Wednesday, July 2, 2014

Make At Home Chive Dumplings

When Josh and I manage to get to Thai Arroy for dinner in Baltimore (which unfortunately isn't very often), we always order some mix of three things: Massaman Curry with Tofu, Drunken Noodles, and Chive Dumplings.  If we ever get all three it's because we were really hungry and way too glutinous for our own good.  Usually we'll end up getting either the curry or the noodles as an entree to split, but we almost always start off with the chive dumpling appetizer. 
 
Since we both love them so much and they didn't seem like they should really be so hard, I went searching on the Internets for a chive dumpling recipe I could make at home.  I came across this recipe, and though it required some unusual ingredients, it didn't look too difficult once I got everything I needed together.  I ended up ordering sticky rice flour on Amazon and had to try the grocery store three times before finally coming away with regular chives, but I finally got all the ingredients I needed together last week and got to work.  Easy peasy, right? 
 
Not so much.  I hit more than a few mishaps along the way.  First, I figured out that the recipe actually needs 1 and 1/2 cups of water - not just 1/2 cup.  And apparently I'm pretty much terrible at forming those nice little purse-shaped dumplings.  I gave up after three horrible tumor-looking dumplings and went with the trusted potsticker shape I'm used to. 
 
Then I steamed the dumplings for 5-7 minutes per the recipe instructions .... and ended up with gluey, disgusting-looking dumplings, completely not fit for human consumption.  With nothing to lose, and a general preference for fried dumplings anyway, I tossed the gluey mess into a pan with a mix of sesame and vegetable oil.  After the first couple of dumplings I also learned my lesson about not trying to move the dumpling mid-fry, but just let it sit there until it's time to flip.  Luckily what I ended up with actually wasn't too bad. 
 
After about an hour of work I had seven fairly tasty dumplings to show for it (I'd halved the recipe due to my chive shortage).  For my dumpling sauce I mixed together chili sauce, soy sauce, and a bit of sugar. 
 
Would I do it again?  Probably not as long as Thai Arroy is still around ...  So now what should I do with the rest of a huge bag of sticky rice flour? 

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