Vivia: Hi, I’m Vivia Cognani, we’re having Asian inspired cuisine and some fun with dumplings
here at Susanna Foods Gourmet Kitchen in Radnor, Pennsylvania so let’s go behind the
burner and meet the chef. I’m here with chef owner Susanna Foo. Susanna, beautiful
ingredients, crab, shrimp, what are you making for us.
Susanna: I’m going to use because it’s summertime, I’m going to use some Maryland fresh crab
making a crab ravioli with Chinese techniques.
Vivia: Sounds yummy, Italy meets China.
Susanna: When they make a crab cake crab, they usually use bread crumbs as a binder but for
Chinese we usually use shrimp and use the shrimp and make the shrimp ooze. Those
are the fresh water chestnuts, it’s right now in season. You want to buy the very
beautiful rustic kind of reddish green kind of lacquer of color. The trick is cut both ends
and use a peeler, just peel.
Vivia: That’s great that makes it so much easier to do. That’s a great trick that you cut both
sides and you use a peeler to take of that gorgeous skin.
Susanna: No matter how you cook them, they still keep crispy. What I usually do is I cut them to
small pieces and then I’m going to use a grinder so I into here I’ve already done some. I
usually like to buy very thin wrappers so you almost can see through.
Vivia: And they’re store bought so it’s easy to get at your Asian food store.
Susanna: And there’s two ways you can buy round ones, dumpling wrapper. You can buy the
square ones which is a wonton wrapper and what I like to do is I want to make it very
delicate because the crab- so I like to use a cutter and cut them into --.
Vivia: You want to keep the moisture in so a good tip is that cover your wrappers with a wet
papertowel because it’s going to keep them nice and moist.
Susanna: So when you buy the shrimp, you devein and peel them and devein them and what I do
in Chinese way is we rub the whole shrimp with salt and then you go through the runs
into the cold water until the water is clear, that means shrimp is clean. Then you use
paper towel to dry clean.
Vivia: To get the excess moisture off.
Susanna: So the shrimp will be very clean. I like to use scallions because it gets a good flavor but I
don’t want to use a green one so I usually use the white parts and I cut into small pieces.
Vivia: So now it’s time for the --.
Susanna: Yes, with this modern technique, it used to be we were chopping up with the knife and
cleavers. Now I’m just going to use the – to do the whole thing. I’m going to put the
scallions first to chop up a little bit. Then I’m going to add the water chestnut.
Vivia: So pulse and go till you get a rough chopped scallion and water chestnut.
Susanna: Then I put the shrimp in here. If you put the shrimp first then you won't be able to chop
the vegetables so you get coarsely chopped shrimp in here then I add heavy cream and
vodka, white pepper, salt and the Chinese, when we do stuffing always have sesame oil
like one tablespoon sesame oil to give a wonderful flavor.
Vivia: I love sesame oil, it adds a really earthy nuttiness.
Susanna: This is like a fine puree. We use it as a binder for the crab. So this is Maryland crab and
it’s so sweet so half a cut of shrimp.
Vivia: Lightly incorporated.
Susanna: Yes, folded together. Sometimes, people like to use egg whites but I just use-
Vivia: Water and your finger. This is the glue, this is what gets it to stick together. I just take
my regular wonton finger, dip my finger in a little bit of water, put it around the edges
and then take some of this beautiful shrimp mousse and crab mixture, place it in the
center and then fold over, I’m just going to try and pinch it closed here.
Susanna: And then you go like this. When you’re making them, it’s a lot of work so I usually cook
some and I freeze them. I put on a sheet pan with some parchment paper, I put them in
a plastic bag, a ziplock bag then I keep in the freezer. Then whenever you need it, you
just take it out and use them.
Vivia: So we’re sautéing our olive oil, chalets and garlic and this stock. What kind of stock is
that?
Susanna: Chicken stock.
Vivia: You want to bring that to a boil.
Susanna: Cook for like 5 to 10 minutes so the flavor comes out into the stock.
Vivia: So you’re ready for the soybean, put it all in.
Susanna: And I put a half cut of peas and I turn off the heat.
Vivia: A little bit of blanched basil and blanched coriander.
Susanna: Then it’s a beautiful color.
Vivia: It’s gorgeous. It needs a little salt. So our sauce is ready.
Susanna: The technique is you want the bottom crispy and the top is steamed so what I do is I put
a little bit of oil in here like 1 tablespoon.
Vivia: And the pot’s not too hot.
Susanna: And you kind of put the dumpling, put the ravioli in here and just a little bit of water to
steam and cook so you cover and you have to have a very good lid so it’s covered,
height and you turn the heat to medium so the steam comes out and kind of cooks the
dumplings. There’s not too much water and the oil kind of cooks the bottom so when
the dumpling is done, the bottom will be crispy, the top is steamed.
Vivia: So about 5 to 7 minutes, we need to cook them here. Take our sauce and make it look
beautiful.
Susanna: This is a dumpling just cooked.
Vivia: It’s absolutely ready to go. So what is this you’re adding on?
Susanna: Just crème fraiche, put a little bit of flower, make it prettier.
Vivia: So Susan, you’ve made the most beautiful shrimp and crab dumplings. I’m ready to try
them, how about you first.
Susanna: Yes, I usually like to put the inner sauce first.
Vivia: Of course, I have to get in the sauce too.
Susanna: It’s very refreshing because it’s not heavy. The shrimp mousse, a little bit of herbs and
soybeans and it’s really light and good to add to the dumplings.
Vivia: Yes, they’re delicious, thanks so much for having us. Stay tuned to Behind The Burner
where we give you the tips, tricks and techniques that are lighting the culinary world on
fire.
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