Vegetable Dumplings (& spring rolls & peanut sauce)

Sweet, Sour, Spicy, Salty Vegetable Dumplings

2 cups flour

1/2 cup water

1 tsp salt

~ 2 cups vegetables of your choice, finely sliced/diced (we used zucchini, carrot, onion, red pepper, and cabbage)

3 cloves garlic, minced

small-mouse-size hunk of ginger, minced

1/2 jalapeno, minced

1/2 block tofu (optional)

rice wine vinegar to taste

sugar to taste

soy sauce to taste

Mix the flour, salt and water with your hands, adding a bit more water until it comes together in a stiff dough (do not let it get soft and sticky). Knead until very smooth, then cover with a damp towel and set aside.

Sautee all of your veggies on high heat with some salt and pepper - if they're all cut about the same size, you can just throw em all in at once. After a few minutes add a bit of sugar plus the garlic, ginger, and jalapeno. Cook until everything is pretty soft, then turn off the heat and stir in the vinegar and soy sauce a little at a time until it tastes good to you. Add more sugar if it needs it.

Flatten your dough block a bit into a rectangle, then cut it into strips. cut each strip into bouncy-ball size hunks (you'll get a feel for the right size as you go). Roll each hunk out into a rough circle, thin but not so much that it tears - the edges should be thinner than the middle. Plop some filling in the middle, fold it in half, and seal the edges - you can pleat 'em all fancy if you want, look at some pictures to figure it out.

to steam em, put a bit of oil or a cabbage leaf down in the bottom of a big pan, arrange them in it, add about 1/2 cup of water, cover, and steam on medium heat for 5-10 minutes or until they're all the way soft. If you want to fry them at this point, let the water evaporate from the pan and add a few tablespoons of oil to the pan, lifting the dumplings to get it underneath. Fry until golden on the bottom, blot on some paper towels, and enjoy!