Your grandmother’s kimchee, your Sunday afternoon poi snack, Dad’s lobster noodles, or that slice of Chicago pizza - these all represent a piece of home to us. And as Americans overseas, it’s often hard to get your fix of food from home – whether you’re in Tokyo, missing your lasagna fix; or in Munich, searching for a dim sum restaurant.
We’d like to create a place to share the stories and recipes that remind you of home, that make you laugh, or that solve a problem! We’ll post them here on our webpages and in our newsletter. If you have a video, even better – send us the link!
Here's an example from Anya, one of the AAPI caucus steering committee members!
Anya’s Mom’s Dumpling Wrappers Recipe
Growing up, we made dumplings often enough that it became a semi-regular thing in my household. Sometimes, my mother would invite her few Chinese friends over and we’d spend an hour or two making dumplings, then eating until our stomachs hurt. Their children, my sister, and I pressed the edges of the wrappers together carefully, using a fork sometimes to create the ridges. My mother and her friends, chatting absently, were ten times faster than the rest of us. My aunt, who I see once every few years when we take the trip to my mother’s hometown, uses one hand to fold dumplings, a skill I have yet to acquire or understand.
I’m better now than I was when I first started out, even to the point that I can teach my German friends how to plop the right amount of dumpling filling into the wrapper, open on your palm, and carefully tuck the sides in. It’s become a tradition for my group of friends here for Lunar New Year; my girlfriend has even mastered the perfect fold. I use my mother’s recipe, which she typed up and sent to me in an email a year after I moved out and requested while feeling homesick. It’s one of the most concrete, tangible things from Chinese culture I can share.
Ingredients (Wrappers)
- 2 cups of flour
- 1 cup of lukewarm water (estimated)
- You can also use store bought wrappers.
Making the dumpling wrappers
- Mixing flour with lukewarm water in a big bowl so that you can
- Knead the flour into a smooth ball. The kneading is done if the flour does not stick to your hands (about 15 minutes). If too sticky, add more flour. If too dry, add a little bit more water (small amount of water at a time).
- Let the dough rest for half an hour.
- Then, you can roll the dough into a one inch thick string and tear the dough into small pieces (one inch long).
- Roll the piece into a small round ball and squish it with your palm.
- Roll the small piece with a rolling pin so that it becomes a thin and round piece.
Stay tuned for the recipe for the filling!