Cooking with Blobby

I don't have the wherewithal nor fortitude to even scrape the surface of our entry into Iran.  I will say it took at least 16 hours for me to even know it happened. Not listening to, or reading, the news has its benefits. 

So, you know: food.  

Eat. Your. Feelings. Or at least mine. 

Various versions of a recipe kept popping up in my IG feed. And well, I do like Asian cooking. Or eating. I guess cooking too. 

The thing is - these Easy Crispy Pan Dumpings seem more appetizer than dinner. But my take is, if you make enough of them, you can make them a meal. And it was a Sunday night dinner. All bets are off on what and how you eat. 

It's also a semi-cheat version. You don't really cinch the dumplings closed. You cover them and cook them. I supposed if you wanted to you could go the more traditional route, but again: Sunday night dinner!

These are not difficult, but I learned things along the way, as I usually do. 

So let's go!

Ingredients

• 450g ground chicken (or any ground meat) 

• 1/2 cup green onions 

• 2 tbsp light soy sauce 

• 1 tbsp minced garlic 

• 1 tbsp minced ginger 

• 1/3 cup any broth 

• 1/2 tsp chili flakes and black pepper 

• pinch of salt 

• 2 tsp olive oil (to cook) 

• 8-10 dumpling or wonton wrappers optional topping: additional green onions, chili oil, sesame seeds

Procedure

Combing your meat (or faux meat if you go vegan) and all the other ingredients (except the olive oil, wontons and toppings) into a bowl. 

Mix by hand. 

Form into balls. As big or small as you'd like, but knowing a won ton will have to cover it. 

Add and heat your olive oil and place meatballs into the pan. Nothing in the recipe says to turn them. This was my first batch and I didn't, but the second batch I did. Browned them nicely on all sides. 

No worries is you don't - they will come up to temp (165) just leaving them. Again, a more traditional steamed dumpling. 

Cover meatballs with the won ton rappers. Let them cook for a few minutes. I wanted the wrappers to get crispy, because.......

Pour in some additional broth (not tons) and cover. Let these steam until the meat is cooked through. 

Plate them. I drizzled chili crisp over them, a splash of soy, some sesame seeds and additional chopped green onions. 

They tasted great. I think we had six each and then cooked up the rest and put them in the fridge for later. 

I would definately brown the meat more. I know it doesn't really call for it, but it's a personal preference. I'd also cook the won tons more after the dish steams. I'd take off the lid and let them go a few minutes to crisp up. 

It's easy and if you wanted, much of it could be done ahead of time and just cooked off for your appetizer or meal.