A food lover, mother and wife. A Le Cordon Bleu dropout. A former communications executive. The kitchen is my playground savoring Asian & Western dishes. I invite you to join me. Let the fun begin.
If you love eggplants, you got to try this popular Indian dish made with grilled eggplants, onions, tomatoes and spices and herbs. It simply tastes delicious with a unique smoky flavor thar comes from grilled eggplants in the oven or on direct fire.
Ingredients
500 – 600 gram (1.2 Ibs.) eggplants
4 medium garlic cloves
1 to 2 green chilies
1 teaspoon cooking oil
1/1/2 Tbs cooking oil
3/4 cup， tomatoes, deseeded and roughly chopped
1/2 tsp, minced ginger
3 -4 garlic cloves, finely chopped
1/2 tsp, Kashmiri chili powder
1/3 to 1/2 tsp garam masala
3/4 tsp salt
1/2 Tbs lime juice (optional)
2 Tbs coriander leaves
Grill the eggplant
Preheat the oven to 460F
Place an aluminium foil over a baking tray or use a griddle. Cut the eggplant to two parts and makes two splits on each pat. Brush the cooking oil over eggplants. Insert the garlic cloves and green chilies deep inside the slits. Place the parts on the tray or the griddle with skin side facing top.
Bake or grill in the oven for about 20-25 mins
Once done, check by inserting a fork into the eggplant. It should go in smoothly & easily meaning it is soft and well cooked.
Cool the eggplant and peel the skin. Mash or chop the eggplant, grilled garlic and green chilies. Peel and chop the tomatoes as well.
Make Baingan Bharta
Add oil to a hot pot, then add chopped ginger and garlic. Saute for 1-2 minutes till aromatic.
Add tomato and salt. Cook for about 5 minutes. Add Kashmiri chili powder.
Stir in mashed eggplant, garlic and green chilies. Saute for about 7 to 8 minutes.
Stir in Garam Masala. Then immediately turn the heat off.
Taste test by adding more salt and green chili if required (adding thinly sliced fresh chili is perfectly fine). Garnish with coriander leaves. Add a splash of lime juice if you like.
1 can (28oz) can of whole tomato, whole plum tomatoes preferred
1-2 stalk of celery/bok choy
1 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons light soy sauce 2
2 teaspoons white sugar
Method
In a large bowl, mix flour, water and salt, stirring in one direction. If your dough is too dry, add 1 tablespoon of water at a time until you have a bread dough-like mixture. Knead the dough for about 8 to 10 minutes.
Push the dough into a large flat circle 1 cm thick and cut the dough into 1.5cm strips. Roll the dough into long noodles of 1 cm in diameter by using your hands. If the dough is sticking, dab some oil on your fingers. Wind the noodles into a spiral on a plate, attaching one after another, lightly coating the noodles with oil to prevent sticking. You can layer the noodles on top of each other. Cover the plate with plastic wrap and set aside for 30 minutes.
Meanwhile, prepare the ingredients for your sauce: slice the chicken fillet, mince the ginger, garlic, and yellow onions.
Heat 3 tablespoons of cooking oil in a frying pan. Add ginger, garlic (also leave small portion of garlic and ginger for later use) and fry over medium heat until fragrant. Add minced yellow onions and fry till soft. Then put into sliced chicken fillet to fry for about 2-3 minutes, add the cooking wine and cook for another 1 minute. Turn off the heat. Move the chicken to a separate bowl. Set aside.
Clean the frying pan, add 4 tablespoons of cooking oil. Add into spices (cinnamon stick, bay leaves, dried red chilli, Sichuan peppercorn). Fry over the lowest heat. Depending on your stove’s heat, it can take 2-3 minutes to infuse the oil. Watch the dried chilli, take care not to let them blacken. When the oil starts to turn brown, your infused oil is ready.
Remove the spices from oil and add into the canned whole tomatoes. Fry the tomatoes for about 10 minutes till they become sauce. Use a spatula to break down the tomatoes. In the same frying pan, add into the cooked chicken. Mix well. Add salt, light soy sauce, sugar. Taste and adjust the flavor to your preference. You can also add vinegar if a sour taste is desired. Add the green celery or bok choy and cook for another 2-3 minutes. Add the remaining minced ginger and garlic. Mix well.
