Mushroom Dim Sum Buns for One

These little filled balls are super filling—they’re metaballs! I thought about making a salad to go with them, but in the end, they were so filling I’d have put the salad back in the fridge.

Makes 5 or 6.

½ cup non-dairy milk

1 cup all-purpose flour

½ teaspoon of baking powder

Pinch of sea salt

Peanut oil (or canola)

8 ounces of mushroom—mixed is nice, but anything will do—sliced or diced

2 slices of onion, diced

2 leaves of bok choy or cabbage, diced

1 clove garlic, peeled and finely diced

½-inch piece of ginger, peeled and finely diced

Several sprigs of cilantro or parsley, diced

1 TBLSP rice wine vinegar

2 TBLSP tamari or soy sauce

2 green onions, sliced small

1 TBLSP sesame seeds, toasted slightly in a dry pan

½ TBLSP sesame oil

2-4 TBLSP protein of some sort (optional), such as beans, tofu, or brats, diced small

1. In a small bowl, add the milk, flour, baking powder, and salt, and stir it into a dough. Let it rest in the refrigerator for 20 minutes to half an hour.
2. In a frying pan, heat a splash of the oil over medium heat and toss in the mushrooms and onions and stir fry until they’re golden brown, about 5 minutes. Add the bok choy or cabbage and stir fry until it’s soft. Now add in the garlic, ginger, and cilantro.
3. Add the vinegar and soy sauce, and cook for about 5 more minutes, until the liquid has boiled away. The mushrooms should be pretty soft now. Remove from the heat.
4. Add the green onions, sesame seeds, and sesame oil to the mushrooms, and set aside. This is the point to add some protein if you wish, too, like baked tofu, cooked beans, or diced vegan brats.
5. Dust a surface with flour (I like to use a piece of waxed paper for easier clean-up, rather than doing this straight on the kitchen counter), and roll the blob of dough into a thick sausage. Cut it into 6 pieces, roll them into balls, and then flatten them into rounds. I like to make them about 3-inches in diameter, but it’s up to you how thick or big you make them. You could also roll the dough flat with a well-floured rolling pin and cut out neat circles with a cookie or biscuit cutter.
6. Plop some mushroom mixture into the centers of the 6 pieces of dough, making sure that there’s a large circle of bare dough around each mound of mushrooms. Do fill them as full as you can, though. Pull and fold the edges of the dough over the filling, pinching the edges to make a seal. There will be extra stuffing, even if you fill the dumplings very full. It will be nice on scrambled tofu tomorrow morning.
7. Place the little darlings on a cabbage or lettuce leaf (to keep them from sticking to your steamer) or place each in a paper muffin cup with the scruffier sides of the little orbs down. It doesn’t really matter much—it’s not for presentation purposes. It’s for anti-stick purposes.
8. Bring a pot of water to a boil with the steamer already in place. The water should come up to the steamer but not enter it or bad things will happen to your buns and their paper wrappers. Place the buns and their wrappers into the steamer, lower the heat to medium, cover, and steam for about 12 minutes.

Serve with hoisin sauce (recipe included below), plain soy sauce, teriyaki sauce, or a nice soy sauce/miso/rice vinegar/mirin (in equal parts, and seen below) dipping sauce. Yummmmm!.

   

Homemade Hoisin Sauce for One

Produces 1/3 cup.

4 TBLSP soy sauce

2 TBLSP peanut butter

1 TBLSP molasses

2 teaspoons rice vinegar

1 clove garlic, diced finely

2 teaspoons sesame seed oil

1/8 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper.

1. Whisk all ingredients together in a small bowl.
2. Serve with Chinese food, particularly dim sum offerings, like Mushroom Buns, pot stickers, or non-egg rolls. 

Cream of Mushroom Soup for One

I love soup. I love it with chunks and I love it smooth, I love it both cold and hot, and I love it clear and I love it creamy. The earthy flavor of this quick little soup will have you dancing with joy, too!

