I love dumplings. I’ve made them once before. They’re not hard, but they sure are time-consuming. It’s so much easier just to pick up a box of them in the frozen food aisle, pop them in the microwave and voila! While I’ve been known to do this on occasion, it never crossed my mind to use these frozen dumplings as an ingredient in something else. And then a recipe called “One Pan Dumpling Dinner” from allrecipes.com came across my radar and it’s a game-changer.
Incidentally, this was my first experience cooking with bok choy, but it won’t be my last. Not having purchased it before, I wasn’t really sure what to look for. The first one I picked up was a wilted, pitiful mess that wasn’t very appealing. Fortunately, I’d run into Donna, a friend from church, and being much more familiar with the vegetable, she picked out a good one for me. She added that bok choy is very good in stir-fries. I’ll have to remember that. We love a good stir-fry.
The casserole probably would have been fine on its own, but I wanted to make a proper side dish to go with it and the most obvious one to me was fried rice. It was a different fried rice recipe than what I’ve used before, but I liked it and will cook it again, probably cutting back on the oil a little bit.
This ended up being a flavorful and filling meal and if you’re looking for the perfect combo to push you a little outside your comfort zone, this may be just the ticket.
One Pan Dumpling Dinner
- 2 teaspoons minced fresh garlic
- 1 teaspoon minced fresh ginger
- 3 tablespoons soy sauce, or to taste
- 1 tablespoon rice vinegar
- 2 teaspoons toasted sesame oil
- 2 tablespoons red curry paste
- ½ cup full-fat coconut milk or cream
- ½ cup water
- 5 cups chopped bok choy
- 20 frozen chicken and vegetable or pork and vegetable dumplings
- 3 tablespoons chopped cilantro
- ¼ cup thinly sliced green onion
- 2 teaspoons toasted sesame seeds
- chili crunch oil (optional)
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.
Stir together garlic, ginger, soy sauce, rice vinegar, sesame oil, curry paste, coconut milk, and water in a casserole dish until well combined. Add bok choy and toss lightly. Top with dumplings and cover the casserole with foil.
Bake in the preheated oven until dumplings are heated through at the center, about 25 minutes.
Divide dumplings and bok choy among serving plates and top with sauce from the pan. Top evenly with cilantro, green onions, sesame seeds, and drizzle with chili crunch oil.
Fried Rice
- 3 cloves garlic
- 2 medium scallions
- 2 tablespoons plus 1 teaspoon vegetable oil, divided
- 1 cup frozen peas and carrots (do not thaw)
- 4 cups cold cooked brown or white rice
- 1 tablespoon soy sauce or tamari
- 1½ teaspoons kosher salt, plus more as needed
- ¾ teaspoon ground white pepper, plus more as needed
- 2 large eggs
- ¾ teaspoon toasted sesame oil
Mince 3 garlic cloves. Thinly slice 2 medium scallions crosswise on a slight diagonal, keeping the white parts separate from the light and dark green parts.
Heat 2 tablespoons of the vegetable oil in a large wok or nonstick frying pan over medium-high heat until shimmering. Add the garlic, scallion whites, and 1 cup frozen peas and carrots. Stir-fry until the carrots and peas are thawed, about 2 minutes.
Add 4 cups of cold cooked rice, breaking up any clumps of rice with your fingers as you add it in. Toss to combine with the peas and carrots. Add 1 tablespoon soy sauce, 1½ teaspoons kosher salt, and ¾ teaspoon ground white pepper. Stir to combine.
Push the fried rice to one side of the pan. Add the remaining 1 teaspoon vegetable oil to the now-empty side of the pan, then crack 2 large eggs into the oil. Scramble into fluffy curds until almost set.
Turn off the heat and stir the eggs into the fried rice, breaking up any large pieces of egg. Drizzle with ¾ teaspoon toasted sesame oil and toss to combine. Taste and season with more kosher salt and white pepper as needed. Garnish with the reserved scallion greens.