Prepare a pot of boiling water to cook noodles.
Unwrap the noodles and roll each section to ½ cm in diameter. Using an up-and-down motion, stretch the noodles apart by banging the noodles on the surface of the table, gradually moving your hands farther apart. When the noodles get too long, fold the noodles and continue to stretch until you reach your desired thickness. Place noodles directly in the pot of boiling water. When foam begins to rise up, turn down the heat or add 1/3 cup of cold water to keep from boiling over. When the noodles float to the surface, strain them and place a bowl.
Rinse the beans under cold water. Then, soak the beans in water for at least 8 hours (overnight).
Drain the beans and transfer to a medium-sized pot. Add 6 cups of fresh water. Bring to a boil, then let simmer for 1 hour. Over the course of the hour, add an additional 2 cups of water as needed.
This is an optional step if you will wish to speed up the cooking process. When the beans look soft and broken down, use an immersion blender to blend until the beans are just broken up–it shouldn’t be completely smooth (unless that’s your preference–you’re the cook here!). You can also transfer to a blender and pulse a few times until you achieve your desired consistency.
(Transfer the blended mixture back to the pot.) If you like a soupier consistency, feel free to add additional water at this stage until you reach your desired consistency. Add the rock sugar. Stir over medium to medium-high heat to dissolve the sugar. The mixture should bubble very gently.
1 tablespoon Chinese Chinkiang vinegar (substitute with balsamic vinegar)
½ tablespoon light soy sauce or to taste
1 teaspoon any chili oil or minced fresh red chili, optional
Method
For wrappers
Combine all wrapper ingredients in a mixing bowl. Use your hand to mix them together.
Tip the dough out on a lightly floured surface and, using your fingers and palms, knead for 5-6 minutes till the dough becomes smooth.
Put the dough back to the bowl, cover it with cling wrap and leave to rest for 20-30 minutes.
Divide the dough into four equal pieces. Pick one piece, roll the dough into a long snake of about 1.5cm diameter then divide it into 10 equal pieces.
Simply use your hand to pick up each piece and pound it into the floured surface to make a small circular disc. Then use a rolling pin to smooth out each disc till it’s about 8cm in diameter – edges are thinner than the center as this has to hold the filling. You can constantly dust the rolling pin with flour to keep the wrappers from sticking.
For filling
Place minced tofu in a mixing bowl. Add minced ginger and green onions. Mix well.
Add rest of the filling ingredients and mix well.
Combine above mixture with vegetable of your choice. Stir the mixture in one direction for about 50 times so they bind well.
How to cook
Option A – water-boil
The whole process takes about 12-15 minutes.
Bring a big pot of water to a boil.
Add the dumplings into the boiling water and cover the pot. Fill into the pot with 1 cup of cold water every 2-3 minutes for three times whenever the water starts boiling. Use the slotted spoon to push around the dumplings in the water to keep them sticking to the bottom from time to time.
Option B – pan-fry
Coat a medium size frying pan with 1 tablespoon of cooking oil and place it on the stove over medium heat.
Place into 10 dumplings. Dumplings can be close to each other. Once the bottom of the dumplings is browned, gently add into about ½ cup of water and cover with a lid immediately. The water shall cover about half of the height of the dumplings. Cook for about 7-8-minutes. During this time, you will likely hear the ‘popping’ from the pan. The sound means that bottoms of the dumplings are getting nice and fried while the fillings and tops steam. What you are waiting for is the water to evaporate. When it does, the sound under the lid will change from bubbly pops to a pretty serious steady crackle. At this time, you can lift the lid away and peek to see if the pan’s dry. If not, cover it again.
After you’ve uncovered the dumplings, turn off the stove. Jerk the pan a little to give it a good shake and see if the dumplings are stuck or if they slide away. If they seem stuck, shake the pan a little more to unstick them or slide a spatula under them to separate them from the pan.
Center a heatproof plate that’s bigger than the pan over the pan. Put on oven mitts to protect your hands. Holding the pan and plate tightly, flip them both together. Do it fast! Lift off the pan. This step is optional – if you do not feel comfortable to flip the plate, just use a spatula to move the dumplings to a serving plate.
Serve hot.
Dipping Sauce
Simply add, combine and mix all the ingredients in a dipping sauce plate.
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