Waste Not, Want Not (Soup with Dumplings)
It seems like so long ago that we would jump in the car and drive to Albany to do errands we couldn’t do in the Berkshires, such as going to the Apple Store or picking up chemicals for the hot tub. And whenever we were over there, we would stop in at the Asian Supermarket on Central Avenue. We love this store, and we always find fantastic ingredients and products so we can try our hand at Asian recipes at home. We look forward to the day when we once again will think nothing of heading to Albany for errands and activities.
One time this past fall, among other items, we bought both wonton wrappers to provide a shortcut for making dumplings, and for an even shorter cut, we bought two bags of frozen dumplings. However, when we fried up a few dumplings from one of these bags, they were pretty meh, and we were so disappointed.
I never like to waste food, and, in fact, I enjoy the challenge of figuring out what to do with random items I have in the house. And I am pleased to report that on a cold, rainy day, we had a great lunch that included the dumplings and made them so much better!
I took a quart of homemade chicken broth from the freezer and I checked a couple of Asian cookbooks for ideas of what to include to give it an Asian flavor. While it simmered, I added slices of ginger and a dried shiitake mushroom I had in the pantry. I didn’t have any scallions, so instead I tossed in a few of my pickled ramp stems from the fridge. Before I added the dumplings, I poured in about 2 tablespoons of soy sauce and 2 tablespoons of Shaoxing wine. Delicious and warming on a dreary day!
NB: This can easily be vegetarian or vegan with a vegetable broth and vegetable dumplings.
Asian Flavored Chicken Broth with Store-Bought Dumplings
Serves 4
1 quart chicken broth, store-bought or homemade
6 slices of fresh ginger, quarter-sized
1 scallion, white and light green parts, sliced (although I didn’t have any to use and substituted a few pickled ramp stems)
1 dried shiitake mushroom (optional)
2 Tablespoons soy sauce
2 Tablespoons Shaoxing wine
16-20 frozen dumplings
Combine the broth, ginger, scallion, and mushroom in a medium saucepan. Allow to simmer for 20-30 minutes so that the broth really absorbs the flavors.
Add the soy sauce and Shaoxing wine. Add the frozen dumplings, and once the broth returns to a boil, simmer for 5 minutes. If you are concerned about whether the dumplings are cooked through, you can check with an instant read thermometer, which, according the instructions on the bag we used, should be at 165°F or higher.