Folks,
I know this quick fire ICOOT was only meant to be dessert, but I happened to do a non-dessert citrus dish as well, so I thought I’d include it too. Sorry if I went overboard on the photos, but I got a bit excited. I'll try to to be a bit more balanced for future efforts!
My non-desert dish could probably be either an entrée (Australian for appetizer) , or a main course (Australian for entrée), and is:
Prawn and Pork Dumplings in Lime-Leaf Broth
For the dumplings I used:
- 5 large green prawns. I used Banana prawns (which I think came from Queensland, the North East corner of Australia). Not sure if this interests anyone, but they were $26/kilo, and with AUD 1.00 ~ USD 0.77 that works out at a bit over USD 9/pound. Peeled them and took out the poo chute, and then cut them up, but not too fine as I wanted some texture.
- About an equal quantity of pork mince.
- A spring onion. (Think they’re called scallions or green onions in America?) It’s in the photo below; hopefully you know what I’m talking about.
- Some Hoi Sin sauce (couple of tsp?), garlic chilli sauce (1/2 tsp?), soy sauce (1 tablespoon?), sesame oil (1tsp?), sherry (1 tablespoon?). Sorry about the imprecision of these measurements but I just chucked stuff in as I went. I think I ended up with a bit too much liquid, so I also put in about 1 teaspoon of cornflour.
Raw ingredients:
The prepared filling looked like this:
I didn’t have the time (or the desire!) to make the dumpling wrappers from scratch so I just picked up a packet from one of the many excellent Asian grocers in Sydney. The ones I got were flour only (no egg).
About a teaspoon of the filling in each, wet the wrappers and seal:
Yes, you’re saying, but where the bloody hell is the citrus?
For the broth, I had some chicken stock in the freezer I’d made a few months ago, and when I melted it, I was very happy with the flavor. There wasn’t enough however, so I also added some store bought chicken stock, along with a couple of tablespoons of soy sauce, some shards of ginger and about 5 crushed kaffir lime leaves.
I simmered the broth for a few minutes:
Then added the dumplings a few at a time:
I gave them about 3 or 4 minutes to cook, then put them in a bowl, with some of the broth, and some shredded lime leaves.
I was really happy with this, the dumplings were nice, good flavour and really nice texture between the pork and prawns, and the broth was particularly delicious. Certainly had a very noticeable and pleasant flavour from the lime leaves (less of the ginger seemed to come through) on top of the base chicken flavour.
I was only cooking for myself, and I made 12 dumplings from the amounts above. I ate them all myself, which as it was my main course was enough for me to feel satisfied without being stuffed. As an entrée (Australian for appetizer), this quantity would maybe be just over the odds for 2 in my opinion.
I had this with a Leo Buring Riesling from the Yarra Valley in South Australia. It was only about AUD 14 (~USD 11) when I bought it a couple of years ago, and I don’t know squat about wine, but it’s bloody nice!
Lime Soufflé
Okay, now we’re talking dessert! I wiped softened butter on the inside of a couple of ramekins, put them in the fridge for the butter to harden, and then put on more butter, followed by a good coating of caster sugar.
Even though I was only cooking for myself, I made enough for two soufflés (In fact, I would have had enough for about 2 and a half from the following, it’s obviously dependent on the size of the ramekins).
I whisked together one egg yolk and 2 tablespoons of sugar until pale, and added the juice of two limes, and a bit of zest (just for a bit more kick!).
In a separate, immaculately spotless bowl I whisked four egg whites and a pinch of cream of tartar until soft peaks formed, then gradually added about a couple of tablespoons of caster sugar to get some pretty stiff and glossy peaks, I’ve read in some places you have to be very careful not to over beat the egg whites, but I tend to get them pretty firm and shiny and it seems to work okay. I’m sure I add a different amount of sugar each time as well, so maybe it’s not an exact a science as some would have us believe!
I added a spoon of the egg whites to the yolk/sugar/lime mixture and mixed it well to loosen, then gently folded that through the remaining egg whites. I filled the ramekins, the outsides first using upward stokes, then filled in the middle, flattened the top and ensures there was none of the raw soufflé stuck on the rim:
I put these in a 180C (~360F) oven, but one thing which I have found has given me better results is not to have the fan on whilst the soufflés are cooking. Here’s a mid-way shot:
I left them in for only about 10 minutes, because at that time they just looked ready. Most recipes seem to say 12-14 minutes, but I like them pretty soft in the centre.
Dusted them with icing sugar and had the finished product, which, if I do say so myself, tasted as good as they looked!
