Mushroom dumplings and udon noodle soup

Doug Sherring

Asian cooking has been a bit of an obsession for us lately.We just love how you can add so much flavour using herbs, ginger, garlic and chilli. The little dumplings are filled with dried shitake which have been soaked and then chopped up and mixed with fresh mushrooms. The soaking liquid is then used as the base for the broth and the previously mentioned flavours are added to give the soup layers. We absolutely love Asian greens. We have used bok choy this time but you can use any leafy green you like. Feel free to add other things you love to it – mung beans and crushed peanuts are a welcome addition and we can’t go past chilli oil.

Dumplings

1 cup	Shiitake mushrooms, we used the dried variety, rehydrated and chopped
2 cups	Mushrooms, assorted, diced
2 Tbsp	Fresh ginger, finely diced
1 Tbsp	Garlic, finely diced
3 Tbsp	Fresh coriander, stalks only, finely diced
1 tsp	Chives, finely diced
2 Tbsp	Spring onions, sliced
4 tsp	Soy sauce
1 packet	Round dumpling wrappers

Soup

2 cups	Shiitake mushrooms, we used the dried variety (Main)
1 ½ Ltr	Vegetable stock
1 piece	Fresh ginger, thumb-sized, sliced into large pieces
¼ cup	Soy sauce
¼ cup	Shaoxing wine
2 bunches	Bok choy, leaves removed and washed
2 packets	Udon noodles (Main)
1 serving	Sesame oil
1 cup	Fresh coriander, torn
1	Chilli, finely sliced

Directions

1. For the dumplings, mix together all of the filling ingredients except for the wrappers. To fill, place a teaspoon of the mix on one half of the wrapper, dip your fingers in water and wet the edge of the wrapper. Fold in half and crease the edges together. Make six dumplings per serving and set aside.
2. For the soup, rehydrate the dried shitake mushrooms in 4 cups of hot water. Let sit for 10 minutes then strain reserving the liquid.
3. Place the liquid in a pot along with the vegetable stock, shaoxing and ginger and simmer lightly. Add the dumplings and cook for 5 minutes or until the wrappers are tender. Remove and set aside until ready to serve.
4. Quickly cook the bok choy leaves in the broth and also set aside. Place the udon noodles in the broth and heat through.
5. Fry off the shitake mushrooms in a fry pan with the sesame oil and set aside.
6. To serve, portion the soup and noodles into four bowls and add the dumplings and bok choy. Garnish with the fried shiitake, coriander leaves and sliced chilli.