Andrea, Author at Asian Dumpling Tips

Banana Leaf Basics

Asian Dumpling Basics, Asian Ingredients, Cooking Tips & Tricks

Just like many other foods, Asian dumplings cooked in banana leaves are extra heavenly. Open one up and inhale the leaf’s grassy perfume, then marvel at the dumpling’s dough which will be stained pale green. Finally bite into the dumpling and you’ll savor the mild tealike flavor that the banana leaf imparts during cooking. Many Southeast Asian dumplings rely on banana leaf for their trademark taste, fragrance, and appearance. Prime examples include banana-leaf packets of Indonesian sticky rice and spiced chicken (lemper ayam), Thai banana and coconut sticky rice (kao tom padt), and Vietnamese rice, pork and mushroom pyramids (banh gio).

Aside from contributing culinary aesthetics, banana leaf is also a practical kitchen tool. As a food wrapper, it functions like plastic wrap, parchment paper, and aluminum foil to prevent drying and sticking and retaining heat. You can lay banana leaf down and serve food on it like a plate or placemat, and fold it into various shapes as to-go containers. It’s also a great for lining steamer trays to prevent sticking. It’s biodegradable too. That’s ancient green living.

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Indian Rice and Lentil Dumplings with Coconut Cilantro Chutney Recipe (Kuzhi Paniyaram)

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You don’t have to have all the proper, culturally specific equipment to make authentic Asian dumplings. For example, I use a Mexican tortilla press as a shortcut to preparing many dumpling wrappers. One late night while watching TV, an infomercial for a cast iron pancake puff pan (round baseball-like pancakes similar to Danish abelskiver/ebelskiver) caught my eye. “That pan is perfect for Indian kuzhi paniyaram, Japanese takoyaki, and Vietnamese banh khot,” I said to myself. The pan’s semi-spherical wells were bout 2 inches wide at the top, so not too big and not too small, versatile enough for many kinds of Asian dumplings. I bought one from Bed Bath and Beyond (one of the “As Seen on TV” pancake puff pans) but later noticed that they’re available online and at shops such as Williams Sonoma, Sur La Table, etc.

My friend Shiyam Sundar, a chef from South India, introduced me to these kuzhi paniyaram — light, crisp dumplings made from a rice and lentil batter studded with spices and aromatics. Shiyam was sous chef at Amber India in San Jose, CA, but was unable to renew his visa and thus forced to return to India last month. I was feeling sad as he very much wanted to remain in America and cook Indian food with fresh California ingredients. Thinking of him, I took out the pancake puff pan and made kuzhi paniyaram.

Indian Coconut and Cilantro Green Chutney Recipe (Lili Chatni)

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There are many variations of green chutney as there are Indian households. This is my version of a Parsi (part Persian, part Indian) rendition from one of my favorite cookbooks, My Bombay Kitchen by Niloufer Inchaporia King. The coconut adds a slight richness that softens the bracing qualities of the herbs.

Green chutneys made with cilantro and mint lose their color within hours but this one, because it contains coconut, retains its verdant color for days. It tastes too good to keep around for that long, however. Grate your own coconut (use a hairy brown one), or purchase frozen grated coconut from Indian and Southeast Asian markets. This is a great accompaniment to Southern Indian fare such as kuzhi paniyaram rice and lentil dumplings.

Makes 1 generous cup

2 cloves garlic, chopped
3 green Thai or 2 serrano chiles, stemmed and chopped
3/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup grated fresh or thawed, frozen coconut
1 cup lightly packed coarsely chopped cilantro, leaves and stems
12 to 14 fresh mint leaves, coarsely chopped
Generous 1/4 teaspoon cumin seeds, pounded with a mortar and pestle
About 1 1/2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
About 1/4 cup water
1 teaspoon sugar, optional

1. Put the garlic, chiles and salt in a mini food processor and process to a fine texture.

2. Add the coconut, cilantro, mint, cumin, lime juice and water. Process to a thick, fine texture, pausing as needed to scrape down the sides. Aim for a texture that can stand up on a plate. Taste and add sugar if the flavor is too tart. Adjust the flavors as needed for tart, hot, salty, herby finish. Transfer to a jar or plastic container and set aside for a few hours for the flavors to blend. This chutney tastes better the next day to me, and it will keep for a week.

