DUMPING

neighbors,
i made a batch of from-scratch pouches of pure awesome yesterday.
uh-huh.
i needed it.
food fixes what's wrong,
when you're defeated and depleted and in need of some nourishing nutrients.
i was, and i was, and i was,
so i made it work, for myself, all by myself.
word up.
i'm sayin',
the workday tattooing was tough,
the wet rainy weather was rough,
the morning came too soon,
and the nighttime was dark early,
and damnably doo-doo buttery for far too long.
what's the solution?
obviously,
it's dumps on your face.
duh.
a little sweet and sour and spicy sunday fun picked me right on up.
guys,
check the dumplestiltskin-type teleport:

WU-TANG!!
i'm not afraid to eat late,.
not now that these enormous daylight-simulating superbulbs are blazing bright
across the Folk Life & Liberty Fortress kitchen photolaboratory.
mmmmhmmmmm.
but,
those spicy noods, dudes.
fat udons, in a brothy batch of rice wine vinegar, mae-ploy sauce, soy, and sesame oil,
tossed with red chilis and orange and yellow sweet peppers,
plus some garlic and onion?
expert by itself, for sure-
but, i didn't stop there.
i couldn't.
rules is rules.
i also had purple cabbage shreds,
fried garlic slabs,
and cayenne-agave-gazed tofu
^pan-fried,
soy-splashed, and then agave-drizzled with cayenne to activate the hottness!!
with thinny-thin-thin cucumbers to cool it off,
sesame-seeded purple brussies and broccolini to heat it back up again,
and then scallion and cilantro sprankles to make it exxxtra-sexy.
heck yes!
all of that was an epic endeavor to eat more than i should,
but,
too much is the right amount,
and i'm not scared to get gross on a plate of heroic shark-gluttony-
so i also made those dumps, and i am super glad i did.
real talk.
dump dough goes a little like this:
***********
1/2 cup a.p. flour
1/4 cup white rice flour
1/4 cup brown rice flour
1 tsp xantham gum
a pinch of salt
1/2 cup warm water
that's all.
***********
you may need to add more water or flour,
but you should have yourself a stickyish dough pretty readily.
flour the F* out of a falt surface, roll that sh!t out,
and cut up some 3" circles like you really mean it.
i had eleven, all told, from this batch of from-scratch big action.
i also had some expert filling on the menu, too.
minced onion, and tiny slivers of exxxtra0super-frim tofu,
sauteed in toasted sesame oil,
with baby spinach and collard greens, chiffonaded into ribbons.
with GPOP, a splash of soy, fresh crushed garlic and scallions,
and sesame seeds to put some true grit in with the roughage.
damn.
that's the stuff.
stuffed, sealed, and seared in a very hot pan for a few minutes,
in a sesame-vegetable oil blend,
before being steamed to perfection by 4 tablespoons of hot water,
poured in and covered, until the liquid disappeared.
i like to flip 'em at this point, and let every side get a little browned.
that's just me,
bu then again,
i'm sort of a dumpling guru, so maybe take my suggestion if you're so inclined.
you won't be disappointed.
DUMPS ARE DOPE.
that's no joke.
the sauce?
sriracha, soy, sesame oil, a pinch of sugar, GPOP,
a drop of liquid smoke, and a few seeds to sprank it up.
that's the stuff.
-
i like a huge plateful.
i do.
i mean, it's all only veggies and grains,
so i always feel pretty guiltless about really tearing into it.
i just want a lot of everything.
that's my move.
i make a ton because i want a ton,
and since it's just me,
it's all for me.
....that sort of works out.
***********
with thanksgiving creeping right up,
i'm not sure when i'll have a free second to really do much
besides cook for the next few days.
well,
that and drive back and forth a whole bunch.
i do what i need to, because family togetherness with my kids
is a welcome respite from the rough routine of every other flipping day.
we all need it, and we're about to get it.
i'm most thankful for that, above everything else.
this time we have been given comes at a cost,
but it's one i'll gladly pay, every day,
for the minutes we make matter more as a team;
never quiet, never soft.....