed) and bonito flakes in hot water. You can also buy dashi powder (which is nothing more than ground bonito flakes).

What is bonito? It's a fish in the same family as mackerel and tuna, and when bought in flake form, you're simply purchasing bonito that's been dried, fermented and smoked.

As y'all probably know, I like to make my own stuff from the ground up, so: made the dashi; strained it; cooked the soba noodles, leeks and scallions in it; added some sesame oil and tamari; poached a couple eggs; gently slid those over bowls of dashi and soba; and reseasoned everything. Hearty, healthy, flavorful, satisfying.

Off to bed with thoughts of no snow and springtime dancing in my head.