BO KHO DUMPLINGS — Caroline Fitzsousa

It’s finally cooling down here in New Orleans and I am so ready for fall. Being from New England, this time of year is when I get the most homesick. One of my greatest comforts is making a big batch of stew, letting it cook for hours on the stove and filling the house with the intoxicating smell of onions, carrots, beef and red wine. More recently though I’ve been learning to make Bo Kho, a Vietnamese beef stew.

There is a significant Vietnamese population in New Orleans, both in New Orleans East and the West Bank, as a result of a wave of immigration following the Vietnam War. Many were refugees sponsored by Catholic Charities, and a large number entered the local fishing industry. Today, Vietnamese cuisine is a notable element of New Orleans cuisine. In fact, one of the most popular sellers of Carnival Season king cake is Dong Phuong Bakery in New Orleans East.

Hong Kong Market on the West Bank is an enormous grocery store with an unbelievable selection of sauces, vinegars, cooking wines, dried and fresh noodles, canned and pickled vegetables, meat, seafood and produce. Additionally there is a large frozen section with various types of dumplings and buns. As I was reaching for some frozen wonton wrappers I had a thought: what if I combined two of my greatest loves—stew and dumplings? I’ve made Xiao Long Bao (Chinese soup dumplings) and Khinkali (Georgian soup dumplings,) so maybe this wouldn’t be such a stretch. I went for it and was pleasantly surprised (relieved) at how well they turned out.

I will be starting my instructions AFTER you’ve made the Bo Kho, the recipe for which you can find here. The Woks of Life’s recipe has never failed me and I certainly can offer no improvements. The one change I made is to mince the carrots into small pieces rather than the large chunks you would typically include in a Bo Kho. They will be part of the filling so they need to be very small. My suggestion is do what I did and make a big batch one night, enjoy, and get started on the dumplings the next day.

OK, let’s go!

For the dumplings:

Leftover Bo Kho made with about 2 lbs of beef, meat removed and stew liquid reserved to side
One bunch of scallions, chopped
4 tbsp ginger, chopped
2 tbsp soy sauce (more or less to taste)
One package frozen wonton wrappers, thawed in fridge (Feel free to make your own dough, I took the easy way out.)

For the dipping sauce:

Juice of half a lime
1 tsp rice wine vinegar
3 tbsp soy sauce or tamari
Chili oil to taste, depending on your heat tolerance

First, chop up your scallions and ginger.

Once you’ve removed the meat from the stew, place it on a cutting board and shred it with two forks. After its shredded, chop it going against the grain of the meat. You want this to be very fine so you can scoop out small balls of the filling into the dumplings.

Now transfer the meat into a large bowl. Ladle a small amount of the stew liquid at a time over the meat and mix together. Make sure to get lots of carrot in there. Add the scallions and ginger and then a little more stew liquid, until the mixture is quite wet but no liquid pools at the bottom of the bowl. The soy sauce is optional and depends on the saltiness of your original stew. Since the meat is already cooked, you can really season this according to taste which is super helpful.

Now, chill the filling for two days.

JUST KIDDING…but that’s what I did, because right in the middle of all of this my landlord surprised me by announcing that he was on his way with a new stove to install. I’m super grateful for my new stove, but the timing was comically bad, and due to further complications it wasn’t until two days later that I was able to resume this project.

Realistically, you should chill the filling for about thirty minutes. This will let it firm up a bit to help you scoop it into the dumpling wrappers.

Lay out a long sheet of parchment paper on a work surface. Place the wonton wrappers across the paper with a small bowl of water to wet your fingers. Start scooping the filling into the center of the wrappers, about a tablespoon in each. Dip your fingers into the water and wet a ring along the the wrapper to seal the edges so you have a pretty little meat-filled crescent. When you’ve filled your wrappers, it’s time to get to cooking!

I chose to steam my dumplings in a bamboo steamer, but you can pan fry them if you prefer (I did the following night.) The steamer I have is 10 inches, works great and was just $25 from my local restaurant supply shop. You should also be able to find one in an Asian grocery store like Hong Kong Market. Line each steamer basket with parchment paper or large lettuce leaves and place the dumplings inside. Fill the bottom of a wok or large skillet with two inches of water and bring to a simmer. Set the bamboo steamer inside the wok/skillet, and let it steam for about 15 minutes.

Meanwhile, prepare the dipping sauce. Combine lime juice, vinegar, chili oil and soy sauce in a small bowl. That’s it.

Once your dumplings are done, serve with the dipping sauce and enjoy!