Experimental dumplings

Hello. Its me again, the infrequent poster, feeling vaguely experimental cooking-wise, and corralling my food thoughts again during another period of confinement. Anything to avoid doom-scrolling, really...

I'm self isolating this week after an app notification on Friday, and I know I am far from the only one in similar circumstances right now. It's been starting to feel like a fairly inevitable part of life: my job has required me to be onsite working pretty regularly for a lot of the last year; my husband works across several schools; and I have two small children, so avoiding social contact has been a challenge. But I am very lucky to be double vaccinated, and grateful that so many fellow of my fellow commuters are still masking up (I can only hope they continue to do so despite the announcements tonight), and I am still feeling well. So I've been taking the opportunity to spend a bit more time on dinner than I usually get a chance to: the kids are still allowed out so I have been contemplating the contents of the freezer while they play.

Last night this meant finally defrosting the won ton wrappers I picked up on an expedition to Wing Yip back in April. Dumplings, of any and all sorts, are just about my favourite food, and I've had all sorts of ideas about using them for pierogi, dim sum, momos and other such dumpling delights. Me being me though, I hadn't looked up a recipe or thought about buying any specific ingredients; despite having got a supermarket delivery on Sunday morning I'm so bad at online shopping I didn't even remember to order half the things we actually needed. I had a flick through the excellent Plant Based Planet, a compilation of recipes from vegan bloggers around the world put together by a friend of my brother's, and inspired by a recipe for Buuz, Mongolian dumplings, decided to make some with a quorn mince filling.

I fried up some aubergine, quorn, red onion, cumin and thyme, then bundled it up in the won ton skins into very untidy parcels. The poor planning meant I had not enough mince for sufficient numbers to feed a greedy family, so I peered about in the fridge and found a courgette and some feta, which I cubed and parcelled up too. I steamed them in batches, and then served up with a reduced tomato and garlic sauce. One day I will learn to buy for and actually use a recipe and will end up with a less haphazard meal of strange flavour combinations. Perhaps. Still, they didn't fall apart on serving (though one or two split open before I steamed them), and the toddler branded them 'nummy'. And me? Well, they were dumplings, of a sort, so I was happy. 

Dum