dim sum, gluten free, yum!

Another snack to share, this time from the far east.  There is plenty of inspiration for gluten free eaters in the whole of Asia but I have missed some of those dimsum classics made with wheat wrappers, so here is a recipe for gluten-free chinese pot sticker dumplings.  Inspired by a lovely photo taken by a fellow food blogger Matt over at Foodforfriendsyeah, I adapted the recipe for the pot stickers from a great recipe and guide by Kate at Glutenfreegobsmacked.  I was so excited by the prospect of making elastic gluten free wrappers, I didn't shop for the filling for either of the recipes above however they came out really tasty (phew!).
I suggest making this dough by hand rather than a mixer as it seems to respond well to gentle handling.  It is definitely one of those recipes that calls for many pairs of hands ( and probably a bottle of wine to share) to make them quickly.

Hope you like them!

* Apologies for the recipe being in cups, I will add the metric measurements next time I make them.

Pot sticker filling:

250g minced pork (I used belly that I minced myself)
200g raw shrimp
4 spring onions, shredded
3cm knob ginger, finely chopped
1 1/2 cloves fresh garlic, finely chopped (use other half in sauce below)
2 tsp chinese rice wine vinegar (or dry sherry)
1/2 tsp salt
2 tbsp corn starch
Blitz this all together in a food processor until it forms a paste.
Chill until the wrappers are ready to be filled.

Pot sticker wrappers:

1 cup rice flour
1/3 cup tapioca starch
1/3 cup corn starch
1/3 cup sweet rice flour
1 tsp xanthan gum
1/2 tsp psyllium husks
1/2 tsp kuzu
1/4 tsp salt
1 large egg
1/2 cup cold water

Method:

Sieve all the dry ingredients together.
In this recipe I have subsistuted the suggested gelatine in the source recipe for a 50/50 mix of kuzu and psyillium husks.  I only have gelatine in sheets so couldn't make an adequate substitution for the 1tsp required in the recipe.  Luckily the kuzu and psyllium seem to work well to make a moist and flexible wrapper that doesn't crack or dry out too quickly.
Beat the egg into the cold water.

Whilst stirring your flour, gradually pour in the water making sure the flour absorbs the water as you go.
Bring the lumps of flour together in the bowl by hand.
If the dough is too wet or sticky add more sweet rice flour, if it is too dry add water 1 tablespoon at a time.

By some fluke the liquid levels were spot on for me and the dough quickly formed a smooth and elastic mass.  I kneaded this for a couple of minutes on a work surfaced sprinkled with a little corn starch  - mostly because it is so nice to be able to knead a gluten free dough, I don't know if it was strictly necessary!

Divide the dough into 4 or 5 equal pieces.  Leave all but 1 piece in a bowl under a damp tea towel.
Dust your work surface with corn starch and roll out the small piece of dough until it is between 1/16th" & 1/8th" thick.  Using a 3-3.5 inch round cutter, cut out as many shapes as you can.  put the circles to one side under a damp cloth and carry on with each piece of dough in turn.  I found that if you collected up the trimmings and sprinkled a couple of drops of water on them, you could combine them into the next piece of dough without any problems.
Carry on until all the pot stickers are cut out.

Now take your made filling and place a teaspoon full in the middle of each wrapper.
Fold the dough over the filling and pinch the 2 sides of the wrapper together to seal the dumpling.  Now you need to niftly create 3 folds in the dough and seal each side tight together.  There is an excellent instruction on how to do this by Jen at userealbutter here with pics too, which is far better than I can provide!

Carry on making the dumplings until you have used up all your mixes.

To cook:

Boil a large pan of water (I added 1/2 tsp salt to the water).
When the water is boiling add some dumplings, enough to create a layer on the bottom of the pan.
Leave the dumplings to boil for 6 minutes, they will float to the surface as they cook but do leave them the full time as, unlikely gnocchi, the wrapper won't be cooked when they first float to the surface.
Heat some rapeseed oil in a non-stick frying pan.
Drain the potstickers and transfer them to the frying pan for a few minutes until they are lightly browned and crispy.    Whilst this batch are fyring booil the next batch, continue until all the pot stickers are cooked.
Serve hot with sweet chilli sauce and this dipping sauce  ...

Dipping sauce (for 2 people):

2 tsp white wine vinegar
1 tsp tamari sauce (gf version of soy sauce)
1/2 clove finely chopped fresh garlic
1cm slice of finely chopped fresh ginger

You can freeze the potsticker dumplings uncooked.  If you do they will need between 12-20 minutes to boil from frozen.

I hope you like these - do let me know how you get on with the recipe and any different recipes for fillings that you may use.

