Party food

[breakingnews]

If you have a chinese grocery store nearby, dumplings make the ultimate party food, I've found. You can buy bags of 25 or so at the store; easiest is to boil them, but I prefer fried (which takes a bit more effort - I can instruct if that might actually happen for you).

If no access to an ethnic store, many supermarkets carry commercial brands of shui mai (that's how they sometimes spell it; it's actually 'xiao mai,' pronounced 'shao my'), those little round shrimp and pork dumplings served at dim sum. Those should be steamed.

And if you can't find any of that - time to roll up the sleeves and make 'em! I do a dumpling party every year or so, but only once have I actually tried making the skins. Easiest to buy them pre-packaged, but when you're short on resources, you must go to extremes.

The kicker is the dipping sauce. I use:
Chopped garlic
Crushed red pepper (or chili oil)
Chopped scallions
Soy sauce (straight up kikoman, none of that low sodium nonsense)
Rice vinegar
Sesame oil

[2 cents]

[Beestie]

Originally Posted by breakingnews

The kicker is the dipping sauce. I use:
Chopped garlic
Crushed red pepper (or chili oil)
Chopped scallions
Soy sauce (straight up kikoman, none of that low sodium nonsense)
Rice vinegar
Sesame oil

That is my favorite dipping sauce of all time but every time I try to make it I screw it up. What are the exact proportions of seasame oil/soy (I use mushroom soy) and rice vinegar???

[breakingnews]

Originally Posted by Beestie

That is my favorite dipping sauce of all time but every time I try to make it I screw it up. What are the exact proportions of seasame oil/soy (I use mushroom soy) and rice vinegar???

I would say maybe ...
Soy sauce 5
Vinegar 2
Sesame oil 1.5

Oil is usually the "dealbreaker." It's needed to bring out flavor in cooked dishes, but too much in sauce is gross.