Dim Sum at Chinatown Brasserie

I had a lovely dinner with my friend Kara last night at Chinatown Brasserie. I'd walked by the columned building on Great Jones a hundred times and always wanted to try it, then it came up on Savored so I booked right away. (If you book with Savored, you pay $10 for the reservation but then you get 30% off your meal.) The restaurant was huge! It seemed like a different era of New York restaurants because everything now is small and cozy. This was a big space with high ceilings and several different areas, a bar, a lounge, a downstairs with a big koi pond...

We felt very fancy in this big, grand spot. The menu is pretty big with lots of Chinese dishes, but we stuck to dim sum. We got beef satay with coconut curry sauce, roasted pork buns, pork and shrimp dumplings, and vegetable spring rolls. All very tasty! Also, about half way through, the waiter asked if we wanted chili sauce and brought over a really hot red oil and a chili paste. I love chili sauce, so this was a great addition. The sweet and fluffy pork buns were great with a few drops of red oil. Also, the dumplings came with the most delicious dipping sauce and there were these awesome roasted onions in it. The satay was caramelized and came with a healthy dose of cilantro, which Kara and I both love. The spring rolls were crispy and tasty. All great, and I love dim sum because you can try a bunch of different things.

Since it was a really warm September night, we ordered rosé to toast the end of summer. It was a really delicious rosé! Triennes. Of course, didn't get the year, but highly recommended!

And when the bill came, we saved $20. Not bad.

Chinese Dinner - pork dumplings, scallion pancakes, and general tso's chicken

I like having everyone over for themed dinners every once in a while, and this time I chose Chinese. I hadn't made dumplings in a while and was ready to do it again. It's a bit of a process, but homemade dumplings are really amazing and worth the effort of assembly. The scallion pancakes were inspired by reading the in season blog on NYMag and the General Tso's is the Martha Stewart version - a quick, healthy weeknight meal usually, but I have 8 people coming and wanted to add one more dish in. It was also a Friday, so I didn't have too much time to cook after work. To save time, I started the dumplings in the morning. For the best dumplings, you want a ratio of half meat half other stuff (veggies etc). Sorry I didn't take more pictures - but they were delicious and everyone seemed to love them. My advice, though, is don't put too many dumplings in the steamer at once. I got a little overzealous and they all stuck together. Still tasty, just messy!

Pork Dumplings
Ingredients:
1 lb ground pork
1 bunch scallions, thinly sliced
handfull of canned water chestnuts, chopped
1/2 cup cilantro, chopped
2 tbsp soy sauce
2 tbsp sesame oil
1-2 tbsp grated fresh ginger
1 tbsp rice wine vinegar
1 tsp sugar
1 clove garlic, minced
1/4 cup cabbage, minced
2 tbsp corn starch
1 egg white, beaten
sprinkle of salt
squirt of sriracha
wanton/dumpling wrappers, thawed

Directions:
Mix all of the ingredients besides the pork, egg, and cornstarch. Taste and adjust seasonings. Add the pork, egg, and cornstarch and gently blend with your hands - don't over do it, just until it's all incorporated. Take the wanton wrappers and a small bowl of water. Dip your finger in the water and trace around the edge of the wrapper. Put a spoonfull of the mixture into the middle of the wrapper and fold it in half, pressing the edges together into a half moon, trying to get all the air out. Then wet the two corners and fold them in slightly and press. Keep dumplings on a dry tray while assembling
To cook, if you have a big bamboo steamer, great! Line it with big cabbage leaves and fill it with dumplings, place it over a pan filled with simmering water and let them steam. If you don't have one of these (like most normal people) you can just drop them in boiling water until they float. For a crisp, once they're cooked through you can throw them into a hot pan w/ a little oil and get a crispy edge on them.

Dipping sauce
Ingredients:
Soy sauce
sesame oil
sugar
rice wine vinegar
red pepper flakes

Directions:
Pour some soy sauce into a bowl. Add a splash of vinegar, a pinch of sugar, a couple drops of sesame oil, and a few red pepper flakes. Taste and adjust seasoning.