Wednesday, July 15, 2009

Vegetable Dumplings



I was skimming through some blogs to try and find the perfect recipe to use the vegetables we bought at the Lethbridge Farmer's Market - and I'm not being dramatic when I say perfect, because the carrots and peas were so delicious on their own, I was having second thoughts about cooking them up!

Then I saw the Vegetable Dumpling recipe at Smitten Kitchen  and had to try it out. I changed the recipe a little bit, omitting the tofu, red peppers and cilantro(uggh) and adding fresh green peas. I wasn't sure how to fold the wonton wrapper, so I found some youtube videos that gave me a good enough idea. I was so impressed with the outcome - they were absolutely delicious! I froze half of them, hoping to eat them throughout the summer, but the are already gone. 


 

Vegetable Dumplings 

(Recipe adapted from Smitten Kitchen)

1/2 cup fresh green peas
1/2 cup coarsely grated carrots
1/2 cup shredded cabbage
2 tablespoons finely chopped scallions
2 teaspoons finely minced fresh ginger
2 minced cloves garlic 
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1 tablespoon hoisin sauce
2 teaspoons toasted sesame oil
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
35 to 40 small wonton wrappers
1/3 cup water

Add the peas, carrots, cabbage, scallions, ginger, soy sauce, hoisin, sesame oil, egg, salt, and pepper. Lightly stir to combine.

To form the dumplings, remove 1 wonton wrapper from the package, covering the others with a damp cloth. Brush the edges of the wrapper lightly with water. Place 1/2 rounded teaspoon of the tofu mixture in the center of the wrapper. Shape as desired. Set on a sheet pan and cover with a damp cloth. Repeat procedure until all of the filling is gone.

Heat a 12-inch saute pan over medium heat. Brush with vegetable oil once hot. Add 8 to 10 potstickers at a time to the pan and cook for 2 minutes, without touching. Once the 2 minutes are up, gently add 1/3 cup chicken stock to the pan, turn the heat down to low, cover, and cook for another 2 minutes.


Lethbridge Farmer's Market




Lethbridge Farmer's Market
Where:  Exhibition Park, 3401 Parkside Drive South, Lethbridge
Contact: Phone: 403 328-4491
Dates of Operation: Saturdays, May 16 to October 30, 2009
Hours of Operation:  8 am to 12:30 pm
Website: http://www.exhibitionpark.ca/f_market.htm  - Includes vegetable availability chart and vendor list.




After a few impatient weeks of anticipating the slow-coming growth of fruits and vegetables, a few things are finally ready to be picked/sold. My mother and I took advantage of my afternoon of last Saturday and headed to the Lethbridge Farmer's Market. As soon as we got in to Lethbridge and saw all of the fancy cars driving around, we remembered it was "Street Wheelers" weekend. Street Wheelers is when... well I don't fully know what takes place, but what I do know is that the Farmers Market shares a parking lot with some kind of track that was absolutely packed with people watching cars do impressive things - like screeching their tires into clouds of disgusting smelling smoke. 


REGARDLESS, the market was lots of fun. We showed up a bit late, so some booths were packed up and we didn't see fruit of any kind (we aren't sure if this is because it was sold out or because it's not quite ready yet?), but there was lots of carrots, cabbage, peas, onions, beets and little carrots. And gooseberries! I have never seen gooseberries before but I wanted to buy a bundle because they were so pretty! I didn't really know what could be done with gooseberries though, so I decided not to get any yet and research them a bit first. 

After wandering around for a bit, we ended up getting some delicious looking peas, little tiny carrots, rhubarb and a loaf of multi-seed bread that was super tasty!