We made it! Last recipe for Lunar New Year week! While it’s been Lunar New Year week on the blog, it’s actually been cake week in my kitchen. I’ve decided to test recipes for my book according to chapters, which seemed like the only way for me to stay organized and not spiral into a hot mess of flour and sugar. So I started with the cake and tarts chapter. It felt right to develop the cake recipes during the most celebratory time of the Asian holiday calendar. Yesterday I tested 5 batches of my Pau Pau’s Steamed Cupcakes and they failed every single time. I got so fed up that I finally called my mom to ask for her advice. And what do you know?! She was literally at my Pau Pau’s house making all the lunar new year food with her, including the steamed cupcakes! She actually measured everything for me (what a saint) and sent me the newly converted recipe. If only I could write recipes like Pau Pau and refer to measurements as “bowls” and “spoonfuls” and rely purely on my 87 years of intuition and experience to see if the batter is the right consistency. She advised me to get a set of measuring cups to make baking easier lololololol

I still have a few more cakes to develop in the next week or so and I desperately need more people to take these bakes away from me because I’m slowly turning into a sponge cake.

We will be heading up to Tahoe tomorrow for a weekend of skiing, writing, and cooking a feast! Well, mainly writing and cooking for me. I think I’ve finally nailed down my menu!

Pork and Purple Cabbage Dumplings - Wealth!
Chicken and Scallion Vermicelli - Long Life!
Five Spice Chicken - Chicken! haha
Chinese Broccoli in Oyster Sauce - Health!
Steamed Rice - duh!
Black Sesame Cookies - Happiness!

It’s not as fully developed as I would like it to be, but when you’re planning to make everything in an Airbnb kitchen you gotta keep it simple! There’s only going to be 5 of us, so I think we’ll live.

If you’re still tweaking your LNY menu, I highly recommend that these Fried Ginger Beef Dumplings make it onto your shortlist! I don’t know why it’s taken me 28 years to deep fry a dumpling. It’s such a treat!! Wrapper gets all crispy but still retains it’s characteristic chewiness! The texture is amazing. The filling is made of steak instead of ground beef, which makes it all taste that much more luxurious! The ginger is very present, but still delicate and provides a nice gentle heat.

I had originally developed this recipe for as a Super Bowl party food option. Every year there is always the chance that the Super Bowl and LNY fall on the same weekend, so you gotta be prepared for ANYTHING. But then the Eagles didn’t do so hot and I’ll be traveling for work on Super Bowl Sunday, so the overall enthusiasm for a football celebration is sort of low. But if you’re a 49ers or Chiefs fan, you should have these at your party! Or if you just want to make some casual fried dumplings for yourself on Thursday night, that’s pretty awesome too.

Happy almost Lunar New Year!

Fried Ginger Beef Dumplings

makes 32 dumplings

dough materials:

10 oz (~2 cups) all-purpose flour
pinch of salt
5 oz (~2/3 cup) just boiled water

filling materials:

2 tbsp olive oil
1 medium yellow onion - diced
1lb ribeye steak
2 cloves garlic - minced
2 tbsp ginger - grated
2 large carrots - finely diced
1 tbsp soy sauce
1 tbsp oyster sauce
1/2 tsp white pepper
1/2 tsp salt
1 tbsp cornstarch

olive oil for cooking

make dumpling dough:

1. Add flour and salt into a large bowl. Make a well in the center of the flour and slowly pour in just boiled water. Mix dough together with chopsticks or a rubber spatula. Mix until water is absorbed and the dough is just combine. Knead for 2-3 minutes, until dough is round and smoothish. Wrap dough in plastic wrap and allow to rest and hydrate for at least 30 minutes. Dough can rest for up to 2 hours before being used.

make dumplings:

1. Heat 2 tbsp of olive oil in a skillet over medium high heat. Add the diced onions and cook, while stirring occasionally, for 8-10 minutes, until the onions are softened and slightly caramelized. Turn off heat and allow the onions to cool in the pan.

2. While the onions are cooking, slice the ribeye steak into small 1/2” cubes. Place in a mixing bowl. Add cooled onions, minced garlic, grated ginger, diced carrots, soy sauce, oyster sauce, white pepper, salt, and cornstarch to the mixing bowl. Mix until evenly combined.

3. Lightly flour your work surface. Remove dough from the ziplock bag. Cut dough in half and keep one half covered. Roll out one half of your dough into a 1” thick rope. Cut into 16 equal pieces. Cover dough pieces with a clean kitchen towel to prevent drying out. Roll out 1 piece of dough into a 3.5”-4” disc with a small rolling pin. Place a scant tablespoon of filling in the center of your round dumpling wrapper, avoid over filling. Fold according to desired shape. My simple dumpling pleat can found on my Instagram Highlights! Repeat with remaining dumplings and place dumplings on a lightly floured baking tray until ready to be cooked.

4. Heat 2”-3” of oil in a wok or heavy bottom pan. Once it reaches 360 degrees the dumplings are ready for frying. If you don’t have a thermometer, test the temperature by placing a pair of wooden chopsticks into the oil. If many little bubbles appear around the chopsticks it is hot enough. Working in batches of 8 dumplings at a time, place dumplings in the oil and fry for 4-5 minutes, until golden brown. Toss with chopsicks so all sides get cooked evenly. Remove dumplings from the oil with a spider and place on a paper towel lined tray. Repeat with remaining dumplings.

5. Enjoy fresh and serve with Sriracha or sweet and sour sauce.