A probably not very traditional pork and shrimp shumai recipe that is easy to make and very customize-able. Feel free to replace all or most of the shrimp with pork or another meat. Try chicken or lamb, skys the limit! They are lighter in flavor so feel free to double the seasoning if you prefer stronger flavor.
Author: FaylinaMeir
Recipe type: Appetizer
Cuisine: Asian
Serves: 42
Ingredients
Shumai
½ to ¾ lb ground pork
1 lb shrimp, raw shrimp is preferred but if you cannot find choose cooked shrimp that you have thawed for at least 24 hours
¼ cup onion or 6-8 green onion
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1 tablespoon sesame oil
2 tablespoons ginger, about a 2 inch piece
1 tablespoon crushed garlic
pepper to taste
1 tablespoon potato or corn starch
30-60 circle style dumpling wrappers or cut square wrappers with a 4 inch circle cutter
Dipping Sauce
2 tablespoons rice wine vinegar
2 tablespoons soy sauce
some chopped onion
some chopped chili peppers or pinch of ground chili, optional for heat
½ teaspoon sesame oil
pinch sugar
Instructions
Shumai
Pulse shrimp, garlic, ginger, and onion in a food processor until small pieces. Try not to blend it into a paste, you want some texture. If you prefer you can turn half of it into a paste, but no more than that.
Mix in a bowl with the pork, soy sauce, sesame oil, and starch powder very well. Use your hand and get in there and squeeze it together. Let this mixture sit at least 15 minutes. Several hours is better up to 8 hours in the fridge.
After at least 15 minutes, get a pot of water boiling with your steam basket. At least an inch, maybe two. I suggest you wrap your lid like shown in the video to prevent water from dropping into your shumai.
For filling, wet the wrapper with water quickly and take 1 tablespoon of meat mixture and place into the middle of the wrapper. Make a circle with your hand and use that to push the filling into the wrapper. Pinch the top a bit and pleat the insides if necessary. Squeeze in the middle a little and push against the counter to flatten the bottom. Repeat this for the entire bowl. You should get 30-60 depending on how much you add into the wrappers. I got 42.
Once you're done making all the shumai, add them to your steamer, you want to fill the steamer but don't let them touch. Steam them for 10-20 minutes depending on the size you made. I checked mine after 15 minutes and they were done. You'll want to cook it until the internal temp reaches 145. (If you don't own a thermometer and you should!) cook until the inside is no longer pink.
Let cool for a few minutes before eating. Serve with soy sauce or a vinegar soy dipping sauce.
Dipping Sauce
Mix together and serve. The onions taste amazing if you let this sit in the fridge overnight however.
This recipe is a culmination of MANY years of tweaking many recipes I have found online. I wanted to try to use something other than sugar and no milk products but yet still have a "tangy" taste. This recipe fits the bill and best of all it only 170 calories per slice!
Author: FaylinaMeir
Serves: 8 slices
Ingredients
1 cup cornmeal
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 cup water
1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
5-8 tablespoons maple syrup (see note)
1 tablespoon double acting baking powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
1 egg
2 tablespoons oil
½ cup applesauce
1 teaspoon sugar for sprinkling, optional (see note)
1 tablespoon vanilla, optional (see note)
Instructions
Preheat your oven to 400°F or 200°c. Once preheated add in a large cast iron skillet or a metal baking tray and preheat for another 5-10 minutes.
In a large mixing bowl add in all your dry ingredients, mix well, and set aside. In another bowl mix all your wet ingredients except 1 tablespoon of the oil. Set these aside until your skillet or pan is heated.
After the 5-10 minutes of preheating your skillet, carefully remove it from your oven and add in your 1 tablespoon of oil. Use a brush if available to spread the oil around the bottom and sides to prevent sticking, this also creates a very yummy crust.
RIGHT before adding it to the pan completely mix the wet into the dry ingredients removing any lumps. Add the mixture from a height to remove large air bubbles and make sure it coats the bottom of the pan. Return to oven and bake 30-35 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.
Let cool in pan 20 minutes and enjoy!
