“They’re sticky,
they’re round, They’re shaped like dumplings. So even if chocolate is not a
traditional auspicious food, Can we just say it is? Can we just say that
these dumplings represent Prosperity, and family unity,
and all the goodness that Is chocolate? All right, culture
police, come at me! [LAUGHS]:” [UPBEAT MUSIC] “I’m Genevieve Ko, senior
editor and columnist at ‘NYT Cooking.’ Welcome
to Dumpling Week. It’s our first
ever Dumpling Week. To celebrate the Lunar
New Year with dumplings, I’m making chocolate
sesame dumplings. And these have a sweet
mochi wrapper encasing A molten chocolate filling. It’s almost like a truffle. These dumplings were actually
inspired by dumplings That my kids loved
when they were little. And so this is a grown-up
version for them now that They’re a bit older. Thinking about the memories
from Lunar New year, Not just from my childhood,
but from my kids’ childhood — Childhoods? For my kids’ childhoods, I
thought a lot about and I Worried a lot about how
far they would go from Their culture. And at a certain
point, I just realized That actually, the way that
they celebrate Lunar New Year And understand it is, of
course, going to change, And that one of those ways
is, of course, through food. This mixing of
cultures is really A part of this celebration.
It’s part of the way that we
celebrate Lunar New Year now.” [LIGHTHEARTED MUSIC] “The first thing I’m going
to do is make the chocolate Filling. These are basically really
easy chocolate truffles. So you can see here, I’m
just going to break up this Chocolate bar into pieces. I don’t even bother
with chopping. Or you can use chocolate
chips, or you can do a mix. Put the chocolate
in this metal bowl. Set it over simmering water. And when about 2/3 of
the chocolate is melted, Then you can take
that off the heat. And then stir gently until
the rest of the chocolate Is melted. And then you’re going to add
sweetened condensed milk, Toasted sesame oil, and
a pinch of sea salt. That’s going to give it
a really great sweet, Salty balance. And you’re going to stir
really gently until it’s Smooth again. You don’t want to stir too
vigorously because that’s Going to cause the
chocolate to break. You just want to stir
it really gently. And the sweetened condensed
milk here gives the chocolate A really lovely
creaminess and flavor, But it also helps it
stay really stable. So you don’t even have to
chill it at this point. All you have to do is
scoop it into little balls. They don’t have to
be perfect balls, But you do want them to
be about the same size. So you want 16
balls of chocolate. I find a melon baller is
really great for this. Or you can just pinch off
pieces with your hands
And roll them into balls. If your kitchen
is cold enough, You can just leave it
all at room temperature. Otherwise, pop
them in the fridge So that they stay stiff. Once that chocolate
filling is done, We can go ahead
and make the dough. If you have a scale,
you definitely Want to use that scale
to measure flour here, Because glutinous rice flour
is really fine and very light. I’m going to bring 1/2 a cup
of water to a boil in a small Saucepan, and as soon
as it comes to a boil, I’m turning off the heat and
I’m stirring in more toasted Sesame oil. This is going to
both flavor the dough And actually keep
it really tender. Start stirring this
just-boiled water right Into the flour. Keep stirring, and
stirring, and stirring Until this mixture forms
these little bits that Look like a mixture of
pebbles, and gravel, and sand. Chopsticks really
work best for this, But you can also use a fork. Once I’m at this point, I’m
going to see if it’s cool Enough now for me to handle. And it is. It’s nice and warm. If anything, oh my God,
it feels really nice. It’s almost like a bath. [LAUGHS] Gather this dough,
all these pebbles, And just squeeze
them together, And form it into a ball. I’m going to let it rest
for 5 to 10 minutes,
Just so that it can come
to room temperature. And also, this is going
to give the dough a chance To absorb the water
that was added. And this water, because
it was almost boiling, It actually precooked
the flour a bit, Which is exactly what we want. It’s been about seven minutes. And I can feel that the dough
has had a chance to rest. It’s relaxed a bit. But I can also feel
that it’s sticking. It’s sticking to my fingers. So I’m going to knead this
dough on a floured surface Until it doesn’t stick
to my fingers anymore. I sometimes find that I don’t
have to add any extra flour — That at this point, the
dough is totally perfect. It really just depends
on how dry my kitchen is Or what the humidity
is like in the air. It is pouring rain today,
so it’s pretty humid. So I’m just going to knead
