Pork dumpling soup

With fried won tons, crab rangoon, rice, salad, spinach, bean sprouts, snow peas and rice.

Pork Dumpling Soup
Makes 12-20 dumplings or serves 4-6 as part of a multicourse meal

20 Siu Kow or wonton wrappers
4 cups (1 liter) water

Filling
1 small wood ear mushroom
6 oz (175 g) ground pork
4 oz (100 g) shelled and deveined raw shrimp, cut into small pieces
2 peeled fresh or canned water chestnuts, minced
1 tablespoon finely chopped green onion (scallion)

Seasonings
1 1/2 teaspoons oil
1 teaspoon Chinese rice wine (Shaoxing) or sherry
1/2 teaspoon sesame oil
3/4 teaspoon chicken bouillon powder
1/2 teaspoon fish sauce
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 dashes white pepper

Soup
1 3/4 cups (425 ml) Homemade Chicken Stock (page 00) or 1 can (14-oz/400-g) store-bought chicken broth
1 cup (250 ml) water
3 dashes white pepper
Salt, to taste

Garnishing  1 green onion (scallion), trimmed and cut into small rounds

1. Soak the wood ear mushroom with warm water for about 15 minutes. Cut it into thin strips.

2. Make the filling by combining the wood ear mushroom, ground pork, shrimp, water chestnuts, green onion, ginger, and all the Seasonings ingredients together. Chill the filling in the refrigerator for 30 minutes.

3. To assemble the water dumplings, place a piece of the wrapper on your palm and spoon about 1 tablespoon filling onto the wrapper. Do not overfill. Dip your index finger into a small bowl of water and circle around the outer edges of the dumpling wrapper. Fold the dumpling over and finish by pressing the edges with your thumb and index finger to ensure that the dumpling is sealed tightly and there is no leakage. Repeat for the remaining wrappers and filling. Place the dumplings on a floured surface or baking sheet. Cover them with a damp kitchen towel to prevent drying.

4. Bring the water to a boil in a pot. Gently transfer the wrapped water dumplings into the boiling water and boil until they float to the top, about 2-3 minutes. You may have to boil the dumplings in more than 1 batch, according to the size of your pot.

5. Remove the water dumplings with a slotted spoon, drain the excess water, and cover them to prevent drying.

6. Bring to boil the chicken broth and water in another pot. Add the white pepper and salt to taste.

7. Transfer 3-4 water dumplings into a soup bowl, add some of the soup into the bowl, garnish with some chopped green onion and serve immediately.

Norms note. I made chicken stock from scratch, add salt to taste,  then added some chicken leg and thigh meat, cut up and some mushrooms. Taste for salt. Added the dumplings at last minute, heated through. Garnished with green onion and sesame seeds.

Fried won tons are the exact same as the pork dumplings except deep fried instead of boiled

Spinach and bean sprouts, both boiled briefly then well drained and dressed with the same dressing below

SPINACH,Korean style         2 servings

10 oz. spinach 1 T. Sesame oil

2 T Soy sauce 1 T scallion, minced

2 tsp Sugar 1 tsp vinegar (optional)

1 1/2 tsp sesame salt salt & red pepper (optional)

BLANCH SPINACH IN BOILING WATER UNTIL BRIGHT GREEN ( ABOUT 2 MINUTES).  PLUNGE INTO COLD WATER.  SQUEEZE OUT EXCESS WATER.  MIX REMAINING INGREDIENTS AND  TOSS WITH SPINACH.  SERVE IMMEDIATELY OR REFRIGERATE UP TO SEVERAL DAYS.

Crab Rangoon recipe from Trader

    Vic's, San Francisco, CA 

    1/2 pound crabmeat, drained & chopped (you can use 

    the imitation crab meat too for this) 

    1/2 pound cream cheese, room temperature 

    1/2 tsp A-1 steak sauce 

    1/4 tsp garlic powder 

    2 1/2 to 3 dozen won ton wrappers 

    1 egg yolk, well beaten an 1 tablespoon water. 

    oil for deep frying 

    Chinese mustard or red sauce 

    Combine crabmeat, cream cheese, A-1 sauce and garlic powder. 

    Heap 1 teaspoonful crabmeat mixture in center of one won ton 

    wrapper. Gather edges together, moisten with egg and pinch or 

    twist to seal. Heat oil in electric frypan or skillet to 375 

    degrees F. Fry in bunches until golden brown, about 3 minutes. 

    Drain on paper towels. Serve hot with Chinese mustard or red sauce. 

    Makes 2 1/2 to 3 dozen.

Snow peas nuked two minutes in bag, then buttered and salted.

Dipping sauces, store bought Asian sweet chili sauce and soy sauce steeped in ginger and green onion with a little rice vinegar.