That's dinner sorted

I have a five minute pause in my working day and am trying to recollect what is in the fridge. I picture myself standing in front of the fridge (strangely located in our messy hallway due to lack of space in the tiny galley kitchen) I have opened the door and felt the delicious icy blast of air dropping toward my toes, but i am finding it hard to peer through the (mental) fog to see what, on the shelves, can be made into a quick dinner tonight.
We have a polish teenage girl staying with us at present. Her schedule dictates that she eat between 6 and 7, so i am trying to conjour up a tasty meal that won't suffer a few extra minutes cooking if she or I is running late. Sometimes (and a little strangely) it seems to take her that long to open the door. We have had several attempts to show her how to use the lock and door handle, there really is nothing unusual about our door, but it does seem to prove a stumbling block to this young lady. We will try another lesson tonight in the hope that we won't, for the first time in a week or 2, be dragged out of bed in the early hours to let her in.
In the meantime, dinner approaches. If my memory serves me correctly we have pork loin steaks, pork sausages (good quality but sadly not gluten free) and salmon fillet. The last 2 mealtimes have already seen sausages and salmon fillet grace her plate so there is little choice but to head for the pork loin steak, however quickly it needs to be cooked.
But what to accompany it? I know that we have apples on the fruit dish crying out to be eaten, cream in the fridge and a touch of brandy in the cupboard but I really don't fancy a heavy creamy sauce on this summer day. There is a big pot of Amora Dijon mustard that could provide the backbone to a mouthwatering basting sauce but again, it is just a touch too rich for today.
A herby marinade, fragrant but not too strong? Growing in the pot of herbs at the bottom of the stairs outside are oregano, marjoram, pineapple mint, sage, common thyme, rosemary & fennel. As I type this I can see some glaring ommissions to my herb growing - and I can't excuse most of it. The basil - unsuprisingly - was eaten by slugs and I know from experience that replacing it in this damp summer will be akin to providing another special feast for these particular monster specimens.
But what happened to the parsley? savory? coriander? or perhaps a few rocket leaves?
I wish I had an answer, but the day that I went to the garden centre I was so distracted by quince trees and cherries and loganberries (none of which I bought, of course) that I managed to arrive home with any of the herbs i set out to buy was something of a miracle.
The menu is looking better, pork loin quickly marinaded with some slivers of juicy fat garlic cloves bought from Plenty (a lovely new addition to our grocery shopping), fresh sage, fennel seeds and olive oil - perhaps a dusting of smokey paprika to serve? Raw shredded kohlrabi (courtesy of my mum's veg box) with a mustardy dressing and steamed rice. There is still a serving or two of homemade mango frozen yoghurt in the freezer left over from the weekend, so dinner is complete.

I'm dreaming of eating...our new gluten free choc chip & raisin cookies, dipped in a steaming mug of coffee (but not till 10.30!)

Nervous first performance

Rather than launch in with comment or criticism, I think it is probably a good idea to introduce myself and the ideas behind this blog.
After much thought I have finally been persuaded to put fingers to keyboard and write my thoughts down. Since my daughter has been doing most of the persuading I imagine that she has had her fill of my stories and hypothesises over this long summer holiday. She has, I hasten to say, been stuck in an office with me whilst doing some work experience and this lengthy period has been eye-opening for both of us.

Memories tend to revolve around food, and dreaming of warm sunny days and warm sunny beaches reminds me of a pork sandwich. I am dredging back through more than 20 years of memories to a warm spring day on Miami beach. Every moment spent in the USA as a teenage traveller was filled with alien smells, sounds and experiences. It still astounds me that 2 lands with one common language can be so different. Later travels made me think of Australia as a bridge between the 2 countries with its' spacious landscapes and laid-back attitudes reflecting a similar vision to the small American towns I passed through in the 80s.
We arrived in Miami beach at 5am on a Tuesday morning in late winter. I had in my pocket the name of one guy in Miami, no address or phone number, just a name, but a lead for some casual work which we would need within a few days. A friendly American traveller who had been staying in a hostel on Venice Beach had given us the name, having recently made the reverse journey that we were shortly to undertake. It seemed highly improbable that we could do anything with this name, but the scrap of paper was worth it's weight in gold to us at the stage - it was, after all, our only contact.
Knowing no-one else but my travelling companion and having no ideas of what to do, we parked the drive-away Ford Escort (we lucked out - don't do it!) one block back from the beach, and shaking out our crumpled limbs, we smelt the air. Coffee, mmm, coffee. On the opposite corner there was a cafe, open but quiet. Although the coffee smelled great, I was desperate to dip my toes in the ocean. We had driven across the southern states in just 4 days from Los Angeles and the urge to see the Atlantic from 'the other side of the pond' was quite over-whelming.
We walked towards the sun rise and the beach. It was just like Miami Vice - indeed, we were there, on set (almost!) and a few blocks from that iconic police station watching the waves break on the steep sandy beach. It was beautiful, hypnotic but felt even more dream-like than L.A had done. The sea was cold but it felt great to be here. At that moment, I could suddenly feel every hour of the long drive across country and I felt exhausted lying on the beach in the weak morning sun.
We wandered back to the car and across to the now busy cafe. One lonely person sat at the counter but the booths were busy with locals drinking strong thick and sweet cuban coffee. There was a rotisserie grill outside with fat dripping & sizzling on the elements as whole chickens were lazily grilling like the early morning pensioners in the sun. On closer inspection, the chickens on the grill alternated with roasting pork joints and the rich fatty perfume cut through the coffee smells emanating from the hard working machine inside.
We fell into seats at the counter and ordered orange juice and long coffees - the local brew looked a little too strong at first. No matter, as we were served our first, and second cuban coffees. Feeling much stronger, i asked about the pork and what they did with it.
"Not ready" came the reply, "chickens at 10.30 but pork not ready till 11".
We gazed longily at the pillows of long soft bread and mentally set our watches to come back at 11. Ordering coffee number 3 I became aware of the guy next to us at the counter. He had been joined by someone else and seemed to be discussing rosters or schedules of some type. Curious, I tried to evesdrop but not too subtly as he soon glanced over his shoulder to see me peering over his to see what he was reading. Caught! I blushed and we laughed, an awkward pause followed so I apologised and introduced myself, about to launch into a outburst about who we were and what we were doing. Catching me before i started my first syllable, he turned around and reached out his hand "Paolo" he said by way of introduction. We shook hands and exchanged names, I reached into my pocket and pulled out the scrap of paper, "Paolo who?" I asked whilst reading the carefully written name on the paper - they matched! How could that happen?
Less than 3 hours later we had somewhere to stay in the hostel down the street, a job to start the next day and could relax for a while. The beds felt comfortable and cool, sleep quickly over took us, by the time we awoke and wandered back to the cafe, the grills were empty and the pork all gone.
"Tomorrow" said the guy behind the counter,"11am - and don't be late, it sells out quick."