Notes
In this recipe I used maple syrup. You can replace it with honey or another liquid sweetener if you choose. If you would like to use sugar you'll need to add ½ cup to ¾ cup depending on sweetness and another ¼ to ½ cup of water to adjust the consistency. For a mild tasting cornbread only add 5 tablespoons of maple syrup (even then it's slightly sweet), this is great for mixing with spicy chili. If serving as more sweet add 8 tablespoons maple syrup.
I used about 1 teaspoon of sugar to sprinkle on the top because it makes the top crunchy, this is totally optional and usually I don't do it!
I don't normally add vanilla but if you want a more dessert tasting cornbread add 1 tablespoon of real vanilla extract.
One thing I want to note, I left this recipe up because some people genuinely enjoy it, BUT this recipe is VERY high in salt. Please try out one of my other pancake recipes if you cannot eat a lot of salt. Personally I don’t use this recipe anymore because the pancakes would come out kinda salty.
So I already have a couple pancake recipes on this website but I doubt one more would hurt! This is a slightly edited version of the recipe found in The Happy Herbivore Cookbook: Over 175 Delicious Fat-Free and Low-Fat Vegan Recipes. While the original recipe is really good I found with a few minor adjustments you can change it up and make it even better. Make sure to try it out with my Blueberry Maple Syrup recipe, it was one of the best breakfasts I'd had in along time!
Author: FaylinaMeir
Serves: 6 pancakes
Ingredients
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 cup whole wheat All Purpose flour (see variation note)
2 cups warm water
¼ cup maple syrup
1½ tablespoons baking powder pinch salt
1 tablespoon vinegar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 tablespoon rice flour (or extra wheat flour for thickening)
Instructions
Get your pan preheating over medium heat. You will want a good nonstick pan for this since there is no extra oils added, if you don't have that then get your best nonstick and a SMALL amount of oil spray.
In a mixing bowl, add your flours (minus rice flour), baking powder, pinch of salt, and cinnamon. Stir well to combine. In a smaller bowl (or mason jar) add your water, vinegar, and maple syrup. Stir to combine. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and mix well with a whisk. You do not want any clumps of flour mixture remaining. If your batter seems loose add 1 tablespoon of rice flour, or wheat flour, and set aside for 5-10 minutes. You don't have to let the batter set but as I was making these I noticed the 3 and 4th pancake turned out better than the beginning.
Add ¼ cup of batter to your pan at a time and cook for about 2 minutes. You know it's time to flip when the pancakes are all bubbly onto and the edges are cooked. Cook for 1-2 minutes on the second side and serve warm. These will last in the fridge for about 3-5 days if tightly wrapped but I doubt they will last that long!
Notes
VARIATIONS (as seen in photo) : the variation I made was I used ¾ cup whole wheat all-purpose flour, ¼ cup kaput flour, and 1 cup whole wheat flour. This is not required as Kamut is a variation of wheat but it has great flavor and nutrition. If you can find it make sure to store it in the freezer with your whole wheat flour for best nutrition retention. Any other gluten containing flour could be used instead of kamut, Rye for instances would be a great addition.
1 bag cranberries (12-16 ounces)
1 750ml bottle of sweet wine (*See note*)
1/2 cup dark brown sugar
pinch salt
Directions:
In a medium stock pot add your sugar. Turn your burner onto medium high. Wash your cranberries well under warm running water, shake most the water off. Add your cranberries to the pot and stir well to mix with the sugar. After about 60 seconds of stirring, lift your pot off the burner and away from the flame and slowly add some of your wine. Adding only a little at a time will help prevent boil over, when working with alcohol this is important as a boil over could produce flame (never good!). Once you get enough in the pan to coat the bottom of the pan with at-least a 1/4 inch or about a centimeter, you can return the pan to the stove and add the remaining wine. Save that wine bottle though as its a great way to serve your sauce that’ll have your guests wondering!
Bring to a boil while stirring. You want to stir your sauce mixture until all the sugar is dissolved and you no longer feel the sugar at the bottom of the pot.
Once the sauce is boiling, turn the heat down to a simmer or just a little higher. You will want to reduce your sauce down depending on how thick you want your final product. If you want something closer to a jelly or jam, reduce it down by half. If you want something more like a slightly thickened sauce, 1/3 – 1/4 will do just fine. (I reduced by 1/4) Just make a mental note where the sauce started, so you know when you get there. Let it cook uncovered until your desired thickness, make sure to stir every 2-5 minutes just in case, other than that it doesn’t require much effort.
