Chit chat with the Vegie Patch

Delicious packets filled with vegetables and beef mince. Preparing it may take a bit of time, but it is definitely worth the effort. Download printable recipe here.

Lets start with the Vegetable Dumplings:

Ingredients:
2 cups of shredded Chinese cabbage
1 and half cup of grated carrot
1/2 cup of water chestnuts, cut in small blocks
5 dried Chinese mushrooms, soaked in hot water, and then cut in small blocks
4 cloves of garlic, crushed
1 and half tablespoon grated ginger
wonton wrappers

For the Sauce:
2 tablespoons soy sauce
4 tablespoons brown or black vinegar
1/2 teaspoon sesame seeds
You can add a drop of chili oil if you like it hotter...

For the filling:
1. Stirfry the cabbage, carrot, water chestnuts, mushrooms, garlic and ginger for about 4 to 5 minutes.

2. Place wonton wrapper on a clean dry surface. Place a teaspoon of the filling in the centre of the wrapper and and smear a little bit of water on the edges of the wrapper to make it easier to fold and cling, fold the corners in, to make a little packet. Set aside.

3. Prepare the sauce by combining all the ingredients for the sauce and pour in a little bowl.

We divided the sauce in 2 bowls. One for each of us. The sauce that you see with the sesame seeds are for the vegetable packets, the other brown sauce is for the beef packets.

Now take a sip of wine...

Beef Dumplings:

250g mince beef

1 egg

2 tablespoons grated ginger

2 tablespoons rice wine

wonton wrappers

For the Sauce:

1 clove crushed garlic

4 tablespoons soy sauce

1/2 teaspoon sugar

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

For the filling:

1. Mix the beef mince, egg, ginger and rice wine in a bowl.

2. Place a teaspoon of the filling in the center of a wonton wrapper. Smear a bit of water with your finger on the edges of the wrapper to make it easier to cling together. Fold the wrapper in half to make a triangle. Press edges together and try to get as much air out as possible.

3. Make the sauce by combining the ingredients for the sauce together.

4. Now steam the vegetable and beef dumplings using a bamboo steamer. I ligthly oil 4 saucers and place about 4 of each dumplings on a saucer and then put it inside the bamboo steamer and steam in for about 10 minutes.