Jodie's journal

Why is my dumpling dough coming out too sticky?

This is a very common question that our students ask when making dumpling dough.

Obviously, there could simply be too much water for the amount of flour. You can avoid this problem by simply using the exact amounts of ingredients specified in the recipe.

Apart from that, there are other two common reasons that the dough will be too sticky: the dough was too warm when you started, or you're in a place with high humidity and temperature.

If you're noticing that your dough is too sticky, you need to use your own judgment to figure out the reason. If you think the dough is too warm, just allow it to rest for two to five minutes, and it will cool down naturally after a couple of minutes.

If you think the dough is too wet, then sprinkle a little flour on your hands, and gently knead the dough. If it still seems wet, repeat the same procedure..

Ingredients

3 cups of all purpose flour, 1 cup hot water, ½ cup cold water.

 

Procedure for making dumpling dough:

1. Put 3 cups of flour into a mixing bowl, and mix in 1 cup of just boiled water. Stir the mixture with a stick or a fork, until the flour become flaky. (see Note 1)

2. Pour a ½ cup of cold water into the dough, and keep mixing, until it become a ball shape.

今年的中元節，我決定做批薩祭拜祖先與好兄弟們，希望小朋友們也能參與普渡的過程，便邀請他們來擔任祭拜的主廚，就由他們做批薩，他們從小愛做麵食，相信祖先們能感受到他們的誠意。

我先利用麵包機將麵團做好，小主廚們就負責揉麵、發麵、擀麵、鋪料。

When a typhoon is passing near to Taipei, it can be the one of the most boring days of the year. There's often very heavy rain and extremely strong winds, so it's not really safe or pleasant to go outside for more than a minute. Anyway, many shops and other businesses are closed.

Living up on the mountain, twenty minutes walk away from the nearest shops, it's especially strange: I will usually spend the whole day indoors. After a while, I feel kind of disconnected from the outside world.

The basic dumpling filling uses simple vegetarian ingredients and a bare minimum amount of seasoning. After you've mastered the art of making delicious dumplings with a basic filling, you can experiment with a wider range of ingredients and add meat if you wish.

Obviously we want dumplings to taste great, but dumplings are also an engineering challenge. We have to make sure our filling does not overwhelm the dough wrapping by being too heavy or too wet. The dough has to stick together and not get soggy, or, in the worst case, the wrapping will fail, and we will have a dumpling disaster.

What is soy paste?

Soy taste is one of the essential tastes of Taiwanese cuisine. It is salty and sweet, and the texture is thick. The consistency is similar to oyster sauce. This strong flavor strongly influences Taiwanese cooking, and it is one of most widely used ingredients.

When a Taiwanese person has no idea how to flavor a dish, the most common solution is to flavor the dish with soy paste. For example: When Taiwanese cook tofu and green vegetables, chicken, pork, seafood, very often they serve it with soy paste, garlic and some cilantro.

For stir fried dishes, soy paste is added during cooking, at the same time as adding soy sauce. For other dishes, soy paste is usually added after cooking is complete.

Soy paste is commonly used on stir-fried dishes, sauces, noodles, and street food.

In the morning market

I sometimes hear the mushroom sellers telling their customers: “It's simple – just stir-fry the mushrooms and flavor them with soy paste, garlic and chili.”

Roasted sesame oil smells wonderful, but it's not suitable for cooking. The very high temperatures used in cooking burn the oil and turn its lovely fragrance into an unpleasant smell. However you use this oil, don't add it to food until the cooking is complete.

Here are few suggestions how to use sesame oil:

Vinaigrette

The typical ingredients for vinaigrette are usually extra virgin olive oil, with balsamic vinegar or white wine vinegar. You can just replace the extra virgin olive oil with white sesame oil. For example: Tomato salad with sesame oil dressing

Stir-fried dishes

If you like to add sesame oil to stir-fried dishes, it's best to add the oil to the dishes when cooking is complete, and then quickly turn off the heat to avoid burning the oil.

Studying Mandarin Chinese in Taiwan is an increasingly popular activity for foreign families. Foreign parents bring their kids to Tapei, often during the summer, and send them a Mandarin school for few weeks.

Here is a Kung Fu school with some Kung Fu classes that are taught in Chinese. Spending time with the local kids, learning Kung Fu together, might be a fun idea for foreign children and teenagers to learn martial arts and Chinese, and to learn about local life.






The following is the class schedule for that school:

Tang poetry reading and Kung fu
Every Wednesday and Saturday, 11:00am-12:00pm

Kung Fu styles
Tiger style, crane style, snake style, mantis (grasshopper) style, monkey style
Every Saturday, 16:00pm-17:00pm

Chinese Martial Arts programs 

There are two old shops specializing in making and selling knives in the old part of Taipei. They are about 15 minutes walking distance from each other.



Yongxing knife and farm tools shop
No. 288, Section 1, Dihua street, Taipei
Tel: 02 2553 6545
Chinese name and address:
永興農具
台北市大同區迪化街一段288號
Tel: 02 2553 6545

Map on google: https://plus.google.com/104988245634470599764/about?gl=tw&hl=zh-TW





Yuan Rong knife and hardware shop
No. 9, lane 60, Section 2, Yanping North Road, Taipei
Tel:02 2558 27862
Chinese name and address:
源榮五金行
台北市大同區延平北路二段60巷9號
Tel:02 2558 27862