Hope everyone in the Northeast US stayed safe from the bomb cyclone this past week! Those of us in NYC experienced heavy winds and snow, and temperatures that felt like it was below 0 degrees Fahrenheit 😦 These record cold temperatures and extreme weather events we’ve been seeing over the course of 2017 are likely due to climate change and humans’ neglect for the role we play on our planet. But I’ll save that spiel for another time…
Since my family and I were stuck indoors, we decided to make some homemade veggie dumplings! When I was in grad school living away from home, I had already moved towards a less meat-centric diet, but when I lived in Mexico and Cambodia, I found it very difficult to regulate my diet when I was living with a host family and also living on a budget. Now that I’m finally (mostly) permanently back home in NY, I’m introducing more vegetarian-friendly meals in the household and sharing some of the benefits of eating less meat i.e. so we can eat healthier and make a lesser environmental footprint as a family.
Ingredients (quantity of each is up to your preference–we had an equal proportion of carrot, tofu, lettuce, and mushroom):
- carrots
- extra firm tofu
- lettuce
- Chinese mushroom
- dumpling skin
- 1-3 eggs (as a binding agent for your dumpling filling)
- corn starch
Steps:
- Soak the Chinese mushroom in water. As the mushroom is soaking, scrub the carrots realllly well.
- Shred the carrots and lettuce using a grater.
- Dice up the tofu and mushroom into small pieces, approximately the same sizes as the grated carrots and lettuce.
- Mix the carrots, tofu, lettuce, mushroom, and eggs together to make your dumpling filling 🙂
- Lay out some plates and dust them with corn starch.
- Pour some water and corn starch together (they act as the sealing agent for your dumpling skin).
- Lay the dumpling skin open in your hand and put a small dollop of filling in the center, dip your finger into the corn starch water and trace the edges of the skin, and seal the dumpling.
**Tip: You can seal it by making folds by hand and overlapping each fold, or you can cheat and take the easy way out by folding the skin precisely in half and using a fork to press the edges firmly until it’s completely sealed! - Repeat the process until you’ve used up all of your filling or skin. You can save the filling to make some stir-fry dish with noodles or soup! Depending on how many dumplings you’d like to cook, you can put the rest in the freezer until you’re ready to use them.
- Boil a small pot of vegetable stock and throw in your dumplings and keep an eye on the pot, stirring occasionally so the dumplings don’t stick together. When you see the skin start to become transparent, you’ll know they’re ready! Since they are fresh, unfrozen dumplings, they should take approximately 3-5 minutes to cook.
You can now enjoy your healthy, homemade veggie dumplings in vegetable broth on a cold winter day 🙂
A Healthy Blueprint 