My mother in law has been making these little dumplings for years and I just noticed that it is totally low carb. I hope you enjoy them as much as I do.

Ingredients and tools

Minced Meat 1 lb.

(My MIL has used the following at different times and they all taste good. Ground beef, pork, chicken, fish (add extra 1/2 tsp ginger in the mix), shrimp.)

Eggs 6 - 10 depending if you want the skin to be thin or thick.

1 round cookie cutter - the bigger the easier (about 2 - 3")

Preparation:
Marinate the meat with salt, pepper, garlic, allspice, oil, cooking wine, hot sauce, 1 egg and 2 tsp water.

**Please note, do not use SALT on Beef, it will make the meat tough, use soy sauce.

The measurement is vague, this is how Chinese cooks. Test a spoon full in a small dish and cook in the microwave. Taste and then adjust the seasoning to the whole batch. Easy way to marinate is the same as you do for making hamburger patties.

Once you have the batch mix to the right flavor, fold it fast and whip some air in the mix - this will make the meat lighter once its cooked. Leave in the fridge for 30 minutes to chill.

Crack your eggs into a bowl. Add 1 tsp of oil and dash of salt. Mix it as if you are making scramble eggs, try not to get too many bubbles in the mixture.

Have a heat proof plate ready so you have a place to put part 1 of your dumplings

Making the dumplings - Part 1

1. Brush a flat bottom pan with oil
2. Keep the heat Medium/Low
3. Put your Cookie Cutter on pan, dull side down so you don't scratch up your non stick pan.
4. Gently, use a teaspoon and scoop some of the egg mixture inside the cookie cutter. Pretend you are making a mini omlette.
5. As the egg mixture solidify and slowly firming up, scoop 1 tsp of the raw meat mixture on one side of the mini omlette.
6. Lift your cookie cutter up.
7. Fold the other half of the omlette over the meat mixture.
8. Press the edges together with some chopsticks or spatula - you just made a dumpling.
9. Put the dumpling on the heat proof plate.
10. Repeat until all your ingredients are gone.

Making the dumplings - Part 2

1. Heat water to a boil in sauce pan that will fit your heat proof plate or use a steamer.
2. Steam the plates of dumplings for 15 - 20 minutes. (Less time for fish and seafood)
3. Now your dumplings are ready to be put in to soup.

Soup suggestions:
Veggie Broth with Napa Cabbage
Chicken Broth with Bean Sprouts and Vermicelli noodles.
Vietnamese Beef Broth (Pho) with Thai Basil
French Bouillanbaise (sp?) with fish dumplings - Yum

Prepare whatever broth you like, once it's almost done, put your dumplings in for 3 - 5 minutes to warm up.

You can freeze the dumplings after you have finished part 1 and do part 2 on another day. If you plan to freeze, lighten up on your seasoning so that the meat won't taste too salty once you start steaming.

Enjoy! and questions please email me.

These look great Sarah. I think I'll be trying them out the next time Wanda and I cook dinner together.

I see chicken broth, konnyaku noodles and Napa cabbage in my bowl!

Karen

oh wow!! this sounds wonderful. I adore Chinese food. The technique sounds a bit tricky, but I'm determined to try it.

Thanks so much.

Angela aka wizzle

Hi Karen: Where do you find Konnyaku Noodles? and what type of noodle is it?

I have been adding cellophane noodles made with mung bean in my soup. It looks like rice noodle dry but soak to cellophane once its cook. The Temple brand is the best from T&T.

WHAT! You need a low-carb intervention! There's 86 grams of carbs in 100 grams of dried noodle!!!

Whew! Now that that's over with...

T & T has konnyaku noodles in the refrigerator section around where the tofu hangs out. They come packed in a plastic pillow of water. The tofu ones are white and there are clear as well as natural brown. They're also super low in carbs so pitch out those cellophane noodles. OK?

Karen