Ko Genevieve - Hey there, dumpling! : 100 recipes for dumplings, buns, noodles, and other Asian treats

CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION

One night, I was at this super-buzzy, New York-y party and a friend introduced me as Kenny, the founder and owner of Rickshaw Dumplings to a group of polished, suited lawyers and finance types. One of the women screamed, Oh my god! I love your Thai chicken dumplings! loud enough for the whole room to hear. A second later, a guy yelled from across the floor, Peking duck dumplings rule! And the rest of the night, people kept coming up to me to tell me their favorites: vegan edamame, Korean beef bulgogi, sweet potato. At first I thought, Whoa. This is crazy. Then I thought, Man! This is awesome! Growing up in Pasadena, California, as the kind of kid who was regularly sent to the principals office, I never thought that one day Id be recognized because of dumplings in New York City. But thats the power of dumplings. Its whats inside that counts.

I spent a decade running that dumpling company, and theres one thing I can say with absolute certainty: Everyone loves dumplings! What food lovers across the country dont know yet is how easy dumplings are to make at home. And how fun they are to make with friends. Thats where this book comes in.

Dumpling-making parties totally rule. They were the ultimate inspiration behind my business and the reason I still love making dumplings at home today. Theres a great shared experience in wrapping and cooking dumplings with friends and familyits a little competitive, a lot of yummy.

Doing dumplings is a kind of casual, social get-together where you end up with chopsticks clashing across the table for hot yeah-we-just-made-this! food. In these pages, youll find awesome recipes for noodles, salads, soups, side dishes, snacks, drinks, and desserts; cool cooking and party tips; and memories from my Chinese-American upbringing.

Party On

I lived for dumpling parties as a kid; they made me feel like I was part of a way bigger family. When I was three, my parents divorced. So it was just me and my mom in Pasadena, living near the curvy, hilly streets by the Rose Bowl, where every other house has a big USC football flag hanging over the front door. My mom and I are really close, so our peaceful lives together had this great feeling of us against the world. But growing up as an only child with just my mom, I always wondered what I was missing out on. I wondered if every night was like dumpling night

On dumpling nights, which rolled around every few weeks, the Tan family would come over for dinner. The Tans lived down the street and had a daughter, Tracy, who was a year older than me, and a son, Jason, a year younger. We arent related to them, but they are definitely family. As a kid, Id get so excited about our dumpling nights, Id wear my favorite red E.T. t-shirt. You know, the one where the fingers are touching? (Whoa, eighties!) My mom would warn me, Kenny! Youll get your favorite shirt dirty! She was always right, but it was totally worth it.

Id wait by the door and swing it open when I saw them walk out of their house. The second they stepped into mine, the whole energy in the room would shift. Wed all get chatty-chatty and the noise would build like the Dolby surround sound ad before movies rolled. Id get enveloped in that frenetic familial energy and start bouncing off the walls before settling down for dumpling duty.

Everyone always headed straight for the kitchen. There was no formality to our dumpling parties, but there was definitely a system. We worked assembly-line style, setting up the counter with spots for making fillings, stuffing, wrapping, and all the way down to the stove for pan-frying and steaming. On the other side of the stove, we set up a sauce station like a cocktail cart. I had to start at the bottom of the prep totem pole when I was young, the way I did as an adult in high-end kitchens. All I got to do was plop the stuffing in the wrappers. Then I stepped up to wrapping, along with the other kids. Woohoo! From there, I graduated to making fillings and sauces and, finally, to the stove. By the time Jason and I were in high school, we got fry duty and steam duty. We nailed the system and kept the dumplings coming out batch after perfect batch.

That may sound intense, but it was actually totally relaxing. Once you figure out how to make dumplingsand its way easyyou get into muscle-memory mode. I still get into that mode when I throw dumpling parties with friends. Just like on my childhood nights with the Tans, we gossip and get zen-like comfortable hanging out, all while turning out hundreds of dumplings. Whatever we dont eat that night, we freeze to tide us over until the next party. But that feeling of just chilling and chatting and stuffing our faces with hot dumplingsthats the best. It turns a night with friends into the sort of family night I imagine big families have. Id never go so far as to call my childhood dumpling nights dinner parties because the casual communal cooking was the point. But they were really special.

Everyone loves dumplings and knows how tasty they are when they get them from a restaurant. But the point of making dumplings at home is to enjoy the process with others. Best party everplain and simple. It doesnt hurt that you end up with a freezer full of 10-minute dinners!

Dumpling Delicious

Ive spent my whole life making and eating dumplings, and my all-time faves are in this book. Theyre packed with flavors everyone loves. And I dont just do dumplings. Even at our childhood parties, we always had saladswere such Californians!and noodles, too. Whatever veg didnt make it into a dumpling filling ended up as sides. Of course, a party isnt a party without drinks and desserts. Im drawing on all the dishes Ive learned and loved over the years to show you how outrageously fun and easy it is to throw together a dumpling party. Or a simple dinner on any night, for that matter.

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When I was nine, my mom remarried and I got an older stepsister. A little while later, I got a baby half-sister. And I got a food-loving stepdad who won me over by taking me along on every single dinner date with my mom when he was courting her. On our first date (well, his first date with mom), he laid out one rule for me: Kenny, I want to bring you with us everywhere. But dont order off the kids menu. Its stupid for you to be going around with us and eating only grilled cheese and hot dogs. He didnt have to worry, because I had always been a really good eater who tried and loved everything.

Ill never forget the Saturday morning he took us to Wolfgang Pucks Spago for brunch. We sat out in the Austria-meets-Hollywood fairytale garden, in those fantastic eighties pastel-cushioned patio seats, and I ordered the eggs Benedict. Holy Toledo! They blew my mind! They sat the poached egg on focaccia instead of an English muffin and confet-tied it with these pickled grilled peppers that were a sharp kick to the runny eggs and creamy hollandaise. Even as a kid, I was struck by how genius that dish was. Those years of dining out were the first time I had an inkling of what Id end up doing with my life. Seeing food transformed at Spago into something unexpected but familiar in such a spectacular setting was as awesome to me as getting grilled pastrami Reubens at Barneys, our family hangout set in a block of porn shops. Other nights, we hit Noodle King, our go-to for doughy northern Chinese pork dumplings, veggie buns, and stewed beef soup noodles served with chilled, sharp tofu and garlicky cucumber salads. The grimy little linoleum-tiled restaurant was set in this crumbling art deco building, but it served the best Chinese comfort food. No frills, ultimate satisfaction.