pea and shitake dumplings

I have been pretty lazy lately as far as trying new recipes...I have been cooking a lot of my favorites instead of venturing out into the unfamiliar. So, this week I decided to do some deep food searching on the internet to look for new and exciting recipes to tempt my taste buds. I got a call from my dad in the beginning of the week telling me he was going to be driving through St. George on Thursday night, so I decided that it was as good an excuse as ever to try out some cool new recipe. I made a Brick Chicken with Apricot Couscous (courtesy of Tyler Florence) which was absolutely AMAZING and just the kick I needed to really get down to business with my recipe testing. It was so beautiful and I was ready to take some pictures (it looked beautiful!), but I was so excited to serve my dad and Drew the meal that I completely forgot until after the fact! Perhaps this is a good reason to make it again and show you the beautiful end product...one of these days

Today, I decided to try to conquer the world of wontons and dumplings. I know that any true wonton and dumpling lover would probably punch me in the face for comparing the too so casually, but since I don't think I know any of those people, I think it's probably going to be okay. This particular dumpling recipe may not be appetizing to everyone, but I really thought it was great. Drew even actually liked the filling and he doesn't even like mushrooms! Although a bit time consuming, the dumplings were really fun to make and really good for you (I love finding healthy recipes...big hobby of mine).

Here's some of the process:

Here are the wonton wrappers with about 1/2 teaspoon of the pea puree with about 1/4-1/4 teaspoon of the sauteed shitakes (I used portobellos). I think they look really beautiful with the bright green pea and the almost meaty look of the portobellos. I really think the mushrooms look like some kind of delicious meat...a ground pork would have some really great flavor..Wouldn't be a bad substitution if you wanted...Mmm..

Once you have filled the wontons with the filling, you will want to dip your pointer finger in a bowl of water and run it along all four edges of the wrapper. You will then want to fold the wrapper over to form a triangle. Be sure to seal all the edges really well- it will help in the final cooking process as well as keeping things nice and neat.


You will then take the two corners furthest from one another (the corners touching the hypotenuse, for all you dorks like me) and bring them together to form these cute little guys. You will want to rub the corners with water so they will form a nice seal as well. Keep in mind that you need to keep these guys covered with a damp cloth until they are cooked or else the wrappers will dry out and crack.

Here they are! I think they are pretty cute, but I am sure there are other ways of doing it...I am no dumpling/wonton connoisseur.

That's about it..pretty fun and easy..I really liked them, but I know they probably aren't for everyone..don't be afraid though! You'll never know until you try, that's my motto!

PS I made a few substitutions in the recipe due to what I already had on hand...feel free to use dried ginger, substitute some water for the egg, and add in some sriracha in that dipping sauce for a good spicy kick!