Talk about your favourite food?
You should mention
Why is it your favourite food?
What are the ingredients?
How they’re cooked?
My favourite food is Shaoxin Leek and Egg Water Dumplings, they always remind me of my childhood. They are very simple to make and just about anyone can do so. To make them a little water is added to flour until it becomes light and fluffy dough. Then the mixture needs to be left for about two hours to rest. While the dough is resting scramble some eggs using a little vegetable oil. Then let the eggs cool down. Next finely cut some leeks and season with salt and pepper and a little soy sauce. When the dough is ready add the leek and egg mixture to the middle of the dumpling and boil gently for about 15 minutes. As a rule 10 are cooked at a time. When the dumplings are ready put them in a bowl and add some of the water they were boiled in to make a thin soup. Garnish with a little more soy sauce and some sesame seeds to improve the flavour.
I sometimes have this meal in a restaurant but most of the time I eat them at home. My Mother thinks she makes the best Shaoxin leek and egg water dumplings but she doesn’t. My Granny makes the best dumplings or at least I think she does. When I visited my Gran as a child she would always have some dumplings ready for me to eat and I never got tired of eating them. My family moved away from Shaoxin and I don’t get to eat my Gran’s dumplings as often as I would like to but I never forget how good they taste.
Shaoxin leek and egg water dumplings are very cheap to make and they were traditionally eaten to celebrate The Chinese New Year. The reason they are eaten at this time is because the leek is seen as a symbol of long life. However these days they are eaten all the year round.
