Delicious dumpling and stir-fried vegetable bowls

Terrific mashup of two favourite Asian-style foods!

I am such a fan of Asian dumplings – they’re perfect little bundles of flavour! I love the soft texture of the steamed wonton wrapper that easily yields to the delicious savoury filling inside. They’re available in lots of different versions, including vegetarian, in most large grocery stores or at Asian markets. This recipe is very flexible; for a change of pace, you can fry up potstickers (directions included below) and add them to the bowls instead of steamed dumplings. You can also switch up the vegetables in the stir fry – bok choy and sweet potato would be great additions. If you’re a fan of bowl recipes like this, be sure to check out my egg roll bowls, sushi bowls and Laotian-inspired larb bowls.

Ingredients

Sauce:

• 2 tablespoons (30 mL) soy sauce or tamari
• 1 tablespoon (15 mL) water
• 4 teaspoons (20 mL) rice vinegar
• 1 teaspoon (5 mL) sesame oil
• 1 teaspoon (5 mL) white sugar
• 1/2 to 1 teaspoon (2.5 to 5 mL) chili-garlic paste (to taste)

Stir-fried vegetables:

• 1 tablespoon olive or canola oil
• 1/2 medium cooking onion, chopped
• 1 medium carrot, thinly sliced
• 1/2 cup sugar snap peas, ends trimmed
• 6 medium-sized button mushrooms, thinly sliced
• 1/2 red pepper, thinly sliced
• 2/3 cup (175 mL) small broccoli florets
• 1 small zucchini, halved lengthwise and thinly sliced

Dumplings:

• 6 – 10 frozen prepared Asian dumplings (use larger amount if dumplings are small)
• Lettuce or kale leaves (to line steamer)

To serve:

• 2/3 cup basmati rice, cooked according to package directions
• 2 tablespoons (30 mL) slivered green onion tops
• Black or white sesame seeds

Method

• Combine all the sauce ingredients in a small bowl and set aside; also prepare all the vegetables for stir-frying before you cook the dumplings.
• To steam the dumplings, bring a large pan (with a lid) of water to the boil.
• Line a bamboo or metal steaming basket with lettuce leaves to completely cover the bottom (so the dumplings don’t stick). Arrange the dumplings in the steamer (don’t have them touching each other); depending up on the size of the dumplings and the size of your pan and/or steamer, you may need to have two pans working simultaneously.
• When the water is boiling, put the steamer in the pan; cover and steam for 5 minutes if using fresh dumplings; 12 minutes if frozen.
• If using potstickers instead, place them in a broad, non-stick pan with 1/2 cup (125 mL) of water and 1 tablespoon (15 mL) of canola oil. Place the dumplings, flat side down, and put a lid on the pan. Cook until all the water evaporates and the flat side is golden-brown, 8 to 12 minutes.
• While dumplings or potstickers are cooking, in a large wok or skillet, heat remaining oil over high heat until almost smoking. Add onion and broccoli and stir then cover pan and sauté, stirring occasionally, until softened, about 2 minutes. Add, mushrooms, carrots, snap peas and red peppers and stir then put the lid back on the pan. Cook, stirring often, until tender but not mushy, about 3 – 4 minutes.
• Put the hot, cooked rice into two broad bowls. Put the stir-fried vegetables on top of the rice, then carefully remove dumplings from the steamer, using tongs, and arrange them on top of the rice and vegetables.
• Pour the sauce over top of each bowl then garnish with sesame seeds and sliced green onion tops.

Serves 2.