INGREDIENTS:½ lb. shrimp, peeled, deveined and finely chopped
½ oz. chopped fresh lemon grass
½ oz. chopped fresh ginger
½ oz. chopped fresh garlic
1 carrot, finely minced
1 green onion, finely minced
1 red pepper, finely minced
1 oz. peanut oil
1 Tbsp. sambal oelek*
to taste, kosher salt and togarashi (Japanese chile)
24 gyoza (Japanese pot sticker) wrappers
2 eggs, lightly scrambled
3/4 cup cornstarch
as needed, lychee vinaigrette (recipe follows)
Lychee Vinaigrette:
10 whole lychee*
¼ cup mirin (Japanese rice wine)
¼ cup rice wine vinegar
16 oz. grapeseed oil
8 fresh mint leaves DIRECTIONS:For vinaigrette: Peel and puree lychee in blender. Add mirin and rice wine vinegar. Blend together, thenly slowly add grapeseed oil to emulsify. Add salt and togarashi to taste. Finish with mint.
For dumplings: Heat peanut oil in a wok or medium non-stick pan. Add shrimp, lemon grass, ginger, garlic, carrot, green onion and red pepper; cook 2 minutes. Add sambal, cook an additional 1 minute, and add salt and togarashi to taste. Remove mixture from heat and chill thoroughly.
For dumplings, place a spoonful of shrimp mixture onto each gyoza wrapper and fold into a triangle. Stand triangle with point side up and longest edge on surface. Bring ends together and seal with egg wash. Roll dumplings in cornstarch until ready to steam.
To steam, bring a large pot of water to boil. Place dumplings in steamer basket and steam until tender, 3 to 5 minutes. Serve immediately with vinaigrette.
*Lychee (tropical fruit, fresh or canned) and sambal oelek are available in Asian grocery stores. SERVINGS:24 dumplings From:Executive chef/partner Jeannie Pierola, SideBerns, Tampa, Fla. PHOTO CREDIT:Photo Credit: SIDEBERNS