Ridgely reminded me to have a dumpling party, so I am going to do that tonight. Yesterday I went to Hong Kong Supermarket in Chinatown and bought ingredients. (Then I walked around and now my feet hurt so much that I don't think I can get to Key Food to buy pork.)
I bought 4 packs of dumpling wrappers (which makes 160-200 dumplings I guess. $1.50 each), a big Napa cabbage ($0.59/lb) , a bag of bok choy ($0.99/lb I think), 2 8oz containers of white mushrooms ($1.19 each. What a deal!), 2 bunches of scallions ($0.50 each), a bottle of Squid brand fish sauce ($1.19), a leek at a price I forget, and maybe that was it. I was running late so I didn't get to peruse. I spent about $18, which isn't bad for getting to feed 10 people or so.
I have been thinking about fish sauce a lot lately. I use anchovies when I cook pasta a lot. Maybe fish sauce, which is made of anchovies, salt, and water, would be easier or cheaper. I'm going to find out. I have no experience with fish sauce though so I don't know what brand is good. I bought Squid because it wasn't the cheapest, wasn't the most expensive, had an ok color, and had a squid on it.
I think I might fill some dumplings with ricotta and spinach and call them raviolis.
You feed 10 people for $18 and I fed 10 people for $260 last time. (I did it wrong.)
ReplyDeleteI was thinking about texting you about how I'm going to feed 10 people for $20. And they are going to have to do a lot of the work! Dumpling-making is a group activity. Maybe you should have a dumpling party. People like it.
ReplyDeleteMike! I made wontons this weekend! We must have been in the same mind set.
ReplyDeleteAny thoughts on pirogi wrappers? I love pirogi's, and they can't be hard to make, but I don't know what type of wrapper to use.
thoughts?
I wouldn't hesitate to use Asian dumpling wrappers and just fill them with mashed potatoes or whatever else you want to put in them. I think Mark Bittman endorses this view. I made pierogies from scratch once with a Polish friend and the wrapper just had flour and water and maybe egg in it. How different could it be?
Deletethat is a good idea, and something I considered. I've always wondered why kielbasa is never put in pirogi, and I plan to change that.
DeleteWe mostly made traditional pork and shrimp dumplings, but there was a chorizo/port wine cheese concoction that most people hated and that I liked a lot.
Deleteour wontons were pork as well. was it hard for you to find ground pork? the meat hook has it, but I know most normal grocery stores don't stock it because they only have one grinder.
DeleteI had never been unable to find ground pork before I tried looking for it at Food Bazaar and couldn't find it. There was even a sign that said Ground Pork hanging from the ceiling. So I bought it at C-Town. I've always found it at Key Food too.
DeleteDumpling wrappers filled with (frozen, then microwaved) spinach and ricotta cheese make convincing raviolis. I did that yesterday.
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