Celebrity Chef and TV personality Lee Anne Wong was one of the guest speakers during the recent American Culinary Federation conference. She did a demonstration of some of the recipes from her new cookbook, “Dumplings All Day Wong, A Cookbook of Asian Delights from a Top Chef.”
Celebrity Chef and TV personality Lee Anne Wong was one of the guest speakers during the recent American Culinary Federation conference. She did a demonstration of some of the recipes from her new cookbook, “Dumplings All Day Wong, A Cookbook of Asian Delights from a Top Chef.”
Lee Anne’s TV fame comes from appearances on “Top Chef,” The Cooking Channel and Food Network.
Raised in Wynantskill, N.Y., Lee Anne, a second-generation Chinese’s notion of Chinese food was the neighborhood take-out places. We see that on TV. They are eating noodles from a Chinese take-out container.
Occasionally, her parents would take her to a fancy Chinese restaurant, and that is where she fell in love with dumplings. Her journey started by moving to New York City to enter the Fashion Institute of America in fashion design. But her love of cooking changed her life when she graduated from the French Culinary Institute.
Wong’s resume includes working for Marcus Samuelsson’s Aquavit; being on the opening staff of Georges Vongrichten’s Chinese venture, Restaurant 66; French Laundry; Charlie Trotters in Chicago; Nobu; The Four Seasons; Trio in Chicago; Casa Oaxaco in Mexico; and Cap Jaluca in British Virgin Islands. She then returned to the French Culinary Institute to become executive chef of events operations and worked side by side with the famous Jacques Pepin, Andre Soltner, Ferran Adria, Tyler Florence and Martin Yan.
With all those to her credit, you would think she might be a little stuck up, but she is down to earth and very humble.
So, isn’t it interesting that from New York City, working with all those famous chefs, Lee Anne ends up in Honolulu in December 2013 to open Koko Head Café. Open only from 7 a.m.-2:30 p.m. for brunch, with walk-ins only (no reservations), it is located on 1145c 12th Ave. The menu is so interesting, with kimchi bacon cheddar scones, breakfast congee, the kitchen sink salad or breakfast bibimbap, along with the dumpling special of the day.
Lee Anne’s cookbook covers potstickers, gyoza, mandoo, shumai, har gow, wontons, soup dumplings, bao and jin dui. The photos are done beautifully and all look so appetizing.
She creates skins using various vegetables for a beautiful array of colors. Or what about putting nori in the skin for a speckled and interesting added flavor? Red cabbage makes a purple dough, red pepper or tomatoes for a red dough, turmeric for gold or spinach for green dough.
“This simple seafood dumpling is one of my favorites. You can substitute other seafood, such as tuna, shrimp or minced scallop. The gyoza can be sauteed in a little but more teriyaki or served with ponzu sauce on the side.”
Teriyaki Salmon Gyoza
Makes: 30 gyoza
Preferred cooking method: Pan-fried
12 ounces salmon fillet, skinned and boned
1/2 cup minced scallion whites
1 tablespoon cornstarch
1 tablespoon dark sesame oil
1 tablespoon toasted black sesame seeds
1 tablespoon honey
1 tablespoon brown sugar
1 tablespoon dry sake
2 tablespoons mirin
1/4 cup soy sauce
30 round gyoza wrappers
1 1/2 cups water
1 1/2 tablespoons flour
Oil for pan frying
Ponzu Dipping Sauce
Salmon roe for garnish
Mince the salmon fillet by hand or cut it into small chunks and pulse it into a paste in a food processor. Add the minced scallion whites to the salmon. Mix the cornstarch and sesame seeds in a separate bowl and then sprinkle evenly over the salmon.
In another small bowl, whisk together the honey, sugar, sake, mirin and soy sauce until well-combined. Pour over the salmon and mix until the filling is well-combined. Refrigerate until needed.
Fill each wrapper with l heaping teaspoon of filling. Lightly wet the edges of the wrapper and form the dumpling using the classic pleat technique (fold in half, pleat every quarter-inch until closed). Keep the dumplings covered on a lightly floured tray or plate.
In a liquid measuring cup, mix the water and flour until the flour has dissolved into the water and the mixture is cloudy. Heat a large wok over medium-high heat. Add 1 tablespoon vegetable oil to the pan and place 10 dumplings in the pan, lined up next to each other, and cook until the bottoms of the dumplings turn golden brown, about one to two minutes. Add half-cup of the flour and water mixture to the pan, cover the pan with a tight-fitting lid.
Cook the dumplings, covered, until almost all of the water has evaporated and a thin golden crust begins to form in the bottom of the pan, about five to six minutes. Remove the lid and cook until all the water has evaporated. Carefully remove the dumplings from the pan and repeat with the remaining dumplings.
Serve immediately with the ponzu sauce.
Ponzu Dipping Sauce
Makes: 1 1/2 to 2 cups
1/4 cup mirin
1/4 cup rice vinegar
3/4 cup soy sauce
3 inch square kombu seaweed
1/2 cup katsuoboshi (bonito shavings)
1/4 cup yuzu juice
Combine the mirin, rice vinegar, soy sauce, kombu and bonito shavings in a bowl and whisk until the shavings are saturated. Allow the mixture to steep for 24 to 48 hours.
Strain through a fine-mesh sieve or coffee filter. You can keep the base sauce refrigerated for up to a month.
Before serving, add the yuzu juice or fresh citrus juice and stir until well blended.
You can substitute half-cup grapefruit juice plus quarter-cup fresh lemon juice or half-cup fresh lemon juice plus quarter-cup fresh lime juice.
Strain the juice through a fine-mesh sieve to remove any pulp before adding to the ponzu sauce.
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In last week’s column, I jumped the gun on Father’s Day. This Sunday is Father’s Day and here’s wishing all the fathers a Happy Father’s Day!
Email me at audreywilson808@gmail.com.