Wontons made with OmniFoods Plant Based Pork

Posted on October 25, 2021 by rundlea

While it has been available in Asia for some time, OmniFoods plant based pork has finally become available in the U.S. (at WholeFoods and Sprouts markets). There is an interesting article (here) with David Yeung on the business side of OmniFoods and the investments that have gone into the company.

The ground pork product is vegan and made from peas, non-GMO soy, shiitake mushroom and rice.  I mixed half the 11oz package of pork with one tablespoon sesame oil, one tablespoon of soy sauce and a chopped scallion and used the mix to make wontons.  Half of the wontons went into a wonton soup and the other half was boiled and doused with a peanut-sesame sauce.  Half a package made 12 good size wontons.

The OmniFoods pork does not have a strong pork flavor; it has a mild savory flavor up front with some recognizable pork notes on the finish.  When cooked, the texture however is spot on, it looks and eats just like a real pork dumpling filling. I think overall, when mixed with soy sauce, sesame oil and scallions the OmniFoods pork makes a convincing pork dumpling.  I think if I had added a little ginger to the filling the wontons would have been spot on flavor-wise.  Perhaps the best endorsement for OmniFoods pork realness came from my vegan dining companion, who said it was almost too real to eat.  

Posted in Pork, Recipe, Vegan, Vegan Recipe, Vegetarian, Veggie Dumplings, Wontons | 1 Comment

Ratchada Thai & Laos Cuisine, Philadelphia

Posted on September 27, 2021 by rundlea

Ratchada Thai & Laos Cuisine sprang from the closing of Cafe De Laos, when two ex-employees, determined to keep Laotian cuisine represented in the Little Saigon neighborhood of Philly, took over the space and kept the kitchen going.  Even though the Delta surge seems to be in decline, we are trying to only dine outside, so I only briefly peeked into Ratchada and don’t have much to report about the ambiance. The menu has a good selection of vegan and vegetarian options, although this is not readily apparent from their online menu.

The Dumplings:  Ratchada serves three types of dumplings: Thai dumplings filled with ground pork, water chestnuts and Thai herbs; the Tulip dumpling filled with steamed ground shrimp, chicken and crabmeat; and the vegan Buddha dumpling. The Thai dumpling is a golf ball sized ball of pork and chopped water chestnut that is wrapped in a wonton, with the wonton smoothed around the meat so the dumpling is spherical.  These dumplings are deep fried until the wonton has formed a crispy shell around pork, which stays very juicy and fragrant with Thai herbs.  Be careful when biting into these dumplings, they stay really hot inside and also when you crunch through the shell, juice may shoot out. This was a very, very good dumpling.  It came with a thick soy based dipping sauce and a cabbage slaw.  The waitress told us that a lot of people don’t eat the slaw, apparently thinking it is decoration, but you must eat the slaw, it is delicious: sweet, sour, spicy and crunchy. 

We also tried the Buddha dumplings as part of the Veggie Sampler appetizer.  These have a more traditional dumpling shape and are filled with finely chopped edamame, corn and some kind of starchy tuber vegetable and are deep fried.  These dumplings were also really good and were seasoned with a spice or herb I couldn’t identify, but enjoyed.

The waitress reported that all the dumplings an spring rolls, which were also great, are made in house from scratch.

The Location:  Ratchada Thai & Laos Cuisine on 11th street just south of Washington street in the Little Saigon neighborhood.  This the border of the South Philly and Hawthorne neighborhoods. 

        

Posted in Pork, Thai, Vegan, Vegetarian, Veggie Dumplings, Wontons | Leave a comment

Big Catch Poke, Philadelphia PA

Posted on September 7, 2021 by rundlea

One thing I have noticed while walking around Philadelphia is that seemingly random restaurants sell Chinese Bao.  A case in point is Big Catch Poke, which has an 8.5 by 11 piece of printer paper stuck to its front window listing various Bao options.  Big Catch has a cold counter with lots of bins with Poke ingredients that you can choose from to make your bowl and a small warmer cabinet full of Bao.  In the Pre-Times they had two tables of seating up front and a patio out back, but for now they are doing to-go and pick-up service.

