Hello friends! I hope everyone is having a great weekend! I am super excited to share this recipe with you… this might just be the BEST thing I’ve ever made!
Soooo, a little background… on Christmas Jonathan and I BOTH got dumpling presses in our stockings (we, I mean Santa, inexplicably had the exact same idea… one of those really cool marriage moments). Well, we put them to good use this weekend! I did my usual ‘roll with what we have in the fridge’ approach and the dumplings came out better than I could have imagined.
Butternut Squash Dumplings
- butternut sqash, cut into small cubes (1/2 lg squash, or 1 smallish one)
- 1 sweet onion, cut into thick slices
- 5-6 garlic cloves
- bunch of fresh spinach, chopped
- wonton wrappers (in the regular grocery store near the tofu)
- salt, pepper, olive oil
Drizzle the squash, onions and garlic with olive oil and a bit of salt. Roast at 450F until soft, about 45 mins. I keep the garlic skins on so they don’t dry out, just squeeze it out after cooking. Mix with the chopped spinach and mash the ingredients to make the filling. Salt and pepper to taste.
Place a wonton wrapper diagonally on the press. Add about a teaspoon of filling, wet edges, and press… voila! Place the dumplings on wax paper and keep pressing. The recipe made about 2 dozen.
Heat 1-2 Tbs olive or sesame oil in a skillet on medium high heat. Cook in a single layer, 2-3 minutes per side, or until crispy.
Oops!! The first round totally stuck… (this did not stop us from devouring them straight from the pan) I definitely recommend a NON-stick skillet for these delicate little babies:
Aaaahhhh…. perfection!
And,what’s a dumpling without sauce… if you answered ‘not very good’ then friend, correct answer! So I did a little trio of dipping sauces. This sounds more complicated than it was because two of those sauces came from bottles 😉
Dipping Sauces
- Thai sweet chili sauce
- Citrus Ponzu sauce (the brand I picked was too citrusy for my tastes, so I toned it down with some tamari and water)
- Spicy Peanut sauce: 2T peanut butter, 1T rice wine vinegar, 1T tamari, 3-4T water, 2 shakes cayenne. A mini food processor is great here, or whisk like crazy with a fork to get that PB into solution.
I also did a little raw broccoli salad. I used a bag of the Green Giant brand ‘Rainbow Slaw’ pre=chopped veggies (it was next to the wonton wrappers and just jumped into my basket). I dressed the slaw with a mixture of: 1T sesame oil, 1T tamari, 1T citrus ponzu, 1T sweet chili sauce
Drumroll please…………
The most delicious meal ever!
In other news, I went to a class this afternoon on cleansing with whole foods. I left feeling nourished, energized and inspired. The cleanse starts Friday… so stay tuned!
xox! Kristen
Intuitive Approach 
Weird – just realized my comment didn’t stick for some reason here. I want to make dumplings this weekend but assume I can just pinch edges or use fork? No dumpling press from Santa this year!
Yes, you can definitely make them the old-fashioned way… just wet the edges and press. I’d use your hands. Although, the dumpling press makes it super-easy and way faster… so if you have time to pick one up, mine was only a few bucks. Good luck and let me know how they turn out!!