This dish is pretty fitting for our final recipe of 2020. It was a year that didn’t unfold as anyone expected or planned. There were incredible challenges, divisions, fears, uncertainties, losses, and sorrows…moreso than in any year I’ve ever experienced. On the flip side of the coin, there were incredible joys, both large and small, to be found amidst the chaos. I know we are in a little bit of a different boat than most, but it is those blessings that will in the end characterize and define how we look at 2020 in hindsight.
We found this dish to be a perfect analogy for the experiences above. Imagine that you have a plate of Chinese Style dumplings in front of you. And then someone puts down Maple Syrup as your dipping sauce! You’d probably think to yourself, “How in the hamscram is this going to work?” (In fact, that question is a pretty capture of my wife’s sentiment when I handed her her plate.) But imagine then that when you took a bite, it was better than you had been preparing yourself to expect. For hidden inside all that you could see, these dumplings were stuffed with something wonderful. It was sage breakfast sausage, which brought the salty, earthy, and sweet flavours together in a bizarre harmony, just like our 2020 did.
Wishing you all a healthy and more normal 2021!
Time: 40 Minutes
Ingredients (to make 12 Dumplings):
- 1 Cup All Purpose Flour
- 1/3 Cup Hot Water
- Raw Breakfast Sausage. We used Sage Infused Pork Sausage.
- 1/2 Small Onion
- Maple Syrup for Dipping
Method:
- Scoop your flour into a bowl, and pour in your hot water while stirring with a fork or a chopstick. When your flour is mostly absorbed, and stirring is no longer helping, knead your dough to incorporate as much of the flour as you can.
- When you have a tacky but not sticky ball of dough, wrap it in plastic wrap, and set aside to hydrate and rest.
- Dice your onion, and uncase your sausage. Sautee together in a pan with a little olive oil.
- As your filling cooks, begin to boil some water in a separate pot (so it’s ready to roll…last pun of 2020?) when your dumplings are filled and formed.
- When your filling is cooked, transfer to a bowl, and go to work on your dough.
- Unwrap your dough ball, and roll it into a log by hand like you’re making a Play Dough snake.
- Cut into twelve pieces, and roll each piece into a thin circle with a rolling pin to make your dumpling shells.
- Scoop your filling equally on each of your dumpling shells, and fold each up separately around your filling. Then, press the edges of each dumpling together.
- Crimp in whatever style you like for visual effect (or skip the crimping altogether…I like to call this “Skimping on Crimping.”)
- Carefully place your dumplings in the boiling water, and cook for about 3-4 minutes.
- As your dumplings boil, pour a little maple syrup into a dipping cup.
- Remove from a slotted spoon, and arrange your dumplings on your plate(s).
- Devour, and enjoy!
