No Fold Blanket Dumplings & Dumpling Sauce

Our family enjoys wantons, potstickers, dumplings and gyoza. I thought I would try this easier "no fold" version and see what everyone thought. While we liked the flavor, the "blankets" can fall off easily, so you might just find the extra effort of actually wrapping and sealing the dumplings to be worth it. However, this was fine too. I also noted that my non-stick pan is becoming old and less "non-stick" in places, and the wrappers can stick to the pan during the cooking process, so use your very best non-stick option.

Also, we did like the dipping sauce, and it would be good for other Asian dishes where maybe they don't give you enough/any sauce like the frozen premade potstickers and dumplings.

I am suing the image from the original recipe because it show the dumplings all dressed up fancy and in better lighting than my images, which is probably more appetizing.

No Fold Blanket Dumplings

Ingredients: Makes 24 dumplings.

• 24 dumpling wrappers
• 2 teaspoons vegetable oil
• ⅔ cup water
• 1 pound ground pork or ground chicken or turkey
• 4 green onions finely chopped
• 1½ tablespoons soy sauce
• 1½ tablespoons grated fresh ginger
• 1 tablespoon toasted sesame oil
• 1 clove garlic minced
• 1 teaspoon cornstarch
• ½ teaspoon black pepper

Directions:

1. To make the filling, combine the pork, green onion, soy sauce, ginger, sesame oil, garlic, cornstarch, and pepper in a medium bowl. Mix well to combine.
2. For each dumpling, scoop about 1 heaping tablespoon of filling onto a plate. Place one dumpling wrapper over each mound like a blanket. Gently squeeze it to tuck it around the filling so it adheres to the top and sides, leaving the bottom unwrapped.
3. Preheat a large nonstick pan over medium high heat and add the vegetable oil. Once heated, add the dumplings. Pour the water into the skillet around the dumplings, cover, and let steam 6 to 8 minutes or until the pork is cooked through and reach a temperature of 145℉.
4. Uncover and continue cooking until the water has evaporated and the bottoms are lightly crisp.
5. Garnish with additional green onion and serve hot with your favorite dumpling sauce.

Marsha's Notes:

I did find the filling to be a little heavy on the onion side with the freshly chopped green onions. However, some onions are just stronger than others... Next time, I would either use a little less or maybe just add some onion powder to the ground meat instead. Totally your preference though.

Dumpling Sauce

Ingredients:

• ¼ cup soy sauce see notes
• 1 tablespoon rice vinegar
• 1½ teaspoons granulated sugar
• 1 teaspoon sriracha or chili crisp, optional
• 1 teaspoon toasted sesame oil
• 1 green onion finely minced
• 2 tablespoons water more if desired

Directions:

1. In a small bowl or a jar with a lid, combine all ingredients except the water and mix until the sugar is dissolved.
2. Add water, 1 tablespoon at a time, to reach the desired flavor.
3. Serve with dumplings or drizzle over rice.

Marsha's Notes:

We didn't need to add any water to ours and it was just fine. There is a note from the author that using low-sodium soy sauce might not require you to want to add extra water, but I think ours was just regular soy sauce and we still didn't add any. It's all just preference. We didn't add the option hot ingredients (sriracha or chili crisp) because we aren't "hot" lovers. I also didn't think that the green onion added too much and wasn't really thrilled with the onion floating around in my sauce, so I might try adding just some onion powder next time.

Filling all ready to go.

Wrappers I used.

I used this scoop to make even-sized portions. It worked great! Then I rolled the balls to make they smoother.

I made these earlier in the day, covered them, and then cooked them at dinner time. Store in the fridge until ready to cook.

I had to steam them in batches of 12, so that meant cooking two batches.

Fried Rice

Some day I hope to figure out how to make my own seasoning blend for fried rice so I am not dependent on Sun Bird seasoning packets (just in case they get discontinued) but for now I wanted to document how I make my fried rice, especially if they boys need the recipe in the future.

Fried Rice

Ingredients:

• 2 Tbl oil
• 3 cups cooked rice
• 1 Sun Bird "Fried Rice" seasoning packet
• 1 Tbl. soy sauce
• 2 eggs, beaten
• diced meat of choice (about 1/2 cup)
• cooked veggies of choice (about 1/2 cup)

Directions:

1. In a large pot or pan, coat the bottom with your cooking oil (about 2 Tbl or as much as needed).
2. Add your cooked (can be cold) rice and reheat/cook the rice, stirring occasionally until it's all heated through and any clumps of rice have been crumbled.
3. Push rice to the side on the pan and add your beaten eggs into the open space.
4. Cook and scramble the eggs until done.
5. Add as much diced meat and bite-size veggies as your heart desires. I used ham, peas, carrots, and corn. Add soy sauce and seasoning packet. Stir everything together.
6. Continue to stir until everything is heated through and ready to serve.

