The other night we made dumplings loosely based on our vision of the dumplings in Kung Fu Panda. While we were eating them, we all talked about the different kind of things we could fill them with. Malcolm came up with the idea of pizza dumplings. He wanted them to be like the earth, with layers. An olive for the core, a layer of cheese, a layer of sauce and a layer of dough. So that’s what we tried to do.

Malcolm is writing an essay for school about what he wants to be when he grows up. I’m going to share some excerpts with you. Remember, this is still a work in progress – he’s at the prewriting stage. Here we go…

Bang! Pishhh! “Hey, chef I need 3 pies.”
In my opinion being a chef is very fun.
I want to be a chef because I like to cook with my mom and she says that I have great ideas for cooking. One of my favorite things to do is invent and cooking is like inventing.
I want to travel so I can go to Scotland and find out what they eat there. Then I will learn how to cook food all over the world.

I hope he will!

Here’s Desmond Dekker with Sugar Dumpling.

1 batch of dumpling dough. We followed the exact same instructions for making the dumplings, too. Right down to steaming 3 and baking 5. (I don’t have a picture of the steamed ones because the boys ate them all up!!)

For the sauce…

2 T olive oil
1 shallot, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 t basil
1 t oregano
1/2 t rosemary
1 can fire-roasted diced tomatoes
1/2 t smoked paprika
1 t balsamic
salt and plenty of freshly ground pepper

Warm the olive oil over medium heat in a small saucepan. Add the shallot, garlic and herbs. Stir and cook until the shallot starts to brown. Add the tomatoes and paprika. Cook for about 20 minutes until everything is quite dried and reduced. Use your spoon to smush the big lumps of tomato.

To assemble…

2 cups grated mozzarella
8 large pitted olives

Roll out the ball of dumpling dough into a round, as described in the original recipe. Spread a tablespoonful of sauce, then about 1/4 cup of cheese. Put an olive in the middle, and fold upt the dough around it.

Proceed as in the original recipe

When the