MUSHROOM & PICKLED LEEK DUMPLINGS, BROTH & CHARRED GARLIC CHIVE OIL
SERVES 4 / PREPARATION 25 MINUTES / COOKING 1 HOUR 10 MINUTES
This dish utilises every last bit, using mushrooms and leek first to flavour the broth, then to fill the dumplings.
1 leek
8 shiitake mushrooms, quartered
8 button mushrooms, quartered
2½cm piece kelp (or use dried wakame)
⅓ cup white wine vinegar
½ cup sugar, plus 1 tablespoon extra
1 cup red wine (old wine that no one wants to drink is perfect)
2 tablespoons oil, for frying
2 tablespoons soy sauce
1 handful (roughly 30g) garlic chives, including flowers 100ml rice bran oil
8 large collard or silverbeet leaves
BROTH Slice the green half of the leek. Heat a pot and add the mushrooms and sliced leek but no oil. Add a few pinches of salt and move the veges around, then just let them sit there to build up a nice bit of caramelisation on the bottom of the pot. Just before golden brown turns to burnt, pour in 2 litres cold water, scraping up the golden brown bits with a wooden spoon. Add the kelp and plenty of salt and pepper. Simmer for at least 30 minutes – the longer the time, the deeper the flavour. Pour through a fine strainer and set aside both the broth and the strainings.
DUMPLING FILLING Cut the rest of the leek into a fine dice. Bring the vinegar, 1 tablespoon sugar, ⅔ cup water and 1 teaspoon salt to the boil and pour it over the leek. Set aside to pickle, about 20 minutes. Bring the wine and ½ cup of sugar to the boil and reduce by half. Discard the kelp and put the rest of the broth strainings into a blender or food processor. Pulse until it has a texture similar to mince. Heat the oil in a pan and add this mixture. Cook most of the moisture out of the mix by moving it around and letting the steam escape. Once it is drier and less gluggy, stir in the soy sauce and the reduced wine. Let it simmer for a moment then remove from the heat. Add 6 tablespoons of drained pickled leek and season to taste.
CHARRED GARLIC CHIVE OIL Chop the garlic chives into 2½cm-long pieces and lay on a roasting tray. Use a blowtorch (if you have one) to singe them. If not, put them under a super-hot grill to hit them quick and hard, pressing a toasty char into the surface but retaining some of the freshness to keep the oniony bite. Transfer to a blender with the rice bran oil, blend for a few minutes and strain through a fine cloth.
TO SERVE Heat the oven to 180℃. Bring a pot of salted water to the boil and get a bowl of iced water ready. Prepare the collard leaves by trimming out the stalks and dividing each side into 2 or 3 square-ish dumpling wrappers. A few at a time, dunk the collards into the boiling water for a few moments, then straight into the iced water. You’re not cooking them at this point, just rendering them malleable. Drain and lay out on a towel. Spoon about a teaspoon of filling into the centre of each wrapper, and roll them up by carefully gathering each corner and tucking them all tightly underneath. Place the dumplings on a tray and put into the oven for a few minutes to warm through. Put 5 dumplings in each bowl, pour over hot broth and add garlic chive oil in and around. I use garlic chive flowers to garnish.