Marsha's Notes:

Here are some images of my process.

Frying my rice in the oil.

Cheeseburger Spring Rolls

This was William's special request for his birthday meal this year. Everyone agreed that it was a hit! Enjoy!

This recipe is listed under "Asian" and "Chinese" simply because you use egg roll wrappers and I wanted to make it easy for me to find in the future, but it is also listed under "hamburger" and "beef."

Also, see my recipe for "Pizza Spring Rolls" to see a picture of the assembly process: https://1brother2sisters.blogspot.com/2024/02/pizza-spring-rolls.html

Cheeseburger Spring Rolls

Ingredients:

• 1 onion, diced
• 2 lbs ground beef
• 2 tsp minced garlic
• 2 tsp salt
• 2 tsp pepper
• 2 Tbl mustard
• 2 Tbl ketchup
• Worcestershire sauce
• hamburger seasoning
• shredded cheese
• 20 egg roll wrappers (i.e. one package worth)
• 1 egg, beaten
• oil, for frying

Directions:

1. In a large skillet, add your onion and ground beef and cook until beef and onions are browning. Drain any excess grease from pan. Add salt, pepper and garlic and sauté for the last couple minutes that the meat is cooking, being careful not to burn the garlic. Stir in ketchup, mustard, Worcestershire sauce and hamburger seasoning to taste. Set aside.
2. In a deep fryer or large heavy-bottomed pan, heat enough oil for it to be about an inch deep in the pan for frying. Line a large plate with paper towels for draining. 
3. Assemble your spring rolls by laying each sheet of dough out on your counter, add the desired amount of meat and cheese to each roll, brush the edges with your beaten egg, and fold up according to the egg roll package directions. Seems like you can fit about a 1/4 cup or more of filling per rolls.
• You can prep your rolls earlier in the day and place them on a baking sheet for storage, cover the uncooked rolls with plastic wrap so they don't dry out, and then store them in the fridge until you are ready to fry them.
4. Place your rolls in the hot oil, being careful not to over crowd the pan (I cooked my rolls in batches of five), until golden brown on all sides. Place on paper towel-lined plate for draining. Serve immediately with any dipping sauce you think goes well with cheeseburgers.

Marsha's Notes:

I currently don't have a thermometer that will tell me the temperature of hot oil on my stove, so here are some notes for me for the future: On my stove, you can fry things in oil with the heat set between 4-6, but if you heat up the oil with the stove set at 6 with nothing else in the pan, it gets way too hot. So I would recommend starting to heat the oil between 3 and 4, but when you actually start to cook, you can turn up the heat to 5 or 6 depending on how fast things are browning. If the stove is set to 2 or 3 for cooking, things brown too slowly and soak up too much oil.

Marsha's Homemade Sushi

A few notes that might make you feel better about sushi, should you be nervous... along with a video tutorial link: First, for anyone not aware, just because it's called sushi, doesn't automatically mean that it has RAW fish in it. There are several kinds of sushi that don't even contain any fish at all (such as vegetarian options). That is something that I learned. 

While probably not 100% technically accurate, in my mind at least, if it has raw fish in it, it's called sashimi and usually located on a different part of the menu from your other traditional sushi rolls. 

My favorite rolls are the "crunchy" rolls where the outer layer of rice has been fried.

Since trying more sushi in recent years, I now think of sushi as basically a rice log/roll that has veggies, sometimes cream cheese, and often some kind of prepared fish inside. That being said, when you make it at home, you can put anything in it that you like. If you wanted to roll up pepperoni and mozzarella cheese in your rice log, dip it in pizza sauce and call it pizza sushi, you totally can.

A few years ago, a good friend of mine introduced me to sushi when we went out for her birthday and she selected some "safe" rolls for me to try with her. Yes, I was nervous, especially because I am not much of a fish person and sea weed sounds sketchy, but everything I tried was actually really, really good and you don't even notice the sea weed. Think of it, not as a weed, but as the "lettuce of the sea" because it's just a plant. It's super thin, barely noticeable, and does not have any kind of strong flavor that I can detect when eaten with all the other ingredients and sauces. I really feel like it's just there to help hold the entire thing together and not for flavor or texture.

After having a good experience, I was soon taking Scott out for sushi, then my Aunt, then my kids, etc. etc. etc. until I had the crazy thought, "I think I can make this at home." And I did! 

