Passport & Plate - Grandpa's dumplings
Taiwan | Monday, February 17, 2014 | 1 photos
Ingredients
Makes 70 wontons
Minced pork 200 g (7 oz)
Ginger 1 small knob, peeled and grated
Spring onion (scallion)
1/2, finely chopped
All-purpose soy sauce
1 tsp
Sesame oil 1/2 tsp
Salt and pepper to taste
Chinese cabbage like (bok choy) 1 bunch, finely chopped
Wonton wrappers 70 sheets
How to prepare this recipe• Combine minced pork, ginger, spring onion, soy sauce and sesame
oil in a bowl and mix well. Season with salt and pepper and leave
to marinate in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes.
• Just before wrapping wontons, add in the Chinese
fl owering cabbage.
• To make the wontons, place 1/2 tsp minced pork fi lling into the
centre of a wrapper. Wet tge edges of the wrapper with some
water, then fold wrapper in half to make a triangle. Taking the
two small tips of the triangle, bring them together to form a sort
of crown. Repeat until all the ingredients are used up.
• To cook, boil a large pot of water and add wontons. Stir gently
with the back of a wooden spoon. When water returns to the
boil, add 250 ml (8 fl oz / 1 cup) cold water and leave to simmer
until wontons fl oat to the top of the pot. Drain and serve with
soy sauce on the side or as a soup.
The story behind this recipeFood brings people together but how much can be forgiven over a bowl of noodles?
These exact thoughts enter my mind as I look deeply into the winkles mapped out on my grandma’s tired but energetic face. Her name is Chin Chee, but we affectionately call her Ei-prow. She is not really my grandma, my grandfather deep into his second marriage, had a timely affair with Ei-Prow who now slumps over her large bowl of beef noodle soup unaware of her surroundings. She slurps her extra soft noodles, almost a watery paste to account for her sore gums because of her old age. Her ripe old age only shows at 10pm each night, except on Mondays, when the Chinese restaurant she owns is closed. Other times, she moves around the kitchen as a preschooler who just ate a bag of red gummy bears; skipping around the supermarket looking for cheap but fresh ingredients to cook for her regulars; and dancing to an old Chinese tune in her head as she tames the wok.
A hater of awkward silences, eating with Ei-prow can be excruciatingly painful. In between long winded rants on why her business is no longer booming, she hammers her head in her hands and tells me how she is overworked, tired and too old to be in the kitchen. You only really get a wry smile out of Ei-Prow when she talks about my grandpa. Yet, like my grandpa, she would never leave this restaurant, no matter how many Chinese Panda restaurants pop up around the neighbourhood, she will see this restaurant to the end.
Today, I’ve opted for a quiet lunch without any complaints, abuses or stares. Despite every effort I have made to understand Ei-prow, she remains aloof and soft spoken. Although only 5 feet tall, she can be rather aggressive when standing on her small wooden stool so that she can reach the shallots to go into my grandfather’s famous dumplings recipe. The only recipe my grandfather didn’t share with her, she tells me.
Ei-Prow had all her happy moments with my grandpa. As a child I hated the very thought of visiting my grandpa because Ei-prow was going to be there too. My mother’s mother, whom passed away before I was born, was an image and a representative of something more than just a grandmother I never met. She was the lady that went through years of anguish, heart ache and pain with her husband whilst raising four young children in the outskirts of Taiwan. The talents of Ei-prow to snatch away my grandpa from his duties, enjoying tea and traditional Chinese baked goods with his mistress made me angry, vengeful and ashamed of what he did.
However, with my grandfather no longer with us, it became more and more difficult for us to maintain a bond with his only legacy – an old restaurant famous for its dumplings and beef noodles. Therefore in an effort to still maintain a relationship with my grandfather’s life, my family and I play ‘the bigger person’ when we visit Ei-Prow.
Not too many things have changed in the restaurant that my grandpa opened almost thirty five years ago in a small suburb in Orange County, California. The carpet still remains the same and screams out to be cleaned; the walls are still crowded with old paintings and pictures that my grandfather personally scripted. The only stand out change is the staff, which rotates depending on who Ei-Prow can pick up for immediate assistance when the lunch hour starts. But even though Ei-Prow managed to steal my grandpa’s heart and restaurant from his passing, she never stole his famous dumpling recipe… something my grandfather never shared, until now.
Growing up in my grandfather’s kitchen, memories flood in on how to make the perfect dumpling. Never serve dumplings with ripped pastry; never over mix the filling; and never skimp on good quality ingredients. Yes, we all have secrets… lucky for me, my grandfather shared his with me. Through my writing, cooking and eating adventures, I hope I am carrying on my grandpa’s legacy and restaurant, even if I am not in his kitchen.