After your sauce is your desired consistency, use an immersion blender or transfer tinto a blender continer. Blend on high until the sauce is a very fine puree, you can optionally strain the sauce if you want.
As this sauce cools down it will thicken up a good bit due to the pectin in the cranberries, so keep this in mind while making it. If kept in a tight fitting glass container this sauce will keep up to 2 – 3 weeks. (photo was taken after sauce was 2 weeks old!)
*NOTE* Make sure you ONLY use a wine you would drink plain. Cooking this wine concentrates the flavor, so if you don’t like the wine to start with, this won’t make it better. I suggest a sweet white wine like a moscato d’asti or a riesling. A sweet red like a rose wine would also go amazingly with this.
CAUTION: If you’re making this for someone who is gluten intolerant or a vegan. Please make sure that the wine you’re using is gluten free and contains no animal products. Most wines are finished with isinglass, this is a concentrated substance from the bladder of fish. Some wines are made with wheat and wheat like products. When it doubt call the producer of this wine or choose a different brand.
Have you ever wondered how they make vanilla extract, or been curious why they can taste so different from brand to brand? Well some brand actually use chemicals in the processing of their extracts, leading you ingesting poisons you would rather not have, but I have a solution for you! Just make you own like I do. Now that might sound confusing and borderline scary, but once you try this I promise you'll never buy the junky overpriced stuff in the store.
Author: FaylinaMeir
Serves: 2 cups
Ingredients
10 long sized (6-7") vanilla beans (see notes)
14-15 ounces clear and unflavored vodka
16 ounce GLASS container , amber works best
scissors
Instructions
If your beans are older you can snap them, otherwise, use your scissors and cut 10 beans into ½ inch - 1 inch pieces and put them inside a glass container that's at-least 16 ounces and has a tight fitting lid. Pour in 14 - 15 ounces of a clear unflavored vodka. I just use the cheapest vodka at the store, but if you want you can use the more expensive stuff. The important part is to not get flavored vodka or a mix vodka, this will ruin the final flavor and is a waste of good vanilla beans.
After you add the vodka, put on the cap and shake gently to help the process along. You will notice that it will already turn a slightly browner color and you might see little black specs, this is normal and is what will make your homemade extract 100 times better than store-bought in the end. Put your extract in a darker place, away from direct sunlight. An amber bottle will help with this, but since they're hard to find, storing away from sunlight works best. For the first week, try to shake it once a day, I find this helps give the best results.
Minimum time for soaking is 2 weeks, this will give a weaker flavor, but still comparable to something in the store. One month is best for a full flavored extract that is slightly stronger than double strength at the store.
At this point you can strain out the vanilla pods in a coarse mesh strainer (you want the seeds to fall through) or you can leave them in there. After about 2 months time, the extract will not get any stronger. At this stage you will have something super flavorful that makes this more than worth your while. As seen in the video it bests VERY dark and wonderful. The smell is something that cannot be described and the taste is nothing like vanilla from a bottle in the super market.
Notes
Some of you might be saying to yourself that making homemade vanilla extract would cost a small fortune, and you very well could be right. If you go to buy vanilla pods in the store they're usually 2 pods for 10 dollars USD, however, I have been using vanilla beans purchased off the Internet for years now with no issues. I purchase mine on eBay from a VERY well known and respected seller,CLICK HERE, please note that I am NOT being paid to advertise these people, I just like their products. I use grade B or extract grade vanilla, planifolia aka Madagascar bourbon beans. You can use grade a but it does not yield any better results, I have tried it. You can also use Tahitian vanilla but they do tend to be more expensive. I always suggest buying a pound of beans, this saves you a lot of money on shipping and the final product. After shipping it only costs about 31 dollars and will last you many years. Over time they dry out and are only good for extract, but I am on 3 years and the beans still produce an amazing flavored extract. Store vanilla in a tight fitting container, like a quart sized wide mouth mason jar away from direct sunlight. If your vanilla gets white mold of them , obviously throw them away or compost them.
