Snowy Sunday: Soup dumplings and egg rolls

With it snowing outside, I wanted to push what I could possibly make. I have always wanted to make soup dumplings so today was the day (actually I started it yesterday). And as a backup, some vegetable egg rolls just in case it fails miserably. Also, it gave me a chance to go to the Asian grocery store to see what I could find in terms of pig parts to make a broth and turn it into gel. Make a little stuffing with pork, figure out a dumpling wrapper, and steam it all up.

To make the broth:

• 2 lbs. pigs feet
• 2 lbs. ham bones
• 2 inch ginger roughly chopped
• handful cilantro
• 5 whole clove garlic

Put everything together in a big pot of water making sure everything is covered to start. Bring to a boil and then simmer for 2 hours. Remove the solids and simmer until there is only about 1-2 cups left (took another couple hours). Strain into 9×13 pan and put in the fridge to firm up (overnight).

For the filling:

• 1 lb ground pork
• 1 tbsp garlic, minced
• 1 tbsp ginger, minced
• Sweet soy sauce
• Soy sauce
• 3 green onions
• 1 Tbsp mirin
• 1 tsp sesame oil

Mix everything together until blended. Take the gel out of the fridge and cut into little squares. Add to mix and blend again.

For the dumpling:

• 3 C. flour
• glug of canola oil
• 1 C. hot water

Put flour in bowl and mix in water until mixed together. Let set for about 30 minutes. Add oil and knead for about 10 minutes to get a nice dough. Let rest for another hour before making dumplings. Divide dough into 4 pieces. Roll out a quarter into a log and cut into 1 inch pieces. Roll each piece out into about 4-5 inch rounds. Put round in hand and add a dollop of pork mix to center and some how bring everything together to form a pseudo-ball or go to youtube and figure out how to do it right (I did the first).

Place some cabbage in steamer and coat with spray oil. Steam for about 10 minutes per batch and serve immediately.

For the egg rolls:

• 1/2 red cabbage, thinly sliced
• 1/2 green cabbage, thinly sliced
• 3 carrots, thinly sliced
• 1 onion thinly slice
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 Tbsp ginger, minced
• canola oil
• soy sauce
• 1 package eggroll wrappers

Quickly stir fry the vegetables with the garlic and ginger. Add soy sauce and continue cooking until soft. Wrap in egg roll wrappers and fry in canola oil.