The Dumplings:  Big Catch serves four types of Bao: the Big Bao filled with steamed pork, Chinese sausage, egg, mushrooms and celery; Char Sui Bao filled with Cantonese BBQ pork, Hot Chick Bao filled with steamed chicken and “some veggies”; and Mini Pork buns filled with tender pork marinated in “various Chinese sauces”.  You can also get each of these with an avocado salad.       

I only tried two of the Bao offerings, and based on that sampling I think Big Catch is serving some excellent steamed buns.  The Big Bao was really flavorful and I could especially taste the celery and mushrooms, and the bun was beautifully light and fluffy.  My only note on this bun was that the Chinese sausage was incorporated as a single chunk of sausage, and I think the bun filling would have been better if the sausage was chopped into smaller pieces and distributed more in the filling.  But I loved having the half of a boiled egg in the bun as a single piece.  The Big Bao comes with a gold-brown dipping sauce that looks like a peanut sauce but has more of a salty, savory, spicey flavor, which works great with the Bao.  The trio of Mini Pork buns was also really good.  The menu only describes the filling as having been marinated in ‘various Chinese sauces” with no other details, but my guess is that one of them was Hoisin sauce.  My lunch of a Big Bao and the trio of mini buns was delicious and quite filling.  The prices for Bao are also really reasonable, so Big Catch is value for money too.

The Location:  Big Catch Poke is at 1840 E Passyunk Ave which is just north of Mifflin Street.  This is close to the western end of the East Passyunk corridor of restaurants and bars.

Posted in Bao, Buns, Chinese, Philadelphia, Steamed | 1 Comment

Baozza: Frozen Steamed Buns Filled with Pizza Toppings

Posted on September 1, 2021 by rundlea

Rating:

I was not planning to buy this product and review it. But after I posted a picture to Insta of Baozza boxes in the local supermarket freezer case a friend chastised me for not reviewing them. So here we are.

Baozza are the mutant mash-up of Chinese steamed buns (Bao) and pizza toppings (zza) that we did not need. These frozen Bao were developed by two expats living in Beijing and were apparently really successful in China, to the point that Mark Cuban became a significant investor.  They are now available in the U.S. at Sprouts Markets and by delivery through GoldBelly, and are being positioned to take over Hot Pocket’s market.  Baozza come in Cheezy Spinach, Italian Sausage, Pepperoni, BBQ Chicken and Margherita varieties, all of which include mozzarella cheese filling.  The boxes available at Sprouts contain two Baozza, each individually wrapped in a microwave-able plastic steamer pouch.   

I tried the Cheezy Spinach Baozza which are classically Bao shaped, but the dough is dusted with Italian herbs, like a focaccia or garlic bread.  Melted mozzarella cheese is always good, so Baozza have that going for them, and there was a lot of spinach in the mozz filling, so the bao had some semblance of nutrition.  But I found them to be very salty and the bao bread was quite dense and chewy, the exact opposite of a steamed bun. You might ask, what do I expect from a frozen Bao?, but I have had plenty of lighter and fluffier frozen bao over the years.   Per the instructions, I microwaved a Baozza in its plastic pouch for 1 minute and then pan-fried the Baozza to get a golden crust on the bottom.  Unfortunately the bun ruptured a little during the microwaving and mozz leaked out during the pan-frying. 

I have never tried a Hot Pocket, so I do not know how they compare, maybe Baozza will dethrone Hot Pockets.  But this seems like a concept we didn’t need and I was unimpressed with the realization of this Bao-Pizza mash-up concept.

Posted in Bao, Buns, Chinese, Frozen Dumpling Review, Italian, Pan Fried, Steamed, Vegetarian | Leave a comment

Tortilleria San Roman, Philadelphia PA

Posted on August 23, 2021 by rundlea

Since opening in May of 2009, Tortilleria San Roman in Philadelphia’s Italian Market, has been churning out amazing, fresh corn tortillas.  A dough made of corn flour and water is put into a long squeaky conveyor belt that cuts and cooks the dough into tortillas and it seems like the machine runs all day long.  A pack of 15 fresh tortillas costs $1.50 and a pack of 30 costs $2.25, so this is the best bargain in the Italian Market. These are the best tortillas I have ever eaten.  Tortilleria San Roman is a tiny storefront that also sells salsa, tortilla chips, hot sause, Tajin seasoning and tlacoyo, the last of which is what grabbed our interest.