flour into this dough. So it should almost
feel a little sticky, But not actually
stick to my fingers. I don’t actually want
any flour to be sitting On the surface. So as long as it keeps getting
absorbed into the dough, I’m just going to
keep adding more. And the dough is
now so smooth, And it really feels
like playdough. It’s so soft, it’s so
tacky, it’s ready to go. And I’m going to roll it into
this log and cut it into 16 Even pieces by cutting
it in half first, Cutting these halves in
half until I get to 16 equal Pieces. So these little dough
balls, I definitely Want to keep them covered
with the same damp towel
That I was using
earlier for the dough, Because if this dough
dries out on the outside, It actually develops these
weird cracks and dry bits. One of the important
things with dumplings Is that you always
want to pinch out Your dough so that the
edges are way thinner Than the center. You almost have a
little, like, fat belly Of dough in the middle. And then, as you move
out towards the edge, It should get
thinner, and thinner, And thinner because you’re
pleating all those edges Together. By doing it this way, you’re
going to end up with an even Layer of dough all around. So now that the dough is
about a three-inch round, Put one of these chocolate
balls in the middle And start pleating it. While holding it up, I’m going
to just start pleating it On one side and keep
going around in a circle, All the way around until
I get to the other end. And it’s O.K. that
the top is open, Because now I’m just going to
gather all that pleated dough And pinch it shut. Gather it pretty gently,
because this dough is so soft And malleable that if
I pinch it really hard, It’s going to get rid of
those beautiful pleats. And if I have a
little extra dough, I’m going to pull it off. But sometimes it
depends on the size Of your dough and balls. Sometimes when I don’t
feel like going through all The pleating and I just want
to get these done really Quickly, or if I’m doing it
with my kids and they don’t
Feel like pleating, I just
bring the dough up around that Chocolate filling. And you get all these
natural pleats anyway. I’m just going to do that with
all of my dough balls and all Of my chocolate balls.” [UPBEAT MUSIC] “I’m setting up with a wok
and with bamboo steamers, But you can actually use any
steamer you have if you just Have an insert, as long as you
have a flat bottom that you Can line with either parchment
paper or a silicone mat like This one that’s perforated. Putting eight on each
level, because right Is a really lucky, auspicious
number for the Lunar New year, Or all the time. I don’t actually want the
water boiling super hard. I don’t want these
to cook too quickly. This dough is quite delicate. And I also don’t want
the chocolate to break. And I’m just going to keep
checking these dumplings As they steam. And what I’m looking for
is for the dough to become Translucent. The dough actually
is taking on this — It’s almost like a
pearlescent quality. I don’t want them to go too
long because then they’ll Become totally
translucent and collapse. These are ready. And while they are
still warm and sticky, Sprinkle the tops with black
and white sesame seeds. I just love the nuttiness
of both of them. So these are my chocolate
sesame dessert dumplings. All right, so let’s see
how our dumpling is. [GIGGLES]: So good
and so sticky. Making homemade
dumpling wrappers
Might feel like a
project, and it is. But using glutinous
rice flour, like, Having this be the entry
point is so great because it’s So forgiving. It’s wonderful. It’s malleable. Once you get past that sticky
stage, it feels like a hug. Like, if dough can
feel like a hug, It 100 percent does
because it’s so soft, Where it’s like
sinking into a couch. All right. Thanks so much for joining me
for making chocolate sesame Dumplings. We are going to have this
recipe in all of our Dumpling Week recipes on
nytcooking.com.” Happy Lunar New Year! “Yay! They work.” “They do.” “Woo-hoo. Steamers are great. If you don’t have
a bamboo steamer, You should get a
bamboo steamer.” [LIGHTHEARTED MUSIC]
Have you ever wondered why most of the Vinaigrettes in the grocery store are made with 10, 20, sometimes even almost 30 ingredients? I remember growing up in Provence watching my mother whipping vinaigrettes before every single dinner. She would mix in a giant bowl, delicious extra virgin olive oil, a robust aged vinegar (the flavor would depend on the main dish), sea salt and pepper and voila! I decided to do the same thing for my family and friends more than 20 years ago here in this beautiful country. And Provence Kitchen® was born. Stay tune for more articles and wonderful family recipes..
Leave a Reply