Potstickers/ dumplings

Till I was living in India, the only cuisine, other than Indian I knew about, was Chinese and Italian. Well! Chinese was noodles and Italian was pizza of course. Little did I know they were all Indianised. When I came here, I was craving gobi manchurian and hakka noodles. J took me to what he called a " good chinese place". I was truly and utterly dissapointed, I was expecting gobi manchurian :-(.
  After living here for 4 yrs I have developed taste for all kinds of food. Reducing my intake of chilli has helped my taste buds realize that there are other flavors that need to be enjoyed, other than heat. The name Chinese food in USA conjures images of oily, greasy, fried  food. Not many options for us vegetarians...Fried tofu is not my idea of  healthy.
     In one of our visits to a Chinese restaurant, I discovered dumplings. They had a veggie one ....yay!!
It tasted awesome ...was itching to try it at home.On one of  my trips home, a Nepalese friend of my sis's made Tibetian mommos for us. I was surprised because they were pretty similar to the dumplings I had tried.They seemed pretty tedious to make though. I was not very encouraged to try them.
    On one of my shopping trips to the grocery shop, I noticed wanton wrappers..... I could no longer procrastinate.It made my job easier:).  I tried a couple of recipes to find what I liked. And they turned out great and not as time consuming as I thought they would be.

RECIPE
Tofu- I use firm -half pack
cabbage- finely chopped-1 cup
onion -finely chopped- half
carrots-grated - half cup
Ginger garlic paste-1 spoon( can be substituted with finely chopped ginger and garlic)
Soy sauce - to taste
Chilli powder -to taste
Wanton wrappers- 1 pack

Method
Mash the tofu brick to make scrambles.
Add the rest of the ingredients to make a mixture.

Add soy sauce and chill powder to taste.

Take to Wanton wrappers. Store the open pack in ziplock bag to preven it from drying out.
Take 4 wrappers at a time. Lay it out out on a plate. Apply water with your fingers or a brush, approximately 2 fingers wide. Place a spoonful of filling mixture in the center, pull the edges to make a pouch and press the edges together. Make a whole batch before cooking.

Method of cooking

There are three ways.
Steamed-

I like to use a collander on top of boiling water in a vessel. Oil the collander well, place the dumplings on it.
Place the collander in the vessel such that there is a distance of atleast 2 inches between the water level and the bottom of the collander. Bring the water to a simmer and cook the dumpling for abot 10-15 mins in the steam. Serve hot with sriracha sauce or any sauce of your liking.
 Or in a shallow pan bring water to a boil , gently add dumplings. Wait till completely cooked and gently fish  them out of water.
Veggies like carrots,broccoli, zucchini and squash can be added to be used as a side dish.Served with a splash of lemon juice, salt and pepper, makes a complete meal.

Potsticker Style-
 Take a pan with a flat bottom . Preferably a nonstick one. Place the dumplings on the hot pan. You should hear it sizzle the moment it touches the pan. A drop of oil around the base of the dumpling can be added if not using a nonstick pan. Wait for some time ...once the bottom of the dumpling is browned , add water about half a centimeter in height, and cover with a lid. Leave the lid slightly open for the steam to exit. Cook on simmer for for about 15-17 mins. The dumpling are cooked, when they turn translucent. Cook with the lid off for some time .
             Serve hot ....The crispy bottom and soft steamed top make a great combo.

Fried: 
   This is the most unhealthiest way to cook them.But, I'm sure both my J and my my sis would vouch that this is the best tasting.
   Be extremely careful to remove the excess water before deep frying them.

PS; Scrambled eggs can be added to the stuffing mixture. Or, you can completely eliminate the tofu and add only veggies of your choice.
 Though dumplings by themselves are pretty filling, with fried rice/noodles they make a yummy combo.

phulka

After giving birth to my daughter, and eating ' ma ke haath ka khana' for almost 3 months, I found myself 25 pounds overweight. Doc said ' It will all come off, since you are nursing'. My daughter is almost 7 months old now, and I have lost only 2 pounds:(.
        I decided I need a life style/ diet change.  Maybe my body is not metabolising the food the same way it used to. 10 yrs ago I would eat junk , make a meal out of gobi manchurian and still managed to look good. I knew I needed to make changes that I could continue to upkeep for a long time. I believe in eating a balanced diet. I am certainly not going to deprive myself of one food group completely. I believe by being moderate, I might not have immediate results,but will have longer lasting results .One of the decisions was to make roti/phulka most dinners.
   I have fond memories of my mom making phulkas on the chulha( yes, we had one at home). We used to sit around the chulha and the phulka would go straight from the fire to our plates,with a spoonful of ghee. Hmm...yummy
      But, the problem isthat it has to be eaten hot or it gets dry and tough without ghee, which I am trying to avoid.  In my quest to find the right recipe for soft phulkas even when cold , I finally zeroed in on this recipe . It makes wonderful phulkas every time, even right out of the fridge after 3 days. I usually make a double batch of the dough and store in the fridge for later use.It saves time.

RECIPE
Wheat flour- I usually use sujatha/lakshmi brand - 3cups
soy bean flour- to increase the protein content-1 cup
Salt- acc to taste
Curds- I use lowfat yogurt-1 cup
water

Method:

  Mix together the dry ingredients with salt.
To the curds add some water and whip to smooth consistency.
Add to the flour mixture and slowly start kneading.
Once the curds are added add more water if needed to incorporate all loose flour.
Knead just enough to incorporate all the flour. Do not knead too much.Working the dough too much makes the phulkas tough especially after refrigeration.It is a slightly sticky dough. Once all the flour are together in one mass, transfer the dough to a closed container and let it rest for atleast an hour.
I usually make the dough in the afternoon while my kids are asleep, and use them to make phulkas for dinner.

Making Phulkas:
Take a small amount of the dough, dunk in  dry wheat flour if its too sticky.
Make a ball about 1 inch in diameter. Knead well so that there are no lumps.
With a rolling pin roll it out into a roti about 2 mm in thickness.

Mean while heat the pan. Drop the roti in the hot pan. Turn immediately, you can see that the side we put on the pan has changed its colour to beige. Once turned , wait till you see small bubbles forming. Take the pan away from heat. Turn the flame to high and put the roti direct on flame. It starts to puff up. Put the flame back to low, use tongs to turn the phulka . Keep on high for a couple of seconds, and the phulka is ready to serve or store.

 Phulka Served with Dal makes a wonderful healthy and filling meal. Of course my son gets it with loads of ghee :-) He loves his ' ootti' :-)