Olympic dumplings

Olympic dumplings
Originally uploaded by kattebelletje.

I don't think anybody could have missed there are Olympic Games in China next year. The Chinese have been preparing for years and years now: all kinds of wild architectural buildings, plans to definitely tackle the polluted air, and machines to shoot down clouds in the possibility of rain showers in August. It is all going to happen in 2008! And what is going to happen food-wise? I read something about McDonald's going to be around for food. Now that sounds reassuring, doesn't it? But what are the Chinese going to throw in? I know. The large Synear food company from Henan province (close to Beijing) is going to deliver jiaozi, or dumplings. The athletes will eat the jiaozi. The visitors will eat jiaozi. And one year from now, we will all eat jiaozi probably. Even you. However, you are very lucky, because you can eat them right now! Just go to your large Asian superstore and hunt for the Synear brand of frozen dumplings, because they are the company which signed a gigantic deal to be the official supplier of frozen dumplings to the Olympic games!

I was lucky enough to spot 3 kinds of this brand's Olympic dumplings in the Asian store: a green package, a blue package and an orange package, surprisingly all with vegetarian filling. The green package had a filling with Chinese chives [jiucai], shiitake mushrooms and cabbage; the blue package had a filling with Shanghai paksoi and shiitake mushrooms; and the orange package had a filling with tofu sheets and Chinese chives. All in the Olympic spirit we had a contest. I asked a group of Chinese-food-loving friends to come over and try them all out. The judges were fair, and hungry.

We had the blue ones. I mean the ones from the blue package. You get the idea. We had the green ones. And then we had the orange ones. They needed supervision while cooking: some skins would boil and tear, spilling out the filling in the boiling water. I found out one shouldn't overcook them; they still looked undercooked but then turned out too soft. We had them with the lovely jiaozi sauce and took notes. I had my favorite, for sure. It is the green one. But the other judges favoured the orange one, much to my surprise. Not that they differed much: the blue one was flavourful, but with the paksoi not very special in flavour, nice, but OK. The Chinese chives make it really tasty, and because (I think) I overcooked the green ones slightly, the orange ones won the match: 9 for flavour! Will definitely stock up on these frozen dumplings, only 1.90 for a package of about 30; enough to feed you when it is night and you are have an Olympic appetite!

mayonaise

mayonaise
Originally uploaded by kattebelletje.

I know, it is a little bit illogical. I have about 6 bottles of mayonaise sitting in the pantry, just brought from the French supermarket from the holidays. And then I got this craving for home-made mayo. The end was I picked up my whisk and started whisking, because those pots of mayo from France will keep until 2009 at least, won't they?
The reason was I was flipping through Nigel Slater's Appetite, and the pictures looked so good. I just had to make homemade mayo again. I have made mayonaise quite often in the past, but the last couple of times I only used my food processor to make it. To be honest, this method doesn't always work well. It is quick for sure, but sometimes the mayo will curdle, always when you least expect it to - towards the end, just when you think you have reached the safe stage. Well, you don't. You first won't believe it has really curdled, but it has. Then you get this messy affair, you have to empty the bowl, add a fresh egg yolk, and try it all over again, which makes the whole process a tedious chore. Well, not this time. I whisked it by hand, that didn't take too long and the end result was great. Just like Nigel's picture!
For this mayonaise, I use ordinary sunflower oil, with a little bit of olive oil added at the end. To prepare: take 2 egg yolks, 1 small tablespoon of strong Dijon mustard, a pinch of salt. Take a large bowl and whisk until combined, whisk a bit more, then add a drop of oil; whisk, add more drops of oil; keep whisking. Add the oil very sparingly and slowly in the beginning, later on you can add more, even oil in a small stream. Add up to 2 dl. of oil.
For taste, I added the wonderful Japanese grain vinegar, Mizkan. You can add 2 to 3 tablespoons, or more to your liking. I find I am always too modest in adding vinegar. One trick is to have a pot of shop-bought mayo (your favorite kind) at hand, and taste both mayonaises to compare. You will be surprised. Those French mayos, for example, can be very vinegary! Sometimes I add a tablespoon of honey for a softer, light tasting mayo. If your mayonaise is too thick, you can dilute it with some tablespoons of boiling water. This works very well! Have it with anything you like, and keep the rest (if there is any) in the refrigerator, where it will stiffen up more. You could also add fresh herbs or garlic to make a stronger tasting sauce.