Tlacoyo are an oval shaped hand pie made by folding a tortilla around a filling and pinching it closed and then baking or frying the pie. Traditional fillings are cheese, fava beans, cooked ground beans, and chicharron. They are very reminiscent of pupusa, pasty and calzone.

The Dumplings:  Tortilleria San Roman makes it’s Tlacoyo with its corn tortillas and refried pinto beans and sells them six to a package for $4.50.  I asked the cashier how to prepare them and he said to simply microwave them and put some salsa on top.  The filling was not the most flavorful refried beans I have tried and I felt that the beans needed more seasoning. I should have listened to the cashier and picked up some salsa to put on top of them, but I made a quick dressing from Mayo, hot sauce and vinegar which livened up the dish.  But two Tlacoyo made a mildly savory and filling lunch and I think they would be excellent with some of the house salsa.  Tortilleria San Roman’s Tlacoyo are vegan.

The Location:  Tortilleria San Roman is located in Philadelphia’s Italian Market on the North-East corner of Carpenter Street and Ninth Street.       

  • Pinto bean filling
  • Tlacoyo
  • Tlacoyo with a spicy, sour mayo dressing
Posted in Pasty, Philadelphia, Piroshky, Tlacoyo | Tagged , | Leave a comment

O’Food Brand Hot Pepper Japchae Dumplings

Posted on July 26, 2021 by rundlea

Rating:

I hit Philadelphia’s H-Mart for the first time to stock up on groceries and was blown away by the expansiveness of this H-Mart.  It has the largest wall of freezer cabinets dedicated to dumplings I have ever seen, with the bags and boxes organized by country.  For some reason the O’Foods Hot Pepper Japchae Dumplings caught my eye.  O’Food is the global brand representing Korea’s Chung Jung One food brand, which was founded on 1956 in Sunchang province as a fermenter making Gochujang and Doenjang paste.    

As suggested by their name, these dumplings are primarily filled with glass noodles with a smattering of very finely chopped vegetables, which the package lists as: chives, radish, carrot, soy protein, mushroom and garlic.  These dumplings don’t have a lot of flavor except for spicy heat from the green paprika, chili, and black pepper in the filling, and have a mushy texture. Overall these dumplings were not great, but can be cooked in a microwave in their package in about three minutes, so they are very convenient. If you eat them with a strong soy and vinegar dipping sauce, these packages of six dumplings make an OK snack.  

Posted in Frozen Dumpling Review, Korea, Korean | 1 Comment

Paprica Modern Mediterranean Grill

Posted on July 13, 2021 by rundlea

Back in 2019 I posted about a PhillyMag.com article on the ascendance of manti dumplings in Philadelphia. Manti are small dumplings found in Turkish, Armenian, Uzbek, and other Middle Eastern and central Asian cuisines.  Wikipedia has an extensive discussion on the many forms of manti, their origins and possible links to Korean mandu, Chinese mantou, and Japanese manjū.  I recently hit Paprica Modern Mediterranean Grill, one of the restaurants featured in the PhillyMag article. 

Paprica serves lamb and spinach manti and I tried the spinach variety.  Even though I am fully vaccinated, with the delta variant spreading quickly I am wary of indoor dining.  So I got the manti to go and happily they stood up to a little extra steaming in their container on my trip home.  The spinach filling had a discernable spinach, health giving, flavor and had a good texture, and wasn’t just mush inside the wrapper.  The manti came doused with a mild, too timid, chili sauce and with a side of yogurt sauce.  The yogurt sauce was an excellent accompaniment drizzled on top the of the manti, it had a light consistency and a mild sourness that I liked, but it fully quenched the heat of the chili sauce.  I think a spicier chili sauce would have played well with the yogurt.  Paprica serves a large portion of manti that covered dinner and a left-overs lunch the next day, so they are a bargain.  Re-heating the manti in a micro-wave works well.

Paprica is on Samson Street between 8th and 9th in Center City Philadelphia.      

