Dumplings on a Thursday

OK, the reason Thursday is relevant, is, in retrospect, this should have been a weekend project. It was messy and getting late as we were still filling and wrapping and steaming...we adapted our recipe from a cooking class we took at the Natural Gourmet Institute but added lots of vegetables for a lighter dumpling.

So, we made our dumplings in rice paper for a nice thin cover instead of a heavier wheat based dumpling skin. We baked two large sweet potatoes early in the day so all we had to do was scoop them out. We then prepared some steamed vegetables (leeks, cabbage, kale, scallions, spinach, cilantro and watercress, with chopped ginger). For added flavor, I dumped some sesame oil on them as they steamed. Then, I just brought the steamed vegetables out, dumped most of them into the mashed sweet potatoes, stirred it around and we began to fill. (We also made some vegetable ones without sweet potato).

The kids soaked the rice paper, one thin piece at a time, in warm water. Then, they spooned the filling into the middle and folded them as they pleased. Using their creativity and finesse they managed to make some beautiful dumplings, and, well, some messy ones too. I took the platter of dumplings and gently transferred them to the steamer, drizzling them with sesame oil as they steamed.

We served them with two dipping sauces. The first one was scallion greens, ginger, soy sauce (wheat free tamari), rice vinegar, honey and water. The second one was cilantro, a drop of maple syrup, cayenne pepper, soy sauce and water. Both were delicious and the dumplings really were a treat...but, I have to reiterate, between homework, guitar lessons and everything else, a weekend might be a better time for this particular meal! And by the way, when you realize the next morning that the sweet potato mixture is stuck to the table, it takes a knife to remove...and, I think aprons would have been a good idea too.

*these dumplings are vegan, gluten and dairy free