Monday, the 15th of November 2010, marked the launch of Marja's Dumpling Academy at the newly-opened "2nd floor on Clinton" on the Lower East Side.


  
During the evening Marja shares her dumpling secrets as she prepares, fries and serves up each dumpling dish; you get to wrap a few dumplings at your table, and you are given a recipe to take home to try this on your own. While the invitation states this is a "hands on cooking class", I found this a bit misleading. This is not a cooking class, rather it is a food & sake tasting where you listen and watch as Marja prepares her dumpling dishes.  You do not have a food station, a frying pan and learn how to cook on the spot, which to me is more "hands on". Regardless, I thoroughly enjoyed each course and watching Marja do her "thing".

Each and every dumpling served was delicious. My favorite dumpling and sake pairing was the Salmon Tartare/shiso cucumber pickle that was paired with Nanburyu Sake, and the dessert dumpling of Fig & Chocolate - just divine!  At the end of my evening I left fully inspired to add dumplings to my list of Seduction Meal recipes to try, and I bow down to the much deserved title bestowed upon Ms. Samson--the Dumpling Diva!

Marja's Mushroom Dumpling Filling

Ingredients:

• 1 box of bottom mushrooms, chopped in a food processor
• 4 pieces of medium sized dried shitake mushrooms, soaked until soft, then chopped
• 4 whole water chestnuts, roughly diced
• 4 cloves of garlic, grated
• 1 small knob of fresh ginger, grated
• 1 tbsp soy sauce
• 2 tbsp canola oil
• sweet butter to flavor (optional)

Directions:

1. Heat canola oil in a 9" skillet
2. Add chopped bottom mushrooms and cook until most of the liquid has evaporated
3. Add grated garlic and ginger
4. Add chopped shitake mushrooms, heat thoroughly
5. Add water chestnuts
6. Flavor with soy sauce
7. Add a lump of sweet butter to your taste
8. Your dumplings are ready to stuff

Marja's recipe card ends here. Having done some research and hopefully remembering correctly the details of the night here is how to assemble and fry the dumplings.

Filling the Dumplings

1. Take one won ton skin at a time and place 1 heaped teaspoon of the mixture in the center of each.
2. Then moisten the four edges of the won ton skin
3. Fold the dumpling in half to form a triangle, pressing down on all edges to enclose the filling. Or you can gather or four corners and bring them to the center and pinch to form a pouch.
4. Deep-fry them for 15-20 minutes until the bottom is crisp. You can slightly push down on the dumpling as it fries.
5. Drain on paper towel and serve while still hot with your favorite dipping sauce.
   

Chinese Dipping Sauces
Here are two recipe I found on About.com that seem easy to prepare and sound tasty:

Dumpling Dipping Sauce
Yields about 1/2 cup

Hot chili oil adds bite to this dumpling dipping sauce recipe.

Ingredients:

• 3 tablespoons light soy sauce
• 3 tablespoons dark soy sauce
• 3 tablespoons red wine or red rice vinegar
• 1 teaspoon hot chili oil
• 1/2 teaspoon granulated sugar, or to taste
• 1 clove garlic, peeled and chopped
• 1 teaspoon minced ginger

Preparation: Combine all the ingredients. Store in a sealed container in the refrigerator for 1 hour to give the flavors a chance to blend.

Hoisin Dipping Sauce
Yields about 1/3 cup

Ingredients:

• 1 tablespoon oil for stir-frying
• 1 clove garlic, finely chopped
• 1 teaspoon chopped ginger
• 6 tablespoons hoisin sauce
• 1 tablespoon dark soy sauce
• 2 tablespoons water
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• a few drops sesame oil
• 1 1/2 teaspoons chile paste, or to taste
• 1 tablespoon chopped peanuts

Preparation: Heat the oil in a wok over medium-high to high heat. Add the garlic and ginger. Stir-fry briefly until aromatic. Turn the heat down to medium and stir in the other ingredients. Heat through and remove from the stove. Cool.