The Vegetables:

Slosh of olive oil

¼ medium onion, chopped

½ stalk of celery, chopped

½ carrot, chopped

The Mushrooms:

1 ½ cups button mushrooms (or a mixture of mushrooms), cleaned, stems removed, and quartered

Salt and pepper to taste

Pinch of dried sage

½ TBLSP all-purpose flour (you can use cornstarch for gluten-free, or just leave this out)

The Broth:

1 cup water or veggie broth

2 ½ TBLSP vegan sour cream

The Garnishes:

Whole or sliced button mushrooms

Chopped chives or green onion

1. In a stock pot or deep saucepan, sauté the onions, celery, and carrots in the oil until they begin to soften.
2. Add in the mushrooms and sauté for 5-10 minutes, until the mushrooms begin to soften and brown. Keep an eye on them so they don’t get too soft and mushy, though. You want them to retain some texture. Add in the salt, pepper, and sage before they’re entirely done, just long enough for the sage to infuse everything with flavor.
3. Stir in the flour and cook for 1-2 minutes, until the flour is cooked a bit and whatever juices are in the pan start to thicken. If there aren’t any juices, slosh in a little water (maybe a teaspoon or so).
4. Add the water or veggie stock and bring to a boil. Cover, reduce the heat, and simmer for 15-20 minutes.
• If you want a smoother soup, hit the soup with an immersion blender or transfer slightly cooled soup to a blender or food processor and give it a whirl. Put it back in the pan (if necessary) after this step.
5. Add in the sour cream and stir until it’s all bended and creamy.
6. Add in the whole or sliced garnish mushrooms so that they have a chance to heat through. You might save a couple for making it pretty later if you don’t mind raw mushrooms.
7. Garnish with chives and any remaining mushrooms, and serve. 

Mushroom and Onion Tart for One

You won’t want to wait until this pretty little treat is cool enough to eat because the smells will have been taunting you for quite a while. But after you finish burning your upper palate, you’ll love how simple this pie tastes, how earthy and savory, and yet so delicate at the same time!

For the Crust:

¼ cup all-purpose flour

Pinch salt

1 TBLSP coconut oil (or vegan butter)

2 ½ teaspoons cold water (half could be vodka)

½ TBLSP olive oil

For the Filling:

Slosh of olive oil

¼ yellow onion, chopped

1 clove garlic

½ TBLSP water (or veggie broth, or white wine)

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

4 ½ TBLSP non-dairy milk (I like almond, but coconut or soy would be nice, too)

1/3 cup of mushrooms, sliced or chopped (I used button, but a mix of oyster, Portobello, and etc. would be even better)

1 or 2 thin slices of onions, halved

Another slosh of olive oil

Salt and pepper to taste

1 sprig of fresh thyme (or a pinch of dry), stems removed

Make the Crust:

Pre-heat the oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit. Line a single-serving pie or tart shell with parchment paper, cutting it neatly to fit. Mine is about 5-inches across. (It doesn’t have to be round, and you could even free-form it on a lined baking pan.)

1. In a small bowl, combine the flour and salt. Cut in the coconut oil with a fork until it makes little pills. Add in the cold water (or half vodka) and oil, and mix together. Use your hands to make it into a nice tight ball.
2. Press the dough into the prepared tart shell with your fingers, bringing the dough up the sides at least ½-inch. You want a good lip to help control the tasty goodness that goes inside.
3. Bake for 5-7 minutes. It won’t have changed color at all, but it will have a slight skin when you touch it with your fingertips.

Make the Filling:

1. In a sauté pan, heat the olive oil, and then toss in the chopped onions. Cook them until they’re translucent, about 5 minutes. Add the garlic and sauté for another minute, and then add the water (or wine or broth) and deglaze the pan, scraping up any lovely onion bits that might have stuck to the pan. Salt and pepper generously, and then take the pan off the heat.
2. Put the sautéed onions in a blender or food processor, add the milk, and blend until it’s smooth.
3. In a small bowl, toss the mushrooms and sliced onions in another slosh of olive oil, and sprinkle with some salt and pepper.

Assemble the Tart:

1. Spoon the smooth onion mixture into the tart shell.
2. Sprinkle the mushrooms and onion slices generously across the top of the filling. Sprinkle the thyme leaves over the top.
3. Bake for 35-40 minutes, until golden brown and the edges of the mushrooms are also golden and scrumptious.

Devour as if the gods will steal this tart in 3, 2, 1….