As I said in my prior post, I was so excited to make dumplings from scratch for New Year’s Eve again this year because last year they were amazing. Well… this year’s were so bad they ended up in the trash. I can probably count on one hand the times that has had to happen and it made me even more thankful that it was just Josh and I, and I didn’t make them for a crowd. I used the ingredients that I saw for vegan dumplings and then watched a youtube video on how to make dumpling wrappers. I made them the other day and was so proud of how they turned out! Cornstarch was key on keeping them from sticking together and I stored them in Tupperware in the fridge until I was ready for them last night. I rolled them out even thinner, thinking how much I hate doughy dumplings, but apparently you CAN make them too thin because some started ripping with the filling inside. The wrappers turned out well, but I should have watched a video on how to seal them because my dumpling press was too small for the size of the wrappers so I just started closing them however I felt like… and they weren’t very pretty. Thankfully I had prosecco, because frustration was setting in. 

I should have followed the directions for the filling using the recipe instead of thinking I could use some creative changes. I like the filling to be fine and paste-like, so I added the cabbage, shiitakes, scallions, and red onion to my food processor and it took forever for it to combine, and by then the mushroom part in the bottom was way too fine so I kept some cabbage out to chop by hand and combine to the paste mix to give it some texture, but after combining and sitting for a few minutes it started getting watery and smelled strongly of cabbage. YUCK. I should have known then it would be a fail. I pan fried them with sesame oil then added water to steam them then added to a platter with a soy dipping sauce I made. After about two dumplings, I just decided to throw them away instead of suffering through it and thankfully I had some TJ’s gyozas in the freezer so I pan fried those and they were ready in about 5 minutes. Times like these I wonder why I even take hours to try and make something, when the frozen gyozas were way more delicious and took 5 minutes. UGH! 

Luckily, I also made a honey garlic cauliflower and it was pretty tasty. I roasted cauliflower florets and while they roasted I made the soy, honey, garlic sticky sauce on the stove. Once it was thickened with a cornstarch water mixture, you mix it with the warm cauliflower and I topped with scallions. It looked great when I first put it in the serving bowl, but I covered it with foil to wait until the dumplings were done and we could eat both together and that was another mistake. The heat made it steam and cook further, and made the sauce melt into a puddle. Recipe: https://kirbiecravings.com/2015/05/roasted-honey-garlic-cauliflower.html

Well New Years is a time for learning and resolutions, right? Here’s what I learned:

1. Don’t roll dumpling wrappers too thin, and learn how to close them.
2. NEVER, I mean NEVER, put cabbage in a food processor. My kitchen still smells.
3. Don’t cover cauliflower with foil and eat right away.
4. Always have TJ’s gyozas on backup.
5. When in doubt, prosecco.

Hopefully this year I’ll learn to make delicious dumplings! Goals! If anyone has any advice, please let me know. Happy New Year! I hope your night was more successful than mine!