Quick Wonton and Barbecue Pork Noodle Soup Recipe

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My Trader Joe’s Asian food product adventure continued. There were leftover frozen dumplings and Chinese-style barbecued seasoned pork and so I’ve been getting creative. Among the Trader Joe’s frozen Asian dumplings that I recently reviewed, the chicken and cilantro mini wontons were among my favorites. I wondered if I could pair the frozen wontons up with my shortcut Cantonese char siu pork. The result was this quick and fairly decent bowl of wonton noodle soup with char siu pork.

One caveat is that I had some homemade chicken stock and fresh Chinese egg noodles in the fridge, but you can use the shortcut Asian chicken stock from the Viet World Kitchen (my other site) and even top-ramen noodles. Don’t be shocked. Instant ramen noodles are a staple in many Asian kitchens, including mine. If you use ramen noodles, I suppose you could use their broth flavoring packet and water for the stock.

Parboiling the wontons first before poaching them in the stock prevents them from adding their starchiness to the stock. As the wontons cook in the stock, they absorb from of the stock’s flavor, thereby tasting better.

Serves 2

4 cups chicken stock, home made or shortcut version (on Vietworldkitchen.com)
1/3 pound fresh egg noodles or 2 Top-Ramen type of dried noodle flats
16 frozen Trader Joe’s chicken and cilantro mini wontons
1/4 pound Quick Char Siu Pork from Trader Joe’s
1/4 pound green vegetable, such as asparagus, bok choy, gailan, fresh peas, or broccoli, cut into bite-size pieces
Light (regular) soy sauce
Salt
Sesame oil
White pepper or chile oil, optional

1. Bring the stock to a boil in a saucepan, lower the heat and cover to keep hot. Have your soup bowls nearby as you’ll be working fast.

2. Meanwhile, bring a large pot of water to a boil. Use a long-handled noodle strainer or mesh strainer to blanch the vegetables. Remove, flush with cold water, and divide among the soup bowls.

3. Return the water to a boil and use the strainer to plunge the noodles into the pot. Let them cook until chewy-firm; the cooking time depends on the noodles. Remove the noodles from water, rinse them under cold water and divide among the soup bowls.

4. Return the water to a boil and add the frozen wontons. Stir gently to separate them. At this point, remove the lid from the stock, then increase the heat on the stock to bring it back to a boil. After the wontons float to the top, scoop them from the water with a slotted spoon and slide them into the stock. Let them poach gently in the stock for about 3 minutes, until done; poke into one with a paring knife to test. (As the wontons cook, doctor up the pork, if you haven’t done so. Or, warm them up in a skillet if you did it in advance.)

5. When the wontons are cooked, scoop them from the stock and divide them among the soup bowls. Taste the stock and make any flavor adjustments with soy sauce and/or salt. Then ladle the stock into the bowls. Drizzle on some sesame oil and then top with the pork. If you like extra heat, sprinkle some white pepper and/or chile oil to finish. Serve immediately.

Monica Bhide’s Kumquat and Mango Chutney with Onion Seeds Recipe

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I love Indian chutneys and keep a stash of classic tamarind date chutney in the freezer and make a fast batch of fiery green (cilantro and/or mint) chutney for samosas, fried mung bean vada fritters, and bondas (spicy potato dumplings in chickpea batter). In Monica Bhide’s new cookbook, Modern Spice, I discovered this new one to add to my repertoire. Its tart-sweetness results from combining fresh kumquats with sweet canned mango puree (more on this below); a little sugar and vinegar makes things pop more.

The chutney receives lilting notes from sweet fennel seeds and pungent onion seeds. You can find both of these spices at Indian markets and well stocked health food stores and specialty markets. Onion seeds (also called nigella and kalonji seeds) look like black sesame seeds but have an uncommon peppery pungency and slight butterscotch-like flavor. They are not related to onions. Below is a photo for your reference.

