#nycbento

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I'm pretty good on not rolling or pleating another dumpling for a few weeks. Or months.

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I was flying to Florida last Thursday to give a talk (another part of life being busy in good ways) and I had just enough leftovers from the Balanchine Bento to pack a meal for the plane.

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Dumpling night part 3: Pelmeni dough fall in the middle of this trio of dumplings from Eastern Europe/Caucasus (Pierogi are Polish, Khinkali are Georgian, Pelmeni are Russian-Siberian). The dough is leaner than Pierogi dough (no egg or sour cream) but not as hard as Khinkali (which is nothing but flour, salt and just enough water to bring the dough together). Pelmeni dough adds enough oil to enable the dough to be rolled thinner. The Siberian version might have things such as bear meat - this version has mushrooms. I used a simple filling of chopped mushrooms (cremini with some dried porcini and shiitake) and onion, all sauteed. I've added pine nuts previously; I don't think it adds enough to the dish to warrant it. I did add a little grated parmesan - I would do that or a bit of nutritional yeast, just enough to add a salty kick. The dough behaves enough that the kids could help again. They did the first roll, I finished it off, cut and shaped. These get served much like pierogi (boil, serve with sour cream and butter).

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I posted this recipe a while back, but just as a reminder, my biscuit recipe is really good.

[nycbento]

From Chanukah. You can absolutely make latkes if you're single - this is made with two small potatoes, half an onion and half an egg (the other half went into waffles, I think). Serious Eats had a few great suggestions - there's no need to peel the potatoes, just wash them. Also, after you wring out the liquid from the potatoes, let that water settle for about five minutes. Pour away the brown liquid on top and toss the white potato starch back into the latke mix. It is a great binder. Because I never eat it except when I'm making latkes, I buy applesauce in individual cups.

[nycbento]

Baking skills are social skills!

I had planned to make calzones (Italian hand pies made with pizza dough) on New Year's Day. I made the dough two days before and left it to proof in the fridge (pizza dough loves long, cold fermentation).

Once I had the dough, the rest was a kind of provident disposal process: This leftover ricotta, that leftover spinach, these remnants of grated cheeses, those leftover mushrooms and a package of ham bits (sung to "partriiiiidge in a pair tree").

I put the ricotta and spinach in strainers - I saved the exuded liquid because I've discovered new doughs love that stuff in the levain. The grated cheese got picked through and combined, the ham and mushroom got chopped in smaller pieces, the spinach got chopped and mixed with the ricotta, adding salt, pepper, Aleppo pepper and a few scrapes of nutmeg, because dairy loves nutmeg like carrots love ginger.

In the interim I started up a simple marinara for dipping (canned tomatoes and one leftover fresh chopped plum tomato simmered in a bit of olive oil with garlic, tomato paste, Calabrian chili peppers for a little kick and herbs)

Each dough bit was about 190 g, on a lightly floured surface (the dough is moist), I patted and rolled it to about the size of a medium plate (8-9"). On one half, lay down melty cheese, then ham and mushroom, ricotta/spinach, then more melty cheese.

Fold over and close up (I did it with the same edging as I'd use for empanadas)

At this point my upstairs neighbor texted - I had asked him if he wanted a black and white cookie, now I offered a calzone as well. He was with his girlfriend, so it became a feast and ego boost - she is on a keto diet, but my baking (particularly pretzels) is her cheat.

Though Chef John at Food Wishes specified an egg wash, that doesn't square with anything I've seen in a pizzeria, so I snipped three vents with kitchen shears, brushing the calzone with olive oil and dusted with a last leftover bit of grana padano cheese.

I put these plump babies on parchment to control spills (and it made them a LOT easier to transfer). Baking was less time than I thought, (about 20 minutes at 450 F until the crust browned and I saw the filling bubble through the vents) I let them cool for at least 45 minutes to set the filling, and then rewarmed then in a low oven before serving.

I thought some of the cheese (particularly the last of the Cotija) was a tiny bit funky in the filling, but my friends loved it. The dipping sauce was perfect with it.

So my baking turned into a nice little New Year's Day party.

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My market had ground pork on sale.  This innocent item set off a chain reaction of dumplings in my kitchen.  Having frozen dumpling wrappers threw gasoline on the fire.

I made the gyoza yesterday.  Commercial wrappers are quite inexpensive, reliable and shave several hours off the process.  They have a familiar texture and taste, if less character than homemade, but they're worth keeping in the freezer.

I've never made siu mai before, but it uses the same wrappers - in fact both recipes used all filling and wrappers up with no waste.  They're easier to form once you get the hang of it, though it does take getting the hang of it.

I had made the pork bun a while back, so it defrosted while I was filling the siu mai and there it was - homemade dim sum at home for brunch!

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Dumpling night part 2:

Khinkali have a very low hydration dough, similar to Japanese noodles. The reason for this stiff, low moisture, high protein, low fat dough is to create a strong watertight casing for a loose, wet meat filling. Like Chinese soup dumplings, you add liquid to ground meat to create "soup" - I stole the Chinese technique of using jellied pork stock (The Georgians usually use water).

The dough is a pain to knead, but the recommendations to do low hydration doughs, such as noodles, in a food processor, works. A stand mixer doesn't fully incorporate the liquid without you stopping the machine and scraping and kneading the bowl. A dough mixer does a bit better, but a food processor (with the dough hook, not the metal one) does it best: run the water in a thin stream through the feed tube while pulsing. I may try this approach for another low hydration dough: bagels.

This dough takes too much elbow grease for the kids so their mother and I sat at the dining room table and made them - she got each dough ball into a thin disc, I got them thin to the right diameter and shaped.

The last time I made these a friend who had eaten these in Georgia told me the way they ate them, which is easier than the Chinese way of balancing in your ladle and poking a hole in them with a chopstick. These dumplings are sturdy enough to hold by the topknot upside-down, bite a delicate hole in the bottom rim and suck out the soup.