There is a little bit of a learning curve to making the perfectly proportioned and shaped rolls, but with the right ingredients, it's really not that hard. You just need good rice, a rolling mat, and a little patience.

Here is a video link to get you going...

https://www.tiktok.com/@nutrientmatters/video/7099170349438258438?is_from_webapp=1&sender_device=pc&web_id=7343662037220722218

Here is another video for inspiration: 

https://www.tiktok.com/@chefchrischo/video/7102151797099334958?is_from_webapp=1&sender_device=pc&web_id=7343662037220722218

Marsha's Homemade Sushi

Makes 5 rolls

You will need a sushi rolling mat (bamboo or plastic) for assembling and shaping your rolls.

Ingredients:

Seasoned Rice:

• 2 cups sushi rice
• 2 to 2 1/2 cups water
• Pinch of salt
• 1/2 cup rice vinegar
• 2 Tbl sugar

Sushi Filling: top/fill with your choice of anything, but I used...

• 2 1/2 sea weed sheets (to make five rolls total)
• black sesame seeds, optional
• cucumber, avocado, cream cheese, thinly sliced
• carrot peelings/ribbons
• prepared fish of your choice, cold (we used prepared imitation crab)
• drizzle rolls with yum-yum sauce and unagi/eel sauce
• serve with a side of soy sauce/teriyaki sauce

Directions:

For the rice:

1. It is important to use sushi rice (we found ours at Ocean Mart, but you can probably also order some online if you can't find it at your local markets). Measure out your rice into a mesh strainer and rinse with water until the water runs clean. I will catch the water in a bowl under the strainer, continually dumping as it gets full, until I can see that it is running through the rice clear. This can take a couple of minutes.
2. Once your rice is clean, add your washed rice, water and pinch of salt into a pot with a lid. Bring everything to a boil. Once boiling, turn the heat down to a gentle simmer, cover the pot, and let the rice sit cooking and simmering in the pot UNTOUCHED for 20 minutes, or until all the water is absorbed and the rice is tender (stirring the rice will make it mushy and gooey).
3. Once cooked, remove the pot from the heat and let sit for at least 10 minutes, or store until completely cooled and ready to handle.
4. When ready to make your sushi, gently toss the rice with your rice vinegar and sugar.

To prepare the sushi rolls:

1. On your sushi mat, cover with a pieces of plastic wrap. (I find that it is easiest to lay out five pieces of plastic wrap and start preparing all five rolls at the same time so I can distribute my rice more evenly between the rolls.)
2. Take half of a sheet of sea weed and place it on the plastic wrap rough-side up. You can cut your sea weed sheets with kitchen sheers/scissors.
3. Place 1/5th of your rice on top of the sea weed and spread out evenly. If your sushi rice is REALLY sticky, you made need to oil your hands with some cooking oil. You can also wear a food-prep disposable glove, which you can also oil if  needed.
4. Sprinkle the rice evenly with black sesame seeds, if desired. Purely decorative.
5. Flip over your rice/sea weed and use the opposite side to layer your filling, being careful not to overstuff your rolls. Most of my filling was cut into long, skinny sticks, and when the finished roll was sliced, you would see one little piece of each ingredient. I used cucumber, avocado, cream cheese, carrot ribbons and finished it off by breaking up little pieces of imitation crab. You can also put a little of any desired sauces in the middle of your roll (such as yum-yum sauce, or bang-bang sauce if you like things spicy).
6. Using your sushi mat, begin rolling up the rice around the filling, tucking your filling in tightly so the rice can wrap all the way around your roll. If your roll is overstuffed, you won't be able to get the rice to make a complete circle around the outside. Be careful to not roll up your plastic wrap inside your sushi roll.
7. You can use the sushi mat to perfect the shape of your roll. Then, using a large sharp WET knife, slice your roll through the plastic wrap into 8 equal pieces. Remove the plastic wrap from each slice.
8. Plate your slices and then drizzle the entire thing with your desired sauces. Serve with dipping sauces such as soy sauce or teriyaki, if desired.

Marsha's Notes:

I started cutting my rolls into 8 equal pieces, but sometimes that makes for really wide/big bites, so in the future I might cut my rolls into thinner pieces to make it easier to eat. Usually, it is better/easier to eat sushi if you can just put the entire bite into your mouth all at once.

I made my carrot ribbons by taking a full-sized carrot, using a vegetable peeler to remove the undesired outer layer of the carrot, and then I kept using the peeler to remove thin ribbons of carrot to use for the sushi. You could also just cut your carrot into really small, thin sticks for the sushi, if you don't mind it's hard, crispy texture in your rolls. I prefer the softer, easier to bite ribbons.