India and Southeast Asia have the best mangos around, and Monica’s chutney recipe called for canned Alphonso mango. I’d never used canned mango but when a cookbook author suggests a particular type of ingredient, I follow their instruction. Canned mango is sold at Indian markets but I forgot to do so, having been swept up in the weekend shopping fervor at the busy Indian Cash and Carry market in Sunnyvale (on El Camino Real, north of the Lawrence Expressway, near Hankook Korean market). I followed my hunch and headed to Staff of Life, our local hippie health food store. Indeed, there was canned Indian mango on the shelves. It was the kesar variety, which is excellent. The flavor turned out to be the epitome of ripe mango goodness. It was so striking that I said to my husband, “I’d be willing to bathe in this stuff.” The canned mango was smooth, having been strained. Beyond this chutney, I imagine using it for darn good sorbet, margaritas, and smoothies.

Kumquat season continues in California and I hear that Southern California Trader Joe’s has kumquats. Get yourself 10 ounces of kumquats for the “dry pint” (2 cups) that Monica calls for in the recipe. This beautiful chutney tastes better the next day. I plan to use it for another of Monica’s treats – chile pea puffs – as well as other Indian dumplings, sandwiches, grilled meats, and whatever else that can take a wallop of fruity tart-sweet-pungent goodness.

Kumquat and Mango Chutney with Onion Seeds

When using the Ratna canned mango, Monica says to drain 6 to 8 slices and place them in a bowl. Then crush them with your hands before measuring out the quantity needed. My canned mango puree didn’t come in slices. It was completely smooth so I didn’t need to crush anything. For the kumquats, I sliced them a generous 1/8 inch thick, using the tip of my knife as I worked to remove the seeds.

Makes about 1 3/4 cups

2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 teaspoon onion seeds
1 teaspoon fennel seeds
1 dry pint kumquats, sliced and seeds removed
1/4 teaspoon red chile powder or dried red chile flakes
1 cup sugar
1 cup canned Alphonso mango puree
1/2 cup distilled white vinegar
Table salt

1. Heat the oil in a deep saucepan over high heat. When the oil begins to shimmer, add the onion and fennel seeds. As soon as they begin to sizzle, add the kumquats, chile powder, sugar, mango puree, and vinegar and stir well to combine.

2. Bring to a boil, then lower the heat to medium and continue boiling for 25 to 30 minutes, until the mixture has thickened (think of hot jam) and the kumquats are soft. Remove from the heat and let cool for about 5 minutes before tasting and adding salt.

3. Allow to cool to room temperature before transferring to an airtight jar. Cap and refrigerate for up to 3 weeks.

Adapted from Modern Spice: Inspired Indian Flavors for the Contemporary Kitchen (Simon & Schuster, 2009) by Monica Bhide.

Serving suggestion: Try a plop of this chutney in the crevice of a Mondern Indian chile pea puff!

Quick Char Siu Pork from Trader Joe’s

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As you know from last week’s review of frozen Asian dumplings, I’m on a bit of a Trader Joe’s jag. Another one of their Asian products that’s intrigued me lots has been their Chinese-Style Barbecue Seasoned Pork. That’s one big mouthful of a product name (not very catchy!) but ever since I spotted the item in the Fearless Flyer months ago, I’ve wondered if the pork could be used in Asian dumplings such as steamed and baked buns (bāo/bau) and fried sticky rice dumplings (xián shuǐ jiǎo/haam sui gok). Char siu pork is also one my favorite add-ons in wonton noodle soup, and I love to stuff some in Vietnamese banh mi sandwiches.

How good is the pork? Can I recommend it for cooks who don’t have the time to make their own or access to a Chinese barbecue shop? What can be done with the pork? Trader Joe’s does not identify the pork as Cantonese char siu pork but the orange-red coloring and thin long slabs of meat gave the pork’s identity away. The Chinese character printed on the label, 豬 (zhū) means pig, hog, swine. There was nothing about it being chā shāo/char siu pork (叉燒), which literally means fork roasted as the pork pieces are typically suspended on hooks during the roasting process to evenly expose the meat to the heat.