Hello my loves,

I’ve consumed hoards of dumplings this week, which is good news on two fronts. Firstly, one of life’s fundamental truths is that there’s nothing more delicious than dumplings. Secondly, it was Chinese New Year this week, and it has recently been brought to my attention that eating dumplings at Chinese New Year brings good luck! The more dumplings, the luckier you’ll be. Whilst I’m a little reticent to give too much away on my dumpling-consumption ability, I can tell you that it’s going to be a very lucky year for me.

My good-luck charms of choice this week have been plump and delicious egg and tofu potstickers. I’ve seen egg dumplings on menus in the past but have never really gone there, until a couple of weeks ago when I just had to have dumplings, and had nothing in the fridge but egg, tofu and (fortunately) some dumpling wrappers. So, spurred by menu-memories of eggs as a potential filling, I fluffed myself up the lightest of egg and tofu scrambles, and spiked it with spring onions, soy and sesame oil. I stuffed this goodness into my waiting wrappers, gave them the old potsticker treatment, and a new household classic was born. The filling is fluffy and delicate, which contrasts perfectly with the pleasing denseness of the dumpling skins. I like to souse my potstickers with soy, black vinegar and chilli oil before eating them. If you’re new to black vinegar, let me be the one to tell you that there’s nothing better than black vinegar with dumplings. A bottle of this magical stuff is an absolute must in my pantry. And so my loves, I give you my recipe for egg, tofu and spring onion dumplings. May they bring you a very lucky, and very delicious, Year of the Tiger 🐯.

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Egg and tofu potstickers

Makes about 30 potstickers

Ingredients
3 pasture-raised eggs
1 tablespoon + 1 teaspoon soy sauce (20ml)
2 teaspoons sesame oil (10ml)
1 clove garlic, finely minced
¼ teaspoon/2 large pinches white pepper (Note 1)
1 spring onion, finely chopped (25-30g)
170g silken tofu
30 dumpling wrappers (Note 2)
Canola oil
A little rice flour (Note 3)

To serve
1 tablespoon soy sauce per bowl (15ml)
1 tablespoon black vinegar per bowl (15ml) (Note 4)
Chilli oil/chilli sauce/hot sauce/sambal to taste

You will also need
A large, non-stick frying pan with a lid, or something big enough to cover it like a large baking tray

Mix the eggs, soy, sesame oil, garlic and white pepper in a bowl, beating with a fork to combine well. Break the tofu into small pieces with your hands, and add it to the mix, along with the spring onions. Heat a drizzle of canola oil on a medium heat, then scramble the tofu and egg mixture gently until it is just set. Remove to a bowl and cool to room temperature.

To fold your dumplings, have a small dish of water and a small pile of rice flour available. Take a dumpling wrapper and place 2 teaspoons of filling in the middle of it. Dip a finger into the water bowl and lightly wet the edge of the top half of the dumpling wrapper (so you are wetting edge of half of the circle). Fold the wrapper over the filling to form a half circle, and pinch the edges of the wrapper together in the middle. Then seal the dumping by pinching the edges completely together, starting at one corner and working your way around to the other. Try to keep all the filling contained in the middle of the dumpling as you do this. Once it’s sealed, press the bottom of the dumpling lightly on your bench to create a flat surface for it to sit on, with the sealed edge remaining uppermost. Dip the flattened bottom in some rice flour, and place on a tray (the rice flour stops it sticking to the tray). Repeat to fill all your wrappers. You can do lots of different kinds of pleats with dumplings too if you like – the internet can inform you of the available options. At this point you can either cook your potstickers right away, or freeze them to cook at a later date. You can cook them from frozen exactly as you would cook them from fresh (instructions follow).

To cook your dumplings, heat a drizzle of canola oil in a non-stick frying pan over a high heat. Add the dumplings, and cook for 1 minute. Pour in 1 cup of water, quickly cover the dumplings, then cook until all the water is evaporated and the dumpling bottoms are golden brown. Divide the dumplings between serving bowls, then drizzle each bowl with 1 tablespoon soy sauce, 1 tablespoon black vinegar, and chilli oil, sambal or hot sauce to taste.

Note 1: You can substitute black pepper if you do not have white.
Note 2: I used Double Merino brand gow gee pastry for these dumplings.
Note 3: I prefer to use rice flour for this, but if you don't have it, plain flour will work.
Note 4: Black vinegar is available at Asian grocers. I like the Pun Chun brand.
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Love, Rachel xxx