We have used both cooked shrimp and cooked imitation crab, and I find the crab is much easier to work with and everyone didn't notice much difference in flavor, so I might just use crab in the future. You can also just make veggie rolls.

We bought Sukina sushi rice. You can find it on Amazon, but is probably cheaper if you can find it in the store. Here is an Amazon link: Click here

We also drizzled our rolls with yum-yum and unagi sauce (otherwise known as eel sauce, because it is typically served along side eel, not because it has eel in it). Our local grocery store carries yum-yum sauce all the time, but I had to get the unagi from Amazon. Click here

Here is my prep process:

These are the sea weed wraps I use. It is also called nori.

I have five pieces of plastic wrap spread out on the counter with my sea weed wraps placed on top so I can prep all five rolls at once.

Next, I portion out all of my rice into five portions and place it on top of the sea weed and then spread it out until it covers it evenly and nicely (I wear disposable food prep gloves for this).

Here is how I make my carrot ribbons.

Turn the rice-covered sea weed over so it's sea weed-side up... to do this, I take a second (new) piece of plastic wrap and place it on top of the rice, press everything down to make sure the rice is sticking to the wrap, and then flip everything over. The picture shows everything once flipped. I remove the plastic wrap that WAS on the bottom side of the sea weed and use it to help flip the next rice/sea weed wrap over until all five are flipped.

With the sea weed side now facing up, I start to add my toppings. Here I have added carrots and cucumber.

Now I have added cream cheese and avocado.

This time I used precooked shrimp. This is the shrimp I used. I sliced it very thinly to add it to our sushi rolls.

Shrimp added and rolls are complete.

Take two edges of the plastic wrap and bring them up together.

Start pushing your toppings down and into the inside of the roll, squeezing and trying to get the outer rice to start touching and surrounding the entire roll. (This is where you will discover if you overstuffed your rolls because the rice won't be able to surround the filling easily enough.) It's okay if you overfill... it just won't be a perfect presentation in the end and your rolls might fall apart a little bit easier when cut and plated... but it will still be delicious.

Once you get the roll basically closed up (make sure your plastic wrap is only on the outside of the roll and the edge didn't accidently get incorporated into the inside of the roll), use your sushi/bamboo mat to more firmly press and shape the roll.

As you can see, I like to twist the ends of my plastic wrap until it makes a tight seal on the ends of the roll to help me shape and form the ends uniformly.

Then take a clean, wet knife and slice your rolls into the desired amount/size of pieces. I like to clean off my knife with a damp rag every two or three cuts.

Look how nicely the rice encircles some of these pieces! I was super proud of this roll. But even the ones that were less "pretty" were still tasty!

Done!

Hibachi Chicken Bowls

We are new lovers of yum-yum sauce, and this hibachi chicken and veggie bowl with fried rice just hit the spot. Scott and I both LOVED it!

Original recipe here: https://thewoodenskillet.com/hibachi-chicken/

Hibachi Chicken Bowls

Ingredients:

Yum Yum Sauce:

• 3/4 cup mayo
• 1 tablespoons ketchup
• 1 tablespoon granulated sugar
• 2 teaspoons rice vinegar
• 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1/2 teaspoon onion powder
• 1/2 teaspoon paprika
• 1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper

Garlic Butter:

• 5 tablespoons butter, room temp
• 1 tablespoon garlic, minced

Hibachi Fried Rice:

• 1–2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil (sub avocado oil)
• 1/2 sweet yellow onion, diced
• 2 eggs, whisked
• 1–2 tablespoons garlic butter
• 4 cups cooked rice, preferably day-old*
• 1–2 tablespoons soy sauce, more as desired
• 1/4 cup green onions, sliced

Hibachi Veggies:

• 1–2 tablespoons olive oil (sub avocado oil)
• 3 medium carrots
• 1 sweet yellow onion
• 3 small/medium zucchini
• 1 pint mushrooms, sliced
• 1 tablespoon garlic butter
• kosher salt and ground black pepper

Hibachi Chicken:

• 6 boneless, skinless chicken thighs
• salt and pepper
• 1 tablespoon olive oil (sub avocado oil)
• 1–2 tablespoons garlic butter
• 1 tablespoon soy sauce

Directions:

