Best Aushak Scallion Dumplings Recipes

AUSHAK (AFGHAN LEEK AND SCALLION DUMPLINGS)

Steps:

• In a large skillet, drizzle the oil over medium heat. Add the sliced scallions and leeks. Cook, stirring often, until softened, 7-10 minutes. Add the garlic and cook until just fragrant, 30 seconds to 1 minute. Season with salt, pepper, and ground chili. Remove to a bowl and allow to cool to room temperature.
• Line a large baking sheet with parchment.
• Place a teaspoon of the cooled filling in the center of a wonton wrapper. Wet the edges lightly with water and fold the wrapper in half to enclose the filling. Press out any air pockets and push down along the edges to seal.
• Place the dumpling on the prepared baking sheet and repeat with remaining filling/wrappers, arranging them in a single layer. If not using immediately, cover the baking sheet with plastic and refrigerate for up to a day or freeze until solid, transfer to a freezer bag, and store for a couple of months.
• Drizzle the oil in a large skillet. Add the onion and cook, stirring occasionally, until softened. Add the garlic and cook until just fragrant, 30 seconds to 1 minute.
• Add the ground meat, breaking it apart into small pieces with a spoon, and cook until no longer pink. Season with salt, pepper, paprika, and coriander. Stir in the tomato sauce and cook, stirring occasionally, until heated through and thickened. Season to taste, adding more salt if needed.
• Decrease the heat to the lowest setting to keep warm while the remaining ingredients are prepared.
• In a small bowl, mix together the yogurt, garlic, dried mint, and salt. Season as needed to taste.
• Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Add the dumplings in batches, being careful not to overcrowd. Boil over medium-low heat until heated through, 2-3 minutes. Gently remove with a slotted spoon.
• Serve the dumplings warm topped with the meat sauce, yogurt, and fresh mint.

PORK AND SCALLION DUMPLINGS

Steps:

• For the wrappers: Stir together the flour and 1/2 teaspoon salt in a medium bowl. Pour in the hot water and stir vigorously with a rubber spatula until a shaggy dough begins to form. Use your hands to knead the dough in the bowl, while picking up flour and dough that sticks on the sides of the bowl, about 2 minutes. Turn out the dough onto a clean work surface (there's no need to dust the work surface with flour; the dough should be soft and elastic enough that kneading is very easy). Continue to knead your dough until it becomes smooth, 3 to 5 minutes. Place the dough ball in a medium bowl, cover loosely with a barely damp paper towel and then cover tightly with plastic wrap. Let rest for 20 minutes while you prepare the filling.
• For the filling: Stir together the ground pork, scallions, garlic, ginger, oyster sauce, sesame oil, soy sauce and a few grinds of black pepper in a small bowl until well combined. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate until you're ready to assemble the dumplings.
• For the dipping sauce: Whisk together the soy sauce, honey, sesame seeds, sriracha and scallions in a liquid measuring cup until combined. Set aside until ready to serve.
• Turn out the wrapper dough onto a clean worksurface, then roll out into a log about 8 inches long and 1 1/4 inches in diameter. Use a chef's knife or bench scraper to cut the log into 8 even pieces. Take 1 piece, gather up the edges and pinch together, forming a taut, round surface. Roll between your palms to form a ball, then flatten into a disk. Use a rolling pin to roll out the dough into a 3 3/4-to-4-inch-wide disk. Try to make the edges of the wrapper thinner than the center. Repeat with the remaining dough. Keep the wrappers covered (plastic wrap or a barely damp paper towel) to prevent them from drying out.
• Divide the filling among the 8 wrappers, about 2 teaspoons per dumpling. Fold the dough over the filling to create a half moon, then pleat the curved edge and pinch to seal. Set the dumplings aside on a parchment-paper-lined baking sheet (make sure the dumplings don't touch, as fresh wrapper dough can be sticky).
• Heat the oil in a medium nonstick skillet over medium heat. Once the oil is shimmering, add the dumplings, flat side down, then cook until golden brown, 2 to 3 minutes. Carefully pour in 1/4 cup water, cover immediately with a tight-fitting lid and then reduce the heat to low. Cook until almost all the water has evaporated, the dough is tender and shiny and the filling is cooked through, about 6 minutes. Remove the lid, then continue to cook until all the remaining water has evaporated, and the bottom of the dumplings crisp up again, 1 to 2 minutes more.
• Transfer the dumplings to a serving plate and serve with the sauce on the side for dipping.

AUSHAK

Steps:

• Make the dumpling filling with the scallions, salt, pepper, red pepper flakes, and garlic, mixing in a bowl.
• Place this filling into wonton wrappers, pressing them into half circles.
• For the meat sauce, sauté onion until golden, then add beef, garlic, coriander, and ginger cooking until meat is cooked through. Stir in water and continue cooking at same heat for 5 minutes, before adding tomato paste and continuing to cook for a further 5 minutes. Season with salt and pepper.
• Finally, blend the yogurt, garlic and salt in a bowl for the yogurt sauce.
• Serve the dumplings covered with the meat sauce and a small amount of yogurt sauce and garnished with mint.

AUSHAK (AFGHANI GREEN ONION DUMPLINGS)

Steps:

• In a large skillet, melt butter over medium high heat. Add bay leaf, onions, shallot, then garlic. Saute for 3 minutes.
• Add beef to the onion mixture and brown until mostly cooked through and in small pieces. Add coriander paste and ginger, stirring well, and let simmer a few minutes.
• Add water and the tomato paste then reduce to low heat. Keep simmering until ready to plate.
• Put on a large pot of water to cook dumplings. While it is rising to a boil, clean and mince/chiffonade the leeks and green onions. Reserve some green onions for garnish and combine the rest in a bowl with jalapeno, garlic, red pepper flakes, salt and pepper. Mix well.
• Lay out the wonton sheets. Brush a little warm water around edges of each wrapper, portion out a teaspoon of filling per dumpling and then place another wrapper on top of each, excluding as much air as possible as you press tightly to seal. Lay out on a baking sheet.
• Salt water when it has reached the boiling point then gently drop in dumplings. Cook for about 2 minutes each and then remove and drain.
• Spoon a light swirl of sauce in the center of each plate then lay 2 or 3 dumplings on top. Dress with sauce. Season yogurt with salt and pepper. Place a dollop on center of each plate over dumplings. Garnish with green onions and eat.

KOFTA KEEMA (MEAT SAUCE)

Steps:

• Heat oil in a saucepan and add onions. Cook, stirring, until golden brown. Add meat and cook, chopping down with edge of a heavy metal spoon, until meat loses raw look.
• Add the water and continue cooking, stirring often, until liquid is reduced by about half. Stir in tomato paste. Continue cooking about 5 minutes and add garlic. Cook, stirring often, about 5 minutes more or until reduced to about 2 cups. Add salt and pepper. Keep hot until ready to use. Serve with aushak (scallion dumplings).