More Food!

This time, it's dinner!

What is it about being at home that makes me want to cook so much? Maybe it's my way of thanking my parents for everything they do for me... or maybe it's a convenient way to avoid doing other things, like unpacking my dorm stuff, or packing for my summer adventures.

Regardless, I seem to have been bitten by the cooking bug as of late, so today I decided to create a recipe for vegetarian dumplings to use up the wonton wraps I bought the other day. After skimming the internet, and not really finding anything that jumped out at me, I decided to just wing it, as is my usual style (especially when it comes to dinner- I'm more cautious with baking because that's a more scientific venture).

First, I marinated some chopped up extra-firm tofu in a concocted solution of teryaki sauce, orange juice, rice vinegar, and some pepper. While that was soaking, I chopped up some carrots, red pepper, and spinach, and my dad was kind enough to start up a pan with some sesame oil, ginger, and garlic. Eventually, all of the ingredients found their way to that pan, and I let them simmer for a while to soak up all of the flavors. I threw in some corn starch to thicken everything up, and then I got to work wrapping up the dumplings.


My dad helped (thankfully!), and although it was rough at first, eventually we came up with a folding system that worked efficiently.

After a short time in the oven, dinner was served. The rest of my family was having steak (yuck!) but I was more than happy to munch on my little creations with some Trader Joe's Gyoza dipping sauce. The result earned a seal of approval from both my mom and my tofu-hating dad, so I'd consider that a success.



Next time, I'd probably brush the shells with a little oil before baking because the edges got a little dried out, but baking was definitely a viable method, as the result was crispy without all of the grease associated with frying. I'm also interested in experimenting with other fillings, but I have yet to go wrong with the tangy orange-soy combination that I use in almost all of my Asian dishes.

I'd also consider cooking the tofu before I make the filling to firm it up a little better (for a vegetarian of 2+ years, I'm pretty inexperienced with cooking tofu because I love veggies so much, I haven't found the need to add much tofu to my diet).

I'm hoping that I can keep up the motivation to cook throughout the summer (when possible), and into the fall semester, when I'll have an on-campus apartment with a kitchen. Hopefully I'll be able to add a Latin-American flare to my cooking with some Honduran and Costa-Rican inspired flavors after my upcoming trips.

In other news, I got an email from the coordinator for my Ecuador/Galapagos Islands trip in Winter 2012, confirming my enrollment, and I got really excited! Hopefully I'll find the time to finish the two books on the top of my list right now- The Origin of Species and The Voyage of the Beagle by Charles Darwin. That's what summer is supposed to be about, right? Relaxing and catching up on stuff you put off during the year? The only problem is that my schedule seems to get even BUSIER during the summer months! There's just never enough time for anything!