First recepie! YAY!
Ever since I discovered that you can make gnocchi with pâte à choux I have wanted to explore the varieties of this french "basic dough". You probably know that pâte à choux is used for éclairs, cream puffs and mostly sweet stuff, but forget everything you know about pastry pâte à choux and let me introduce you to my savory dumplings!
I need to warn you that it is a bit tricky, sticky and patience-testing. Don't worry though, it is worth a try.
Makes about ten dumplings.
You will need:
Pâte à choux:
- 100g unsalted butter
- 125 ml water
- 125 ml milk
- 1/2 a cube of chicken stock
- 150g flour
- A bit less than 200 ml of eggs
The stuffing:
- Half a leek
- 6 mushrooms
- A clove of garlic
- 2 tsp of soy sauce (salty, not sweet)
- 1/2 tsp of sesame oil
- Dried coriander
- Seasoning
Start off by making the dough. Put water, milk, butter and the 1/2 cube of chicken stock in a saucepan and bring to a boil (make sure that the butter is completely dissolved). Remove the saucepan from the heat and add the flour, incorporate it quite quickly using a spatula. Replace the saucepan on the heat and stir the mix until a thin layer of dry appears in the bottom of the pan. Place the dough in a large bowl and incoporate the eggs gradually whilst mixing vigorously with the spatula. You might not need all of the egg, so pay attention to the texture of your dough, you do not want it to be too liquidy.
When you are happy with the consitency of your dough set it aside to cool down a bit, it is easier to use lukewarm.
Now on to the filling, which is really simple! Chop up your leek and mushrooms into small pieces (not too small though!). Put some vegetable oil (I use caster oil) in a frying pan and add a minced clove of garlic. Add all the rest of the ingredients and fry until the vegetebles have softened. Season to taste!
The tricky part has arrived, and do not hesitate on using loooots of flour for this part. I made ten dumplings, but you can do them bigger or smaller depending on your patience hehe.
Cover a cutting bord with a layer of flour so that your dumplings don't stick once they're ready. And dip your hands in flour as well. Take a lump of dough and flatten it in your hand, then place ≈ a tablespoon of filling in the middle. Now close the dumpling, trying to keep the fliing on the inside! You can do it! Place it on the cutting bord and continue with the next...
In the end you should end up with some pretty, yellow lumps.
Preheat the oven to 200°C. Fill a large saucepan with water, and the other half of the chicken stock cube and bring to a simmer (not a boil, but almost a boil...). Place your dumplings in the water and let simmer for about 3 minutes.
Oil an oven pan and place the simmered(???) dumplings on it. Sprinkle with sesame seeds and bake in the oven until golden, about 10-15 minutes.
Serve them up with a fresh asian-inspired salad or just enjoy them plain with som sriracha, soy sauce and sesame oil like I did!
I hope you try this out and tell me what you think! I really enjoyed making them.
And remeber, don't eat with moderation.
/Jo'
