Crispy St. Patrick's Day Corned Beef Dinner Dumplings

After a two-year pandemic break, my employer last week once again served the traditional St. Patrick's Day luncheon. Our caterer is fantastic and makes, hands-down, the best corned beef I've ever had.  As per usual, however, there were a lot of leftovers....and office policy is that the fridge gets cleaned out and all food thrown away every Friday around 4:00 PM.  But I wasn't going to let all that stuff go to waste.  You can see from my Instagram post what I took home, what I already did with some of it, and what I plan to create with the rest.  This is one of the things I made and brought to our weekly potluck last night: 

Since this was a "create as I go" endeavour, I'm not giving a formal ingredient list this time, but have instead highlighted in bold green below each ingredient as I used it.

So, to make them -- chop up leftover Corned Beef, leftover Carrots, and leftover Potatoes; then make a small pile of those ingredients in the middle of some wonton wrappers (I finally used up the rest of our wonton wrappers that I've had in the freezer for a while now here, too!).  On top, put a small dollop of Whole Grain Mustard.

Then roll them up like tiny burritos to make bite-size packets, using an Egg Wash (egg mixed with a little water) to seal them closed.

Plop them, seal-side down, onto a baking tray covered with aluminum foil and greased with cooking spray.  I also sprayed the dumplings on top to help with browning and crisping.  My unfrozen, test batch were ready (golden brown and crispy) after about 10 minutes in a 375°F oven.  (The rest that we took to the potluck were cooked from frozen, and so took about twice as long.)  Serve with your favorite gravy (stout or otherwise) as a dipping sauce.

This post is an original recipe that I created from scratch.

My goal is to share my love of food simply -- without all the fluff (unless it's Marshmallow Fluff!), long winded stories, excessive and repetitive photos, or incessant rambling that I see on other blogs.  I personally tend to skip over all that, just scrolling straight to the bottom in hopes of finding the recipe right away.  Therefore, I hope you appreciate the brevity above.

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If you have any questions or comments, please leave them below or

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Spicy Pan-Fried Sesame-Lime-Coconut Tofu

A friend posted that they had made this recipe a while back, and it looked tasty and intriguing -- so I also wanted to try it.  As I was starting to put it together, though, I decided to make some modifications.  This is my revised version of the original:

Note -- Things that are grouped by color in my ingredient lists can be measured out into bowls together while getting your Mise en Place, to streamline your process as well as minimize the number of things you'll have to clean later. Anything left white/un-highlighted should be kept separate by itself.

INGREDIENTS:

• ¼ cup of Coconut Milk
• The Zest and Juice of 2 Limes
• 2 Tablespoons of Sambal Oelek
• 1 Tablespoon of Light Brown Sugar
• ¼ cup of Sesame Oil
• a pinch of Kosher Salt
• 10 twists of freshly cracked White Pepper
• 1 package (mine was 14 ounces) of Extra Firm Tofu (pressed to reduce moisture, then cut into about 14 or so pieces)
• ½ cup Panko Bread Crumbs
• 2 Tablespoons of Sesame Seeds (I used a mix of black and white)
• 2 Tablespoons of shredded Coconut, very lightly toasted
• ½ teaspoon of freshly cracked White Pepper
• a pinch of Kosher Salt
• 1 large Egg
• enough neutral oil to fill your skillet about 1/8" (I keep Safflower on hand)
• fresh Chives, chopped

DIRECTIONS:

1. Whisk all the marinade ingredients together (highlighted red above) until emulsified.
2. Place the Tofu slices in a shallow pan or dish, and pour the marinade over.  Refrigerate for anywhere from 30 minutes to several hours (it happens to be Sunday, so I had time to start early -- and marinated mine for about 3 hours).  Flip the slices over halfway through whatever your marinating time is.
3. When you're ready to cook, mix all the breading ingredients together (highlighted orange above) in a shallow bowl.  In a separate shallow bowl, whisk the Egg.
4. Heat the Neutral Oil in a skillet or other shallow pan.
5. Shake off excess marinade; and gently dip each piece of Tofu into the Egg, then dredge in the Sesame-Seed/Coconut Panko mixture, and then pan-fry them (aiming to maintain the oil at medium-high heat) for several minutes on each side, or until golden brown and crispy on the outside.  Drain on paper towels.
6. In a separate, small pan -- heat and whisk the extra marinade to form a finishing sauce.
7. Serve with your choice of rice, vegetables, and/or noodles.  (I went with Baby Spinach sauteed with Shallots, Salt, and Pepper; plus some Baby Carrots leftover from another meal).  Drizzle a spoonful or two of the sauce on top of the Tofu; and sprinkle the finished plate with some Chopped Chives and, if desired, additional Sesame Seeds.

This post is a semi-original recipe that I adapted from Nik Sharma's.

My goal is to share my love of food simply -- without all the fluff (unless it's Marshmallow Fluff!), long winded stories, excessive and repetitive photos, or incessant rambling that I see on other blogs.  I personally tend to skip over all that, just scrolling straight to the bottom in hopes of finding the recipe right away.  Therefore, I hope you appreciate the brevity above.

