Who doesn't like dumplings? I love them. I wanted to make them but give them a bit of a twist. Some dumplings you try are strong and over powering and leave a lingering after taste. I wanted to make some that everyone would enjoy that weren't strong but had awesome flavor. These dumplings will even make a non dumpling fan, a fan. They are great, because if you make my beef cheek ragu recipe and have leftovers you are halfway to making these delicious parcels. They are good by themselves or add to a dish and add even more depth of flavour. So Who's Cooking Dinner?
Serve with the rich thick reduced cooking liquid (stock) from the beef cheeks, it's like a play on soy sauce.
While the beef cheeks are cooking make the dumpling dough. Add the water to the flour and mix until combined and a crumbly mix is formed. Tip out onto the bench and knead to bring together. Wrap and set aside.
While dough is resting, slice the onions thinly and caramelize nice and slowly until golden. Also cook the mushrooms until soft and cooked through.
Who doesn't like bacon? Dry fry the bacon until slightly caramelised but not crunchy and then cut into small chunks.
Chop the soft cooked beef cheek roughly. Then add all the filling ingredients into a food processor and pulse until everything is finely chopped and well combined.
A $2 shop dumpling maker works a treat. Roll the dough out thinly and cut into large circles. Place a circle onto the dumpling maker, add a small amount of filling mixture and close carefully, then press down firmly to seal. Ripoff the excess dough before opening.
Add dumplings to a pan with oil and water. Cover and leave an opening for the water to evaporate and steam cook them. Once all the water has evaporated they will fry in the remaining oil and turn into pot stickers.
They are great as accompaniment to a dish as shown above. I served mine with braised beef cheeks, carrot anna, caramelised cauliflower puree and micro greens. Finished with a drizzle of reduce cooking liquid (stock). Yum Yum Yum.
Beef Cheek, Bacon, Mushroom and Caramelised Onion Dumplings
Makes 40
Dumpling dough:
300g flour
180ml boiling water
Filling:
Shredded meat from 1 beef Cheek (recipe below)
2 small onions, peeled and sliced thinly
3 flat mushrooms, finely chopped
¼ bunch flat leaf parsley, leaves picked
2 rashers bacon Salt and pepper
Braised beef cheek
1 beef cheek
1 stalk celery, roughly chopped
1 carrot, peeled and roughly chopped
1 onion, peeled and roughly chopped
1 flat mushroom, roughly chopped
½ capsicum, roughly chopped
2 garlic cloves, peeled
2 thyme sprigs
½ tin chopped tomatoes
¾ cups Red wine
1 cups beef stock
Salt and pepper
Flour, for dusting
25g butter
For braised beef cheeks, dust beef cheek with flour. Heat a casserole dish with a dash of oil over high heat. Add the beef cheeks and brown all over. Or alternatively do this in a slow cooker as mine will heat up enough to brown the meat and vegetables.
Remove beef cheeks from the pot and set aside on a plate. Add butter to the pot and turn down the heat to medium. Add all the vegetables, garlic and thyme and cook until they start to brown.
Pour in red wine and scrape the bottom of the pot to release all the caramelised bits and deglaze the pan, then reduce by half. Add the whole tin of tomatoes and mix to combine.
Add the beef cheek back into the pot and cover with beef stock. Cook in 160c oven for 3 1/2 hours with lid on or as I do on a slow cooker on low for 8 hours or until beef cheeks are soft and fall apart.
Drain some liquid out of the pot, about 1 cups into a medium saucepan and place over a medium heat. Simmer until the stock has reduced by half and thickens. Don’t worry if it doesn’t thicken, it sometimes doesn’t happen for me, just add 1 tbsp arrowroot to a ramekin with a dash of water and mix to form a slurry. Whisk into the sauce and cook until thickened.
Remove the beef cheeks from the pot and chop roughly. Set aside until needed.
For dumpling dough, add flour to a bowl and make a well in the middle. Pour the boiling water into the well and using a wooden spoon incorporate the flour and water together until rough crumbs form. Pour out onto a clean bench and bring crumbs together with your hands to form one solid dough ball. Knead that dough ball for 5 minutes until smooth and elastic.
Wrap kneaded dough in glad wrap and set aside for at least 1 hour in a warm place.
For filling, add caramelised onion to a pan with a drizzle of oil and Place over a low heat and cook slowly until caramelised and golden, stirring occasionally.
Add mushrooms to another small pan and cook until the mushrooms are cooked and have released all their moisture. Set aside until needed.
To a clean pan add the bacon rashers and place over a medium heat and fry until bacon is cooked but not crispy. Remove from the pan and roughly chop.
Add the chopped beef cheek, mushrooms, bacon, onion, parsley and a sprinkle of salt and pepper into a food processor. Pulse several times until all ingredients are chopped finally and combined well. Taste and adjust seasoning. Pour into a bowl and cover with glad wrap and set aside until ready to make dumplings.
Take dough and cut in half as it will be easier to work with. Take half the dough and roll out using a rolling pin to about 1/2 cm thick. Use a large circle cutter and cut out as many circles as you can.
To make dumplings, careful place a circle of dough onto a dumpling maker and then place 1 tbsp of filling into the middle. Carefully close the dumpling maker and press firmly to seal the dumpling. Open maker carefully and remove dumpling and place on a plate. Repeat with remaining dough circles and then roll out the other half of the dough and repeat steps until all the filling and dough had been used up. You should be able to make about 40 dumplings.
To cook dumplings, add enough oil to 2 large pans to cover the base of both pans and add dumplings in cold oil, place over medium heat. Immediately add 1 cup of boiling water to both pans and cover pan with a lid leaving a small gap so the water can evaporate. Once the water has evaporated, about 5-8 minutes remove the lid and let fry until the base of each dumpling is golden and crispy. Remove from the heat and pan. Serve dumplings with the reduced cooking liquid (stock) and some micro greens.
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