Best vegetarian appetizer
After making a most amazing vegetarian curry the day before, I am just more determined to make simpler, healthy food. So, yesterday I decided to make a vegetarian appetizer of tomato, soya beans, avocado and watercress. It was really appetizing and a great starter. The colours were captivating. It is a very simple appetizer. Now I have fallen in love with avocado and tomato. They taste so fantastic. Here’s my lovely appetizer:
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Round fritters
Making fritters is very simple and easy. It is great for any time…a good starter to any meal, for breakfast, picnic and parties or even with BBQ. It can be vegetarian or otherwise. This is a very popular Chinese and Malaysian street food or hawker food as it is commonly called. A very simple recipe here for you:
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A lovely plate of sushi
My achievement…..making sushi without a sushi mat! I’m just so happy and proud of myself. Nothing is too difficult. There’s always a solution to a problem. The sushi came out round, uniform and colourful. What an improvement….Practice Make Perfect! I’ll show you how.
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Crab stick omelet
In Malaysia, oyster omelet is a very popular dish. The omelet is not an ordinary egg omelet. The batter is made of tapioca (cassava) flour and rice flour. It’s an easy recipe. Here I use crab sticks for a change. It tastes awesome too. I’m sure you can also use prawns. The recipe here will make 2 big plates, enough for 4 persons if you are eating it for breakfast. In fact you can eat it any time you like.
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Delicious, crunchy meatballs
After making the pan-fried Chinese Dumplings yesterday, there’s still some fillings left. So I decided to make a nice snack or appetiser out of it to give my children a happy surprise. It is so easy that it took me about 15 minutes to get it all done. Maybe less than that. Go to Making Dumpling Fillings if you are not sure.
Wantan pastry (dumpling skin)
This dumpling skin is different from the one in my previous post about making Chinese dumplings. This wantan pastry (dumpling skin) is thinner to give it this appetizer a crunchier taste when deep-fried. It is available in oriental shops in the freezer section.
Finely shredded wantan pastry
Thaw the wantan pastry a little while. Remove a few pieces of the wantan pastry. Slice it into very thin strips. Keep the rest back in the freezer.
Meat balls
Divide the dumpling fillings into small marble-sized balls.
Meatballs wrapped in shredded wantan pastry
Put some shredded wantan pastry on your palm. Put a meatball on top. Put a little shredded wantan pastry over it and then roll into a ball.
Frying the crunchy meatballs
Use medium fire to deep-fry the meatballs. Turn over every now and then to make sure that it is browned on all sides and the meat inside is cooked.
Don’t you think this crunchy appetizer looks impressive and delicious? More importantly, my children kept saying, ‘It’s so good!’ as they munch into each one. The rest of the story is a little sad…..I only get to taste one! It is really good I would say. Not bad to cook it the first time. That’s how I keep learning and improving on my cooking skill. Just be daring to try it out. I’m so happy that I just can’t help smiling away.
I hope you will try out this recipe and let me know how it goes. You can go with your favourite sauce.
Please share, add and comment in the comment box below.
Thought of the day……
“People with goals succeed because they know where they’re going.”
Earl Nightingale
Delicious dumplings
You have the rolled-out dough and you have the dumpling fillings. It’s time to wrap the dumplings and cook it. Soon you are going to enjoy your home-made Chinese dumplings. You don’t have to run to Chinese takeaways or eat out at Chinese restaurants anymore which are expensive and most likely has MSG added to it.
Just follow the pictures. You may find wrapping it a little difficult but after a while you’ll find it easy. Remember, ‘Practice makes perfect’. Just keep learning and keep smiling.
fan-fry the dumplings first
Put 1 tablespoon oil into the non-stick pan. Make and arrange the dumplings onto the pan. When it’s filled up, fry it over medium fire. After a while, turn one up to check if it’s brown on the bottom. If it is, pour in 1/4 C of water and cover to steam-fry. When the water dries up, pour in another 1/4 cup of water and cover to steam-fry again. When the water dries up, the dumplings are cooked. Put a big plate over the pan and flip over so that the bottom of the dumplings are facing up like in the picture below.
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While waiting for the dough to rest, shown in the previous post, you have more than enough time to make the fillings for the dumplings.
Recipe for fillings
500 g minced pork
1 medium carrot (finely grated)
3 spring onions (sliced finely)
1 t salt
1 t sesame oil
1/2 t pepper
4 T Kikkoman soya sauce
1 T cornstarch
Mix everything together well. That’s it.
Dumpling filling to mix
Dumpling filling ready for use
That’s it. Chinese Dumpling filling is ready for use. You can add in more vegetables if you like. You can use finely chopped Chinese cabbage or finely sliced green beans, both of which need to be gently fried first.
See you in the next post for the final stage - wrapping, cooking and EATING!
Please share, add or comment in the comment box below.
Thought for the day……
‘Think before you act and then act decisevely.Fortune favors the brave.’
Brian Tracy
If you like to eat Chinese food, you will like this - DUMPLINGS. A Chinese friend told me that she trains her children to eat vegetables by serving them dumplings because you can hide a lot of vegetables in it. I thought that is such a brilliant idea, never thought of it before. If I knew long time ago, I would have made it often for my children, especially my second daughter, because she hates vegetables. If she has to eat vegetables, she would have to have a glass of water next to her. She eats her vegetables like taking medicine!
Well, today my children asked for dumplings which I’m happy because it’s simple and easy to make - only the dough and the filling. I’ll show you here.
Recipe for Dough
2 C flour
1/2 C water (slightly more)
pinch of salt
Put flour into a bowl. Add water slowly while stirring with fork or chopsticks at the same time. Then knead well and leave to rest 30 mins. While waiting for the dough to rest, prepare the fillings (next post). After 30 minutes, cut into 24 pieces. Roll each one out into a thin round. Sprinkle with flour to prevent them from sticking to each other.
Making dumpling dough
24 pieces of small dumpling dough
A piece of rolled-out dumpling dough ready for wrapping filling
That’s it. You can ask little children to help. They would enjoy all the rolling. Roll it thin for better taste. Keep learning and keep smiling. See you in my next post for the dumpling filling.
Please share, add or comment in the comment box below.
Thought of the day……
Mary Kay Ash
Thanks very much DG and Drick for these 2 lovely awards.
Thanks very much to The Ardent Epicure for this lovely award.
Thanks very much to Malaysian Delicacies and Biren for this lovely award.
This lovely award was given by a lovely lady at http://bakericious.blogspot.com. THANK YOU VERY MUCH.
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