** You'll also never find ads here. **

If you have any questions or comments, please leave them below or

contact me directly using the form near the top of the right-hand column.

Around the World in Foodventures (Azerbaijan, redux: KUFTA BOZBASH)

There was another Azerbaijani recipe that caught my eye, which I would have preferred to cook at the same time as the Shorgoghal and do one post with both together-- except I didn't feel like hunting down its special ingredient before. But now I have it (thanks to the kindness of Feride Buyuran who quickly responded to my inquiry via her website asking for good sources), and made the thing for dinner tonight....so here is a rare second post for a country I've already foodventured to --

Note -- Things that are grouped by color in my ingredient lists can be measured out into bowls together while getting your Mise en Place, to streamline your process as well as minimize the number of things you'll have to clean later. Anything left white/un-highlighted should be kept separate by itself.

INGREDIENTS:

• 1/2 pound of Ground Beef
• 1/2 pound Ground Lamb
• 1 medium-to-large Onion, very finely minced or grated
• 1 large Egg
• 1/4 cup of medium-grain White Rice, rinsed
• 1 - 2 teaspoons of minced Fresh Mint (to your preference)
• 1 teaspoon of Dried Savory Leaves
• 1 teaspoon Crushed Dried Basil
• 1 teaspoon of Salt
• 1/4 teaspoon of Freshly Ground Black Pepper
• 4 dried Cherry-Plums*
• 2 Tablespoons of Clarified Butter or Ghee
• 1 Tablespoon of Tomato Paste
• 4 cups of Beef Broth
• 3 cups of Water
• 4 medium Potatoes (I am using a mix of red and white ones)
• 1/4 teaspoon of Turmeric
• 1 cup canned Chickpeas, drained and rinsed
• 4 Roma Tomatoes, whole
• 1/2 cup of Green Peas (frozen or raw)
• Additional Fresh Mint, Salt & Pepper (for garnish)

* I purchased some "Aloo Bukhara Sour Plum - Aloocheh" from Persian Basket.  They still had their pits in them, and I was mistaken to think I would be able to remove those pits before cooking.  They were very, very difficult (if not impossible) to get out -- so I just used them with the pits left in and was mindful of that while eating.  You may want to opt for a Cherry-Plum variety that was pitted before being dried.

DIRECTIONS:

1. To make the meatballs, combine the Ground Beef, Ground Lamb, Onion, Egg, White Rice, Mint, Savory, Basil, Salt, and Pepper.  Mix very thoroughly, until it starts to become pasty.  Then divide the mixture into 4 and shape into balls.  Make a hole in each one and place one dried Cherry-Plum into the center and re-close the meat around it.  Pack the meatballs hard so they hold together while cooking.
2. To make the soup -- in a large pot, briefly cook the Tomato Paste in the Clarified Butter or Ghee.  Pour in the Beef Broth and the Water.  Bring it to a boil.
3. Reduce the heat to medium-low and gently drop in the meatballs.  Cook for 10 minutes, skimming off any froth that gathers on the surface.
4. Now add the whole Potatoes and the Turmeric, and season with additional Salt & Pepper to taste.  Continue cooking on a low-to-medium boil for another 20 minutes.
5. Add the Chickpeas, the Tomatoes, and the Green Peas -- and cook for 10 more minutes.  Check that the potatoes are cooked through by poking with a fork, and use a thermometer to make sure the meatballs are done (they should reach 160°F in the center). If things need to cook more, do so until the meatballs reach a safe temperature and the potatoes are soft to your liking.
6. To serve, put one Meatball, one Potato, and one Tomato into each bowl (my potatoes were probably bigger than they should have been, so I cut them in half before serving); then ladle over some of the broth along with Chickpeas and Green Peas.  Garnish each bowl with additional Mint, and Salt & Pepper to taste.

This was pretty yummy, and I especially enjoyed the little pop of tartness at the center of each meatball.  I'd happily make it again -- except next time I would make the meatballs smaller so that I could get that delightful taste of Cherry-Plum in every bite instead of only with the very center portion.  I see no reason why the potatoes and tomatoes couldn't be smaller to match the meatballs, too (for example, using cherry tomatoes and those bags of "new/baby" potatoes you find in the supermarkets).

I studied several web pages (see: 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5) -- then used a combination of them plus personal knowledge and experience to write my own recipe that you see above.

This post is part of my project: "Around the World in Foodventures" (I decided I want to expand my culinary horizons even further by making the national dish or a popular recipe, or some signature food or traditional meal from every country in the world. Maybe it'll happen alphabetically, or by region, in random order, or something else. I figure if we can't (yet?) travel everywhere, we at least have the luxury of being able to taste it. It’ll be fun and interesting, but obviously, will take a long time to get through -- as I'll only be doing it once a week or so at most. I am chronicling the journey here.)

“If I’m an advocate of anything, it’s to move…Walk in someone else’s shoes or at least eat their food.” --Tony Bourdain