Chicken and mint dumplings

Sometime last year I made chicken and mint dumplings and I remembered them being kind of ok. But do you think I could find the recipe this year, when I had some chicken mince in the freezer, waiting to be used? The closest I could come was pork wonton from Flatmate's "the BIG book of wok". This was accompanied by a delicious looking broth so I thought my mind was made up. I was going to make the pork wontons with chicken instead and serve with asian pea broth.

That was until I re-found my chicken and mint dumpling recipe. I then discovered that I liked the look of the asian pea broth more than the original broth. So we have now arrived at Chicken and mint dumplings in asian pea broth. Simple.

On the day I invited S'bo round to dine on this meal with me, he came down with a cold. What's a better cold remedy than a warm, gingery broth? Exactly, not much. It became a joint effort and I quite enjoyed cooking together. I'm not always great at sharing my kitchen with others. I'm also not great at folding up wonton wrappers, probably made harder by the fact that I had square instead of round. I ended up halving the wrapper diagonally and they turned out ok, if not a little funny looking..

The broth was very flavoursome and paired pretty well with the dumplings. I should add that the dumplings really did look like little brains. Inside the chicken was well cooked although I think I should've used extra mint/coriander for more flavour. The dumplings were surprisingly filling but you know what they say, "feed a cold...." I think S-bo felt a little better as a result.

Chicken and Mint Dumplings:
I'm not sure where this recipe came from, it's one I've had floating around for a fair few years now.

150 g chicken mince
1 red chilli, seeds removed and flesh finely chopped
1 tbsp min, chopped finely
1 tbsp coriander, chopped finely
8 round wonton wrappers

In a bowl, combine the chicken mince, chilli, mint and coriander and season with salt and pepper. Lay the wonton wrappers on a flat surface and palce a tablespoon of the mixture onto the centre of each wrapper. Brush the edges with a little water and fold in half, sealing edges completely.

Bring your chosen broth to the boil then reduce the heat to a simmer. Cook the dumplings for 3-4 minutes.

Asian Pea Broth
I will try and recount the recipe I used, however it is a combination of that given with the dumplings and that from "the BIG book of wok"

Oil
1 large leek
2 cloves garlic
3 cm piece fresh ginger, finely chopped
4 tbsp Chinese rice wine
750 mL chicken stock
1.5 tbsp soy sauce
1/2 stick lemongrass, white part only, sliced thinly into rounds
150 g frozen peas

Heat the oil in a pan and stirfry the leeks for 2 minutes. Add the garlic and ginger and stirfry for a further 2 minutes. Pour in the wine and continue cooking until most of it has evaporated.
Add the stock and bring to the boil. Reduce to a simmer and add soy sauce, peas and dumplings. Simmer for 3-4 minutes.

Garnish with coriander.

Meat & 3 Veg

Well I haven't posted for a few days now. I've just had a manic, crazy weekend with barely any time to eat, let alone write about it. Whilst living in Victoria and enjoying the Swans win AFL (not that that has happened lately) I am a rugby girl at heart. To all those unaware, I might take this opportunity to highlight that Rugby Union (aka rugby) is quite different to rugby league (aka league) and the two should not be confused.

With that out of the way, here's how my weekend panned out and what I ate along the way. I've already mentioned Sarti on Thursday night, which was divine. Friday night included a trip to Bluestone Bar on Flinders lane for drinks and pizza to celebrate AO'B's birthday...mighty good pizza however a slightly surly barman. Mental note to all, if you don't know a wine that's on your wine list that's not the customer's fault!

A late trip to the airport on Friday night saw N (from Tamworth) join us for a coffee at Albert Park Deli on Saturday morning. Saturday afternoon was a shopping trip and Risotto in one of the little cafes in Block Arcade followed by the rugby! Pre match drinks were at the Imperial, during match drinks were at the ridiculously slow bar in MCG Ponsford Stand and post match drinks back at the Imperial. We wrapped up the night with a streetside hotdog (classy) and a trip to Albert Park's 24 hour fruit shop! That's right, a 24 hour fruit shop.

Feeling guilty for eating such rubbish the night before, N (from Tamworth), S-bo and I trekked off to South Melbourne Markets and bought ourselves a Sunday feast of dips, bread, cheese, olives and lamb cutlets. What a way to finish off the weekend.

So you're asking, where's the meat and 3 veg? I have no respectable pictures of the weekend so I thought I'd post a picture otherwise destined for back-post: Chicken Baked on Sweet Potato Rosti.

The sweet potato is cut thinly and tossed with parmesan, garlic, pepper and oil. Sadly mine didn't crisp up after baking for 20 minutes at 220 degrees, but the flavour was great. The chicken is another example of the virtues of good quality ingredients and a simple recipe. I bouth the breasts skin on from the market, rubbed the skin with salt and pepper, cooked in a pan for 5 minutes and then in the oven till cooked through.

Dessert was also simple: Chocolate Sausage Rolls. Not quite, but they looked like it. Take a thawed sheet of puff pastry, cut into 4 portions and sprinkle each portion with 1/4 cup chopped chocolate, 1/2 tsp cinnamon and 2 tbsp roasted hazelnuts. Instant dessert! Well not quite, you do need to cook in a 200 degree oven till puffed and golden.

Even better, you can eat them hot or cold. So evening time was chocolate roll with icecream, and morning tea the next morning was chocolate roll snack!

Enjoy....................