Travel: New York City (Part 6)

1. In a stand mixer, combine flour and salt. Pour a little water in slowly {you may not need all of it} while mixing on low speed until a ball forms. If the mixture is too wet, add a bit more flour; if it's too dry, a little more water. It shouldn't be too sticky.

2. Change paddle to a dough hook if you have one and knead the dough until smooth and elastic, about 5 minutes. You can also do this by hand, of course, but if you're looking at a "shortcut" recipe, I imagine it's because you don't have time for this nonsense.

3. With floured hands, form the dough into a neat ball and place on a floured surface. Cover with a clean kitchen towel and let rest for at least 30 minutes.

Meanwhile, make your filling.

1. Add about a tablespoon of oil to a medium pan over medium-high heat. Add zucchini and onion and cook until the vegetables are softened and translucent. Mix in shredded chicken.

2. To the mixture, add garlic, ginger, soy sauce, sesame oil and rice vinegar, scraping up any bits on the bottom of the pan. Mix until well combined.

3. Place the mixture in a food processor. Pulse a few times until slightly broken down, but not too mushy. Set aside.

For assembly: 


1. Divide your ball of dough into 4 equal pieces. Make sure your surface is well-dusted with flour. Using a rolling pin, roll the dough out as thin as possible. The shape won't matter, so don't stress if you have an amoeba-shaped piece of dough when you're done. Getting it nice and thin is the goal here.

2. Now we're getting real technical: Bust out a wine glass or drinking glass with an approximate diameter of 3 inches. Flip it over and use it as a cookie cutter to crank out perfectly shaped little circles. Set those aside and cover them as you go so they don't dry out. You may want to line them up on a baking sheet and get them ready for filling to make life easier.

3. Repeat the process with the rest of your dough, re-rolling scraps as necessary. I wound up getting about 30 circles out of it and still had some dough left over.

4. Put about a teaspoon of filling, or more if you can stuff it in there without ripping your dumplings {ouch, that sounds painful, doesn't it??}. Now, fold the filled circle in half and pinch to seal all the way. If you want to experiment with creating traditional "pleats", this is the time to do it. But I'm not the person to show you how because I'm just trying to get these in my belly as fast as possible. Ain't nobody got time for pleats when they're hungry.

5. Now: Make a decision. Are you going to pan fry these babies or are you going to boil them? They're good either way.

- To fry, simply put about a teaspoon of vegetable oil in a skillet over medium-high heat and add your dumplings, making sure they each have enough room. Cook until lightly golden on both sides, about 2-3 minutes. Then, add about 3 tablespoons or so of water to the pan and cover it with a tight-fitting lid. {But be super careful because hot oil and water can be very dangerous.} Let them steam until the water is just about gone, then uncover and cook them until they're nice and crispy.

- To boil, place them in a pot of boiling water. Duh. Haha, just kidding. Let them simmer away until they float to the top and the dough becomes sort of translucent & kinda wrinkly. It doesn't sound or look gorgeous but they're so, so good.

Serve with soy sauce or an Asian dipping sauce and enjoy the fruits of your labor! {Even though you totally cheated.}

Note: You can also freeze these individually {make sure they're not touching} on a baking sheet and then pop them into a freezer bag for dumplings at the drop of a hat. So awesome.

BONUS RECIPE: I got sick of making little dough circles and was left with a small ball of dough. I rolled it out as thin as possible, placed it on a super hot pan, sprayed it with olive oil & a sprinkling of rosemary and baked it at 450 for a few minutes. The result: AMAZING homemade flatbread crackers! Genius!