Sunday, March 31, 2013

Jade Dumplings for Easter

We were invited for Easter dinner and I volunteered bringing an appetizer.  I used this recipe for Jade Dumplings.  The filling came together really quickly and easily, though I recommend having the filling sit in a sieve to drain out excess water, from the water chestnuts, while filling the dumplings.  Instead of making the little pouches in the recipe, I chose to make them the classic half-moon dumplings where you put it in the center of the gyoza skin:

sorry for the distracting shadow!

Then putting water on half the circumference (with a dipped finger) and folding over into half moons.  Out of habit, I dipped the gyozas in flour on both sides to keep from sticking but it may be unnecessary:


Also, instead of steaming the dumplings I pan-fried them, because I thought they'd hold up better for the travel that way.


And who doesn't like fried dumplings, right?


For dessert, my friend made an amazing raw vegan chocolate cake with raspberry sauce:


Yes, I'm going to need the recipe!

Thursday, March 7, 2013

Buffalo Tempeh

Tried a variation on the Buffalo Tofu, with tempeh.  First, lightly pan-fried tempeh slices:


Then tossed with buffalo sauce:


I liked the texture a lot but the tempeh flavor is more noticeable than when I use tofu. What they're both missing is that crispy fat-fry of the chicken wing skin but they both hit the spot when I'm craving that spicy taste.