Assembled & Ready to be Steamed.For a fast and satisfying lunch or dinner these are perfect. Although it may seem like a lot of salt, don't skimp ~ the cucumber and meat mixture requires it.
Ingredients:
Hot house (long) Green Cucumber
about 3 tablespoons minced/ground pork (raw)
about 3 tablespoons (raw) shrimp
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons Soy Sauce
3 or 4 garlic cloves
Scant 1 teaspoon cracked black pepper corn, (or 1/2 to 3/4 teaspoons coarsely ground pepper)
Method:
Cut the cucumber into 1 1/2-inch lengths and scoop out the inside. (Melon baller works very well.) You want to leave the bottom intact, so you are actually making cuke "cups" to hold the filling.* Reserve scooped out interior, and keep separate from the raw meat.
Mince the shrimp and mix with the ground pork (Although not authentic I do the mixing in the bowl of food processor fitted with the metal blade.)
Mince garlic with coarsely cracked black pepper corns on chopping board or in a mortar (or in the food processor).
Finely chop chives or scallions, by hand.
Add garlic and pepper, salt, soy sauce and chives/scallions to meat and mix well.
Fill the hollowed out cucumber with the stuffing:
Place them filling side up in shallow bowl to catch juices, set on rack of steamer and steam for 10 to 14 minutes. (I use instant read thermometer to test meat, should read 140-degrees (F) or above.)
Serve with hot rice
Can serve with sweet Chili Sauce for dipping
* Note: You may chop the scooped out cucumber and use it as a salad to go alongside, dressed with rice vinegar, salt, sugar & pepper or hot chili pepper. Serve chilled. Budget Bonus!
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a totally new looking dish to me, must taste great!
ReplyDeleteI've never seen that before, Mary! Interesting! My first thought was cooked cukes? but it looks so deliciously good! You definitely widen my horizons, Mary!
ReplyDeleteWe love dumplings..what a novel way to expand the repertoire.Bet they are so good.
ReplyDeleteWow, this looks so unique! I love the little balls of cucumber, did you save those and use them for anything?
ReplyDeleteJain & Carol, When eating out I avoided trying these for a very long time, the thought of hot COOKED cucumber just didn't seem appealing. Surprisingly, it becomes very mellow and compliments the filling ingredients very well.
ReplyDeleteHi Monique! What a great idea, I'm sure any recipe you might use for meat dumplings would work in this recipe. I was thinking that I forgot to mention that you can use chicken, turkey or all shrimp, too. I do think the ground pork provides the fat to keep these juicy, but as long as they are not overcooked I'm sure it could be omitted.
Hi Andrea~ yes, most definitely! Perhaps you didn't see my note at the end of the post? The little balls can be dressed with a traditional rice vinegar and eaten as a salad. No waste! :) I love that.
Sorry, I did see your note, what I mean to write was have you thought of anything to use them for in their adorable ball form? But I guess you could just not chop them up. I wonder if you could pair them with melon balls in a salad or something, or if that would be a weird combination. LOVE your blog!
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