Leek and Egg Pie

Recipe & assembly by Stuart Yaniger, photos & dough made by Cynthia Wenslow

Filling:
4 large leeks
3 eggs
1 tsp soy sauce
1 tsp Chinese rice wine
pinch of ground white pepper
1/2 tsp toasted sesame oil
1 tbs peanut oil
1/2 tsp Hoisin sauce
4 tbsp vegetable broth

1 recipe Basic Dough (recipe follows)

2 tbsp peanut oil, for frying

Trim, halve, and clean the leeks. Slice crossways rather finely. Beat the eggs, add the soy sauce, Chinese rice wine, white pepper, and sesame oil.

Heat a wok very hot, pour in about the peanut oil, then add the leeks. Stir fry until they begin to wilt and brown slightly, add the Hoisin sauce, stir, then deglaze with the vegetable broth.

Cover and cook for 3-4 minutes until leeks are tender. Raise heat, stir until the excess liquid has evaporated, then pour in the egg mixture. Toss and stir until the eggs are almost set and well broken up. Put aside to cool.

You can blanch some spinach or bok choy leaves, squeeze it dry, chop, and add it in at this point. I meant to, but spaced. And the pies turned out delicious, so I can call that step “optional.”

Divide the dough into small balls. Put the dough through a pasta machine on setting 2. Turn it 90 degrees and run it through again to make it round-ish. You can make the wrappers any size you want; we used roughly 5 inch circles.

Heap about 4 tbsp of filling in the middle of the circle.

Place another round on top, and gently press the edges down. You can flute the edges if you like; we just used a scallop-edged pastry wheel.

Heat 2 tbsp peanut oil in a heavy flat bottomed frying pan. You can add a small piece of scrap dough to see if the oil is hot enough. It should sizzle when it hits the oil.

Gently add the assembled pie and fry until golden brown on one side, about 3 minutes.

Turn the pie over and brown the other side. You can keep several warm in a toaster oven until you have enough ready to serve.

Serve with a dipping sauce of soy sauce, vinegar, and a little chile paste.

Basic Dough from Asian Dumplings: Mastering Gyoza, Spring Rolls, Samosas, and More
by Andrea Quynhgiao Nguyen

This book is highly recommended. It will change your dumpling life.

Makes about 1 pound

10 ounces unbleached all purpose flour
3/4 cup just-boiled hot water

To prepare the dough in a food processor, put the flour in the work bowl. With the machine running, pour the water in a steady stream through the feed tube. As soon as all the water has been added, stop the machine and check the dough. It should look rough and feel soft but firm enough to hold its shape when pinched. If necessary, add water by the teaspoon or flour by the tablespoon. When satisfied, run the machine for another 5 to 10 seconds to further knead and form a ball around the blade. Avoid overworking the dough.

Transfer the dough and any bits to a work surface; flour the work surface only if necessary, and then sparingly. Knead the dough with the heel of your hand for about 30 seconds. The result should be nearly smooth and somewhat elastic; press on the dough; it should slowly bounce back, with a light impression of your finger remaining. Place the dough in a zip-top plastic bag and seal tightly closed, expelling excess air. Set aside to rest at room temperature for at least 15 minutes and up to 2 hours. The dough will steam up the plastic bag and become earlobe soft, which makes wrappers easy to work with.