1. Hygiene first – That means don’t contaminate your vegs with raw meat on the same cutting board.  Watch what spoons you use for tasting. And if you cut yourself take care of it immediately.  Also don’t leave rubbish all over.
2. Taste Your Food – The unfamiliar ingredients are probably workable if you don’t have a bias of ignorance or disgust against it so keep an open mind about the weird mystery ingredients.
3. Learn how to Butcher Shit – Know well how to butcher various cuts of fish and beast.  Know how to butcher shit and then you’ll find an efficient way to cook it.  Butcher chops. Variety of fish. Shuck oysters. Open up clams. Crack crabs, lobsters, Etc. Etc. Time is your enemy, not your friend.  Also get a primer on how to treat exotic fruits and veggies – which parts are edible, too bitter, etc.
4. Make sure your food is cleaned properly – Most common trip up is an eyeball, cartilage, tendon, or fatty something. shell bits, grit, etc. crap not being properly removed from one of the proteins.
5. Be a pro with the cooking equipment.
6. Get your pans hot ASAP.
7. Make sure your food is cooked completely.
8. Learn how to plate ambidextrously.  Time is your enemy.
9. Sriracha and raw red onions are likely not going to be your friend. Don’t. Don’t. Do. it.
10. Don ‘t be a douche.

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Ways to fuck this up.

1. Slice the tofu too thin
2. Slice the tofu too thick
3. Don’t pat dry the tofu enough
4. Have too much oil in the pan
5. Have too little oil in the pan
6. Have the temperature too low
7. Have the tmperature too high
8. Let it sit in the oil too long
9. Let it get cold before serving.

Luckly for me tonight, i avoided *most* of these errors.

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• 1/2 Onion Chopped
• 1 Teaspoon Korean Chili Powder
• 1/2 Teaspoon salt
• 1 can Tuna in water
• 1 cup Kimchi (extra sour from being old and wilty)
• 2 cups water

Saute onions with salt & chili powder

Add Kimchi and stir fry until wilted and slightly carmelized.

Turn on vent over your stove

Answer door and advise neighbors that nothing has died in your apartment.

Add in water & tuna to quick boil.

Can serve in bowl over beans of your choice.

Enjoy.

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Ingredients:

One pangiasus fillet

1/2 yellow onion, finely chopped
1/3 cabbage chopped into 1/8 slices (estimated)

1 clove of garlic, finely chopped
2 green onions, finely chopped

1 tablespoon sesame oil (estimated)
2 pinches kosher salt
two pinches white pepper (estimated)”

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The kind of satisfied tired that you get from laughing a lot and putting some heart into a project that turned out better than you thought it would.

I’m talking about today’s adventure which was the successful launch of the First Annual Dumpling Making Party!

So as a child, my mom used to gather up her friends and family around new years and we’d make dozens upon dozens of mandoo.   We’d make them, cook them, bag them, and pack them up to give to friends and other loved ones. It was tradition we did nearly every year and it was always one where I felt very close to my mother by listening to her chat with her friends as I helped out in whatever way I could.

I was not talented at folding the dumplings so I was usually put to the task of chopping vegetables or cleaning up, preparing and serving fruit, or fetching drinks.

It’s been nearly two decades since I made dumplings with my mom, nearly 19 years since she passed away. But now that I’m a mom, I’m eager to start traditions that Amelia will hopefully recall fondly when she’s older and I’m eager to have her make a mess with me in the kitchen when she’s able.

She’s still not quite 2 yet so more trouble underfoot than helpful but I figure I have about 3 years as a window to perfect my dumpling making skills before she will have any solid memories of their fail-ness or awesomeness.

Last week I ordered a pasta machine.  While wholly unnecessary in the bay area where there are dozens and dozens of Asian markets where you can buy dumpling wrappers, I still felt the urge to try out rolling some of my own.

Imperia 150

It wasn’t until the machine arrived that I recognized the box and was overwhelmed with a sense of nostalgia.

This was the same machine that my mother used to roll out her mandoo skins when we were younger!  She would let me use the round top of her metal tea kettle to cut beautiful and perfectly round circles to make the mandoo skins.

Earlier in the week I did a trial run of making some mandoo skins and today’s attempt at making them turned out lovely.  While labour intensive and time inefficient it was still fun to roll the crank out, and handle the dough.

Mandoo Skins Recipe

* 1 egg
* 1/3 cup water (Hot)
* 2 cups all-purpose flour
* 1/2 teaspoon salt

Mix together, let rest for 25 minutes in plastic wrap and then portion out with extra flour and roll out. Depending on wrapper thickness, milage will vary on how many you get out from this recipe.

I wound up also buying 4 packages of pre-made skins because, well, frankly, to do them all by hand would have been a little dumb.

I also made up two sets of mandoo guts.

Recipe for Vegetarian Mandoo

1 1/2 Package of Firm Tofu
1 Cup fine chopped shiitake mushrooms finely chopped
1 1/2 Cup sauteed onions
3 teaspoons chopped garlic
1/2 cup chopped, sauteed and squeezed out moisture cabbage
1/2 cup chopped, sauteed and squeezed out moisture carrots
1/2 cup hopped green onions
Soy Sauce
Sesame Oil
2 Teaspoons Ginger powder

2 Teaspoons Garlic Powder
Salt
Pepper

Recipe for Meaty Mandoo

Package of Silken Tofu
1/2 Cup fine chopped shiitake mushrooms finely chopped
1 1/2 Cup sauteed onions
3 teaspoons chopped garlic
1/2 cup chopped, sauteed and squeezed out moisture cabbage
1/2 cup chopped, sauteed and squeezed out moisture carrots
1/2 cup hopped green onions
2 Cups Ground Beef
2 Cups Ground Pork
1/2 Cup cellophane noodles cooked, drained, and chopped
Soy Sauce
Sesame Oil
2 Teaspoons Ginger Powder
2 Teaspoons Garlic Powder
Salt
Pepper

A dozen or so friends stopped by to make and eat the dumplings.

Dumpling making sweatshop.

Meaty Dumpling Assembled.

Veggie Dumplings assembled.

Jonathon’s very pretty Fish dumplings that were the prettiest dumplings to eat.

Ernie proving he’s not a bad Chinese person because hey, he can cook dumplings!

Some final product before they were devoured.

Frankly most of them were ugly but they were all delicious! The meaty mandoo came out tasting a lot like how I remembered my Mom’s tasted. And most importantly it was fun and combined three of my new years resolutions into one project.  To be social more with my friends, to cook more, and to be a good mom. Oh! And I’m blogging this.  I guess that makes four then.

I am so full now. But full of more than dumplings. I’m full of happy.

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