the little kitchen of yotsuba & clan

Threw together this nanchatte sui-gyoza (なんちゃって水餃子) soup for a quick Friday night dinner. Nanchatte なんちゃって sui-gyoza 水餃子 literally means mock/faux boiled dumplings. They're not actually boiled dumplings, just bite-sized pieces of the filling and the wrappers boiled up in soup. They're supposed to be like dumplings that broke apart while cooking in the soup. The inspiration for this was Takeru's campfire nanchatte sui-gyoza in the anime Sozai Saishuka . But they look nothing alike... ( ˆ𐃷ˆ ) Takeru's nanchatte sui-gyoza , episode 9, Sozai Saishuka no Isekai Ryokouki . The recipe I used was the gyoza recipe by RecipeTin Eats . The filling was beef mince, cabbage and chives, as per the recipe, but I added chopped water chestnuts. Just 2 water chestnuts, but in hindsight, I should've left them out. The soup base is  shirodashi (50ml Ninben Shirodashi to 700ml water) with Chinese cabbage, seasoned with a little salt, sugar and ground white pepper, and a splas...

It's the last day of Chinese New Year, which we call  Chap Goh Mei (Hokkien for "fifteenth night") or Yuanxiao Festival (元宵节) in Singapore and Malaysia. Being another day for reunions, it is customary to eat tangyuan , aka kueh ee , as their roundness symbolises unity, togetherness and completeness. Tangyuan (汤圆) is the name southern Chinese use, while yuanxiao  (元宵) is the name northern Chinese use. In English, we just call them glutinous rice balls or sticky rice balls regardless of how they're made or what their fillings are. And in Singapore, we call them tangyuan, as the majority of Chinese Singaporeans descend from southern Chinese settlers. Today, it's just Hubby and me. We're introverts, so all the festive gatherings and partying really wear us down. So it's really awesome to be enjoying a quiet, peaceful night. The warming ginger and rock sugar tong shui  and the chewy peanut-filled tangyuan was comforting. Peanut tangyuan, ginger tong sui , Ter...