Fusion: Beginners Luck

Challenge: Fusion

Challenger: Cindy Houck

Recipe: Italian beef stuffed Steamed dumplings with dipping sauce

Cultural fusion: Americanized East meets Americanized Italian

Preparation Time: With pre-prepared beef 35 minutes prep/cooking time.

Ok folks...I got my inspiration from this recipe found on Tasty Kitchen

http://thepioneerwoman.com/tasty-kitchen/recipes/appetizers-and-snacks/siopao-with-sassy-sauce/

which described the tasty treat as a meat filled filipino snack with a dipping sauce.

I had just made a delicious italian pulled beef recipe and determined that it could conceivably be used as a filling for a similar treat.

Italian Pulled Beef

• 1 ( 5 lb) beef roast (english roast works well...anything that's not very fatty)
• 1 jar pepperonchini peppers
• 2 packets good seasoning italian dressing packet
• 2 packets Au Jus dry sauce packet

Place beef roast butchered of most visible fat into a medium crock pot. Pour italian dressing packets and Au Jus packets into pot. Pour Pepperonchini pepper liquid into pot plus enough water to almost cover the roast. Turn on high for 5-8 hours. The last hour of cooking, de-stem pepperonchini peppers and add to the pot. (This is excellent served on a crusty roll with provolone cheese.)

Steamed Dumplings with Dipping Sauce

This is the host of characters:

Italian pulled beef ( I used about a cup)

El-cheapo buttermilk biscuits

Grape jelly

Hot chili garlic sauce (Sriracha)

Ginger

Step 1:

The biscuits were rolled into a reasonable 1/4 inch thick round. A heaping tablespoon of pulled beef was place in the middle.

Step 2:

2 sides were brought together and pinched (e.g. the left and right side) and the 2 remaining sides were brought together and pinched (e.g. the top and bottom side) to form a happy little package. Complete process with all 10 biscuits.

(don't they look cute)

Step 4: Place all dumplings seam side down in a veggie steamer lined with parchment paper. Have 2 cups of water boiling away prior to placement. Steam dumplings for 20 minutes.

Step 5:

While waiting for dumplings to steam create the dipping sauce:

In a small sauce pan place 6 tablespoons grape jelly (roughly 1/2 the jar) with 1 tablespoon hot chili garlic sauce (add more if you like things hot, much less if you don't). Add several slices peeled chopped fresh garlic. Cook on low heat until jelly is melted and sauce begins to thicken.

The dumplings plump up during the steaming process and firm up also. The dough is cooked through and surprisingly tasty.

I rolled my dough too thin, so they are not as pretty as they should be (2 were OK for pretty presentation) but damn they were good.

Here they are swimming in sauce and ready for consumption! My official taste testers found them to be quite tasty...and I found them very easy all in all to make.