Yup, another installment of
Waffling Leftovers, my never ending quest to put random leftovers into a waffle iron, and see what happens (you can read all about my
previous adventures here!).
To be fair, in this case, I used panini plates rather than waffle plates, only out of laziness: they were in the Griddler, and I was too lazy to swap them out. This would work equally well with waffle plates, no question.
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| Leftover Dumpling Transformation! |
This one was inspired by some leftover spicy dumplings, that were fabulous, but seemed like I'd do an injustice to try to reheat in any "normal" way.
So clearly, the grill/waffle iron came out.
Leftover Spicy Pork Dumplings: Will it waffle (er, panini)? ZOMG YES. Huge success.
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| The Original: Z & Y Spicy Pork Dumplings. |
The original dish was the spicy pork dumplings from Z & Y (full review coming soon!). They were piping hot, juicy, loaded with pork filling, and oh-so-spicy. They were fabulous.
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| The Leftovers: Spicy Pork Dumplings. |
But I didn't finish the order, and had two left.
Of course, I could just throw them in the microwave to reheat, or a pan, but ... I honestly didn't think it would do the dumplings justice. They really were fabulous. I tried a bite cold, and, yeah, not fabulous.
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| Leftover Pork Dumpling: Onto the Grill! |
Luckily, my Griddler was just a step away, and I quickly switched it on. I noticed as it was pre-heating that it had the panini plates, not the waffle plates in it, but I decided I didn't care. Panini-pressed would work fine.
I set the temperature at 400*, and once up to temp, threw one in.
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| Leftover Pork Dumpling: A Few Minutes In ... |
I opened the lid after a few minutes to the dumpling rip in half as I opened it. Doh. Not what I was expecting, but I didn't think it would be a problem.
I closed the lid, and got to prepping the rest of my dish.
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| Leftover Pork Dumplings: Getting Crispy! |
A few more minutes was all it took to crisp up beautifully.
Sure, I didn't have a connected dumpling anymore, but did it really matter? I doubted it.
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| My Creation! |
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Griddled leftover spicy pork dumplings over steamed romaine / cabbage / spanish onion / cauliflower stem with spicy chili sauce / soy / ume vinegar.
I was beyond thrilled with what I put together.
While the dumplings were grilling, I threw chunks of Spanish onion and cauliflower stem into a pan to steam a bit, added cabbage and romaine, and all the rest of the chili oil sauce that came with the dumplings. The spicy chili oil was crazy spicy though (Z & Y does NOT mess around, legit szechuan food!), so I added soy sauce and ume vinegar to balance it out.
The end result was fabulous. I did love the dumplings originally, but they were fairly magical this way. So very, very crispy. The entire surface area of the dumpling was in contact with the grill, on both sides, so, crispy perfection. Better than regular pan fried dumplings. The juicy greens, the chunks of radish, and the crispy dumplings were all beautifully complimentary textures. And the spicy sauce ... swoon.
It brought me great joy, and the grilled dumplings were definitely a staring component. I'm sure waffling would work well too, with more contrast of some crispy bits and some not, but this was excellent as is. Absolutely would do again.
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