food, recipes, Glutenfreedavid leeOctober 22, 2018recipe, foodie, glutenfree, dumplings, privatechef, recipeoftheday, eat, chef, veganComment

Steamed Gluten Free Mushroom and tofu dumplings

food, recipes, Glutenfreedavid leeOctober 22, 2018recipe, foodie, glutenfree, dumplings, privatechef, recipeoftheday, eat, chef, veganComment

As a private chef clients often approach me with ideas and dishes gleaned from cooking shows, magazines and cook books. Quite often there are a number of different dietaries and other requirements that turn the finished dish in to something often very different to dish in the recipe. The below is a case in point. The clients inspiration came from a book called Vegan Street Food by Jackie Kearney and a dish of the Tibetan dish of Momos. The finished dumpling was more a kin to something from a yum cha restaurant and thus so different to the inspiration to be almost unrecognisable. But still delicious.

For the dough

200 g tapioca starch plus extra to dust.

pinch of salt

1 tablespoon vegetable oil

2 egg white or 2tbsp of vegan egg replacer

This dough recipe is one that I like to do by eye. Be careful when adding the liquid as the tapioca starch will be some very wet very quickly. If it does just mix in more starch until you have a dough that is similar in texture to cookie dough.

Put the tapioca and salt in the bowl of a kitchen aid. Mix in the oil and the egg white or egg white replacer. Add water little by little to make a stiff dough, slowly beating with a paddle attachment on a kitchen mixer until well combined. Wrap in plastic and place in the fridge for 30 minutes.

Alternatively purchase good quality gow gee wrappers from an Asian super market. These however may not be gluten free or vegan. Best to read the packaging.

Filling

A glug of toasted organic sesame oil

6 spring onion (shallot), finely sliced

2 cm piece of root ginger, peeled and grated

1 clove of garlic finely chopped

200 g swiss brown mushrooms chopped

100g of dried shitake mushrooms, soaked and chopped

200 g of firm organic tofu crumbled up

½ a bunch of green chard

½ a bunch of chopped fresh coriander

tamari, to taste

salt to taste

Braggs amino’s to taste

To make the filling.

Heat a large pot of boiling salted water. Blanch and refresh the chard. Squeeze out all the excess water and roughly chop. Set aside.

Heat the sesame oil over medium heat, add the spring onions and cook for one minute.

Add the mushrooms to the pan, and cook for 7 to 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Add the ginger and garlic, and cook for a further minute.

Add the remaining tofu and cook for a further 5 minutes. Stir in the chopped chard, adjust the seasoning and set aside to cool. Add the coriander when cool.

To make the dough

The rolling of dumplings is an art, there are many different ways to achieve an excellent result many of which can been found on the internet or in books. Have a look around and see what you can find. I will endeavour to try add a dumpling folding video as soon as possible. Remember practice makes perfect.

Dust a work surface with tapioca starch. Cut out the dough thinly to about 1 cm discs.

Roll each out small into 10 cm discs, around 2mm thick.

Place a small amount of filling in the middle of each disc.

Using a pastry brush, brush the outside edge of with cold water.

Fold it over to form a half-moon shape, and then crimp the edges by making little folds backwards on the outside edge.

Brush a piece of silicone paper with sesame oil and place dumplings on it.

Steam over water or in a steam oven until the dough is translucent, approximately 10 minutes.

Serve with a dipping sauce of tamari with a squeeze of lime and a splash of sesame oil.