1. Prep: With a recipe like this, regardless of whether you are cooking on a flat top (like a Blackstone) or large cast iron skillet – everything cooks pretty quick so it really helps if everything is prepped and ready to go before you start cooking anything. 
2. Make Yum Yum Sauce: Add ingredients to a small bowl and whisk to combine. Set aside.
3. Garlic Butter: Combine Garlic Butter ingredients in a bowl. Set aside.
4. Fried Rice: Bring flat top (or cast iron skillet) to medium-high heat. Add a tablespoon of oil. Add onions and move around until softened. Add whisked eggs and move around until cooked. Add 1 tablespoon garlic butter and let melt. Add rice and top with soy sauce. Move everything around until it is mixed together and rice is warmed through. Feel free to add another tablespoon of garlic butter and season with any salt and pepper you desire. Fold in the green onions and then transfer to a plate. Set aside. 
5. Veggies: Keep cooking surface at medium high heat. Add oil. Add carrots and move around until they are soft, but firm (approx. 5-6 minutes). Add onion, zucchini, and mushrooms as well as the garlic butter. Season the veggies with salt and pepper. Move around pan until all veggies are soft, but firm. Transfer to plate and set aside. 
6. Chicken: Season chicken with salt and pepper. Add oil to cooking surface and place chicken in oil. Let cook approx. 3-5 minutes per side or until the chicken reaches an internal temperature of 165 degrees F. About halfway through the cooking process add some garlic butter and soy sauce. Remove and let chicken rest 5 minutes. Cut into pieces. 
7. Assemble + Enjoy: Build your bowl or plate by adding some fried rice, veggies, and chicken to it. Drizzle with as much Yum Yum Sauce as you desire as well as any extra sliced green onions and enjoy!

Marsha's Notes:

We used store-bought yum-yum sauce, and it was great. You can also use boneless, skinless chicken breasts instead of thighs if you'd like, which we prefer, and we skipped out on the mushrooms. Also, we had some leftover store-bought garlic butter that we used in the rice, but then just added butter and minced garlic in the right proportions to the other parts of the meal (veggies and meat). It all worked out great.

Boba Tea

I have discovered and LOVE boba tea! It's so yummy! Here is a quick tutorial.

Boba Tea

Calories per serving: 300 (for tea mix and pearls, extra if topping off the cup with milk or creamer)

Ingredients:

• boba
• tea mix
• ice
• sweetener, if desired
• creamer

Directions:

1. Boil your desired amount of boba according to the package directions. My basic boba says to boil for 5 minutes, remove from heat and let sit for 5 minutes before rinsing off with cold water.
2. Blend 1/4 cup tea mix with 6-8 oz of hot/boiling water in a boba cup. I used water from either my Keurig or instant hot water tap.
3. Add cooked and rinsed boba to your tea mixture in the boba cup.
4. Add any desired sweeteners or flavorings.
5. Top off the entire cup with ice. 
6. Fill any remaining room at the top of the cup with milk or creamer.
7. Close the water-tight seal over the straw hole and gently shake the cup to mix it all together.

Using my hand-whisk to mix my tea powder mix with hot water.

Boiling my boba.

Add boba to tea mix, sweetener or flavoring, fill entire glass with ice.

Top off any remaining space with creamer or milk.

Shake and done!

Marsha's Notes:

You do need a boba cup and straw for these drinks. I got mine off amazon here: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0924MJTJV/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&th=1

You will also need to either brew your own desired tea, or use tea mix (kind of like hot chocolate mix, only it's tea, sweetener and creamer all in powdered form, often called "milk tea"). Milk tea is the most traditional kind, but there is also other mixes you can try, like the fun purple Taro, or many non-tea flavors like cookies n' cream or peach, which you can use with boba pearls or not. It's up to you. I got mine on Amazon, here: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B072R1G8BH/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1 

You also need boba. There are lots of different kinds to pick from... some you cook on the stove... some are "bubble pearls" or "popping pearls" that are more for cold fruity teas and require no cooking... The kind of boba that you cook comes in different kinds and flavors too, like regular tapioca, brown sugar, rainbow, and lychee. Here are some I have gotten before on Amazon:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000CR06BO/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

These are the kind that come in a "juice" and you just scoop them out with a slotted spoon and then add them to iced tea.

Tips for fruity teas and popping boba:

If you have the time, brew your desired tea like normal and let chill in the fridge. Then just add your ice, sweetener and boba. If you are going to be making fresh hot tea and don't have time to let it cool, then brew your tea twice as strong as normal so when you add it to ice and the ice melts, it doesn't water-down the drink too much.

For Mother's Day, we all had boba as a family! I was in the middle of making the boba when I took this picture, so all I have done is dissolving the taro and milk teas into hot water. You can see my boba pearls cooking in the pan on the stove in the background. As you can see, the milk tea is a pretty tan color (just like my Mother's Day boba plush!) and the taro powder makes that pretty purple milk tea.