Hello, new month! This month is going to be a little nerve wracking, especially this week, aaaand specially tomorrow. But I have a freezer full of dumplings and planning on making the most comforting of comfort foods all week. I’m especially looking forward to pretzel and cheese testing day! We gotta do what we gotta do to help wrangle the election day jitters, right?

I feel really thankful that my best friend, Katie, was able to visit over the weekend on her way to LA and we got to do normal fun things before things get crazy! After a bunch of negative test results, we finally had our first overnight guest at our new home! It was so fun : ) we ate burritos, tamales, baked cookies, picked fruit from our yard, and had pancakes for breakfast. It’s a nice change to have someone other than Reuben to make food for! Eating food was essentially all we could do because nothing is open but we did fit in a nice nature walk and watched a lot of camo-cladded nature enthusiasts on Alone.

I realized I became my mom/grandma over the weekend when I sent Katie off with a big box of food to take with her. My office has essentially turned into a mini grocery store and the boxes of noodles and bottles of dressing need a new home. And my freezer is bursting with loaves of milk bread, buns, and cakes. Both my mom and grandma have a tendency to send you off with at least 5 pounds of food or a few flats of instant ramen whenever you visit. So, that’s who I am now. Bring an insulated bag with you if you plan on visiting us some time!

I hope hope hope we can have more guests come over (safely) soon! It will give me more reasons to a million soup dumplings to give to you!

Chicken Noodle Soup Dumplings for the Soul

Making soup dumplings or xiao long bao is new territory for me but I am officially obsessed. They always felt like something that should be left to the professionals… but then I remembered I love a good kitchen challenge.

Traditional soup dumplings are typically made with pork. To get the soup into the soup dumpling you make an aspic or pork jelly. Pork skin and bones have a lot of fat and gelatin naturally, so by simmering these things in water with aromatics you get a really flavorful, fatty pork broth that congeals when cooled. Once cooled the aspic is mixed into ground pork and then stuffed into dumplings. After steaming, the dumpling will look a little deflated because aspic should have melted into a tasty broth.

Traditional soup dumplings are so rich and such a treat when you find a place that makes soup dumplings right.

I have had the concept for chicken noodle soup dumplings for a few years and finally found the time and courage to make them. I felt like Willy Wonka! I wanted to contain all the flavors and textures of classic chicken noodle soup into a single bite. And it worked! The dumpling wrapper acts as the “noodle”, it is tender with a nice chewy texture. The aspic in this case was made with the help of powder gelatin. I could have simmered a ton of chicken skin to naturally get the stock to congeal but we’re monitoring our cholesterol levels in this household and I really love the vegetable forward flavors of the stock. You can really taste the carrot and celery! The ground chicken obviously stands in for the chicken in chicken noodle soup. I love me a great chicken dumpling because they are so light and allow all the other flavors to really shine!

These soup dumplings are so incredible and magical. They taste exactly like the bowl of soup you crave when your sick, sad, or just need a hug in a the form of food.

How to Eat a Soup Dumpling

Here’s a quick reminder on how to safely eat soup dumplings. Some people like to throw caution to the wind and just pop an entire dumpling in their mouth… but if you want to avoid burning your mouth all you have to do is take a little nibble off the side of the dumpling to allow the soup to leak into your soup spoon, slurp up the soup, and then eat the dumpling in 1 or 2 bites!

These dumplings are wonderful dipped in some chili oil or a soy and black vinegar sauce with thinly sliced ginger!

As we continue with this week, month, remainder of the year, I hope you have time to find some joy in the kitchen and slowly get into the holiday spirit. Some thing that made we really happy was simply hanging up some garland and our twinkly lights over the fireplace. Instant mood boost! Now I need to deck out the rest of the house before we leave in a few weeks!

I wish I could send you all a steamer full of soup dumplings for the week! Remember to stay calm, breathe, and protect your energy. We will get through this!

chicken noodle soup dumplings

makes 32 dumplings

stock concentrate:

2 medium carrots, chopped
2 celery stocks, chopped
1/2 white onion, sliced
3 cups water
1/2 tsp salt
1 tbsp gelatin

filling:

1 cup stock vegetables
1 lb ground chicken
1 1/2 cups stock gelatin
2 green onions, chopped
1/4 cup parsley, chopped
2 cloves garlic grated
1 tbsp ginger, grated
1/2 tsp white pepper
1 tbsp soy sauce

dough:

300g (2 1/4 cups) flour
1 tsp turmeric, optional
170g (3/4 cup) hot water

steps:

1. Make the stock gelatin: In a medium pot, combine carrots, celery, onion, water, and salt. Bring to a simmer and continue to simmer, uncovered, until reduced by half, about 1 hour. Strain the stock into a heatproof bowl and store the stock vegetables in a separate container. Add gelatin into the stock and whisk to combine. Over the bowl with a lid or plastic wrap and refrigerate until firm, 4 hours or overnight. Once firm, cut the firm gelatin into 1 inch cubes.

2. Make the filling: Finely chop the leftover stock vegetables or blitz in a food processor until fine. In a large mixing bowl, add the vegetables, chicken, stock gelatin, green onions, parsley, garlic, ginger, white pepper, salt, and soy sauce. With a flexible spatula, mix to combine until evenly combined. Try not to break up the gelatin too much. Cover the bowl with a lid or plastic wrap and chill until ready to assemble dumplings.

3. Make the dough: In a large mixing bowl, whisk to combine flour and turmeric. Pour the hot water into the flour while continuously stirring with a flexible spatula to form a shaggy dough. Knead the dough into a semi-smooth dough ball, 3 to 4 minutes. Pat the dough into a ball and wrap in plastic wrap. Allow the dough to rest at room temperature for at least 30 minutes or up to 2 hours.

4. Assemble dumplings: On a lightly dusted work surface, cut dough in half and keep one half covered in plastic wrap or a clean kitchen towel. 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. Working with one piece at a time, roll out dough into a 3.5” to 4” round with a small rolling pin. Place a tablespoon of filling in the center of your round dumpling wrapper, pleat the edges closed in a circular motion. Place formed dumplings on a lightly dusted baking tray and repeat with remaining dumplings.

5. Bring a pot of water to a boil. Line the bottom of bamboo steamers with perforated parchment paper or spray with nonstick spray. Arrange the dumplings in the steamer, spaced 1/4” apart. Cover with lid and steam over boiling water for 7 to 9 minutes. Test doneness of one dumpling to make sure it is cooked all the way through. Serve dumplings with your favorite dipping sauce!