Crazy Dumplings Cook
Book
By Amanda Roberts
Hi! My name is Amanda and I am
an American who has been living, writing, and cooking in China for nearly three years. China’s favored
dish, the dumpling (or jiaozi in Chinese), can be found on every street corner, in every restaurant, and in every kitchen
in China, but they are all pretty much prepared the same way: a bit of meat, some garlic and ginger,
and a bit of vegetables if you’re lucky. Even a visit to the freezer section at any grocery store displays
hundreds of packages of dumplings that all look and taste the same.
But the dumpling is so versatile!
Have you ever tried stuffing a dumpling with chicken? Refried beans? Cheesecake filling? No? Hardly
anyone has! My cookbook, Crazy Dumplings, takes this simple staple food and prepares it in ways you never thought possible!
From buffalo chicken dumplings to pizza dumplings to apple pie dumplings, a world of foods is available
to you in an easy dumpling wrapper with Crazy Dumplings.
EXCERPT/SAMPLE
Basic
Dumpling Wrapper
3/4 cups
flour
1/3 cup boiling
water
Dash of salt
Flour for
dusting
1) Mix flour
and salt together in a mixing bowl.
2) Drizzle in
water, mixing with a chopstick or fork.
3) Leave in
bowl, covered with plastic wrap for 15 minutes.
4) Gather
dough up into a ball and kneed on counter for a minute or two (until the dough is smooth)
5) Pinch off
small portion of dough and roll into a ball (about 1 inch in diameter). Roll out into a flat circle on the
counter, dusting with flour to keep dough from sticking.
6) Put small
amount of preferred dumpling stuffing mixture into the middle of the flat dumpling wrapper. Pinch the
dumpling closed.
7) Cook
dumplings.
a. To fry
dumpling, preheat oil for 30 second then lower heat. Cook dumpling on each side for only about one
minute or until golden brown.
b. To steam
dumplings, place in a steamer or on an elevated plate in a wok over water for about 10 minutes.
c. To boil
dumplings, place in boiling water for about 5 minutes.
8) Always cut
a dumpling open to make sure it cooked through.
9)Serve!
Taco
Dumplings
½ lb ground
meat (beef, pork, or turkey)
½ cup
shredded cheese
1 tablespoon
chili seasoning
1 tablespoon
ground cumin
½ tablespoon
garlic powder
¼ cup
chopped cilantro (optional)
12 dumpling
wrappers
Salsa,
guacamole, cheese sauce, sour cream (as optional dip options)
1. Mix ground
meat, shredded cheese, spices, and cilantro together in mixing bowl.
2. Spoon
mixture into dumpling wrappers.
3. Fry
dumplings for about 1 minute on each side or until golden brown (be sure to open one to make sure the
meat is thoroughly cooked).
4. Serve hot
with sauces for dipping.
Guacamole
2 avocados
1 small
tomato, finely chopped
¼ of an onion,
finely chopped
1 clove of
garlic, pressed
a few sprigs of
cilantro, finely chopped
1 lime or
lemon, halved
Dash of salt
1) With a
spoon remove the avocado meat from the rind and remove the seeds. Mash the avocado meat with a
spoon and fork.
2) Mix in
tomato, onion, garlic, and cilantro
3) Squeeze in
lemon juice (watch out for seeds!)
4) Add salt to
taste
5) Enjoy!
About the Author
Amanda
Roberts received her master’s degree in English from the University of Central Missouri in 2009. In 2010,
she and her husband moved to rural Hunan, China to teach English. Amanda has been
chronicling
their adventures on her blog Two Americans in China for nearly 3 years.
One of her
biggest obstacles to overcome was learning how to cook all over again. She discovered that this is a
major frustration for most expats living abroad. Crazy Dumplings is her first book in what will hopefully
become a full line of cookbooks for expats and people living at home who want to learn fun and more
natural ways of cooking.
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