Posted in manti, Philadelphia, Vegetarian, Veggie Dumplings | Leave a comment

Singaporean Rice Dumplings

Posted on July 12, 2021 by rundlea

Singapore’s Ministry of Culture, Community and Youth shared a graphic to its Facebook feed showing the six types of popular Zong Zi (rice dumplings) from various dialect and ethnic groups in Singapore.  Zong Zi are made of glutinous rice stuffed with a variety of fillings and wrapped in bamboo leaves, or other large flat leaves, and are cooked via steaming or boiling. In the U.S. you will see them on Chinese menus listed as sticky rice dumplings or steamed sticky rice with Chinese Sausage. Zong Zi are most commonly eaten during the Duanwu Festival, or Dumpling Festival or Dragon Boat Festival, which occurs on the fifth day of the fifth month of the Chinese lunar calendar, but this dish was also a form of “fast food” for many farmers working in the fields (much like the Pasty for Cornish miners).  These rice dumplings can range from sweet and desert like with red bean filling, to savory and salty with pork belly and salted duck egg filling, to spicy and numbing with Sichuan peppercorn, chili powder, and preserved pork filling.

Posted in News, Rice Dumplings, Sticky Rice | Leave a comment

Janik’s Pierogi Cafe, Westfield, MA

Posted on June 8, 2021 by rundlea

Janik’s has been serving up classic Polish dishes since 2015. You can get Borsch, Lecho, Bigos, Golabki, Zapiekanka, Kielbasa and Pierogi, all made from old fashioned recipes that have been in the family for generations. They also serve classic breakfast cafe/dinner food and Panini and they sell traditional Polish ceramics like tea cups and bowls. Fully cooked cold or frozen to-go pierogi are also available to be pan-fried at home. Under COVID spacing requirements they have table seating for about a dozen people.

The Dumplings: The Pierogis come boiled or boiled and then fried, in orders of 6, 9 or 12, with sour cream added for $1, bacon bits added for $1 or loaded with sour cream, bacon bits, and caramelized onions for $2. It is not listed on the menu, but you can also get a side of blue cheese dressing. The choices of filling are: Traditional Farmer’s Cheese & Potato; Sauerkraut & Mushroom; Sauerkraut & Kielbasa; Veggie with Spinach, Red Peppers, Mushrooms, Onions and Cabbage; Spinach & Cheese; Buffalo Chicken; and Fruit which are made as ordered. On the breakfast menu they have breakfast pierogi which are described as 3 pierogi drowned in eggs & bacon on a pan, served with rye bread.

I got an order of six Pierogi, three of the traditional and three of sauerkraut and mushroom. The Pierogis were fat and well stuffed with filling and came smothered in butter and sweet sautéed onions. I also got the bacon bits and the side of blue cheese. After I took the pictures below I poured the blue cheese dressing on top of everything. The dish was delicious, but to be honest a little too rich and I probably did not need the blue cheese on top of the butter. The slight sourness of the excellent sauerkraut pierogi cut the richness and was a welcome contrast to the dairy topping I had created. The traditional pierogi was well seasoned but I found the farmer’s cheese to be a little bland, I would have preferred a sharper cheese. Next time I am going to get the 9 pierogi order, hold the blue cheese.

The Location: Janik’s Pierogi Cafe is in the heart of Westfield, MA on Main Street about a block from Elm Street. It is about a 5 minute drive from the Mass Turnpike (Exit 41) and well worth getting off the highway and visiting for lunch or dinner.

Posted in Pierogi | 1 Comment

5-year Aged Korean Soy Sauce

Posted on February 22, 2021 by rundlea

3- and 5-year aged soy sauce

I recently received bottles of Korean three- and five-year aged soy sauce from Gotham Grove and immediately cracked open the five-year bottle.  The company’s web-page describes the five-year aged soy sauce as having a Stiltonesque smell, a deep and complex flavor with a hint of sweetness and less saltiness than regular soy sauce.  Most of this description is correct, but I would describe the sauce as having a strong Stilton or blue-cheese smell with a lot of umami flavor.  For my palate it tasted saltier than the regular store bought soy sauce and does have a thicker, velvetier texture than store bought sauces.  I used a table spoon to make a dumpling dipping sauce and it was excellent, I was sipping the dipping sauce from a spoon.

The back-story on this sauce is that it is made using a 600-year old recipe at a family owned business, Artisan Fermentary, in Cheongju South Korea, led by a matriarch named Jonghee Kim. The soy sauce is made simply from soybeans, sea salt and water and fermented for 5-years in traditional Korean earthenware urns.  I tried to find out more about Jonghee Kim and Artisan Fermentary, but the only mentions of her or the business on the English speaking web are on Grove Garden and another similar importer’s website.

 

Posted in Dipping Sauce | Leave a comment