Jeremy Pang: Learn new cooking skills with Tottenham Hotspurs

Episode one: Mustard and Mushroom dumplings

PREP: 25 MINS, PLUS MARINATING | COOK: 6 MINS | SERVES: 4

Makes 25-30 ready-made round dumpling pastries

FILLING

• 200g (7oz) watercress finely chopped
• 50g (1¾oz) dried shitake mushrooms, soaked overnight and drained
• 50g (1¾oz) fermented mustard greens / preserved cabbage / sauerkraut
• 1 clove of garlic, finely chopped
• ½ thumb size piece of fresh ginger, finely chopped
• 1 spring onion, finely chopped
• 5 sprigs of fresh coriander, roughly chopped
• 100g extra firm, fresh tofu, roughly minced up
• 3 tablespoons panko breadcrumbs

MARINADE

• ½ teaspoon salt
• ½ teaspoon white pepper
• ½ teaspoon sugar
• ½ tablespoon sesame oil

DIPPING SAUCE

• 1 tsp chilli oil
• 2 tablespoons light soy sauce
• 2 tablespoons Ching Kiang Black Vinegar
• Fine matchsticks of ginger

PREPARATION

1. Finely chop the all the vegetables and place in a large mixing bowl, then add the minced tofu and the marinade ingredients and mix well.
2. To make the fat cat fold, place one pastry flat on a clean surface. Place roughly 1 teaspoon of the marinated mix in the centre of the pastry.
3. Dab a little water all around the edge of the pastry, then fold the top of the pastry over the filling until it meets the bottom edge and press down, closing the edges of the pastry to make a half-moon shape.
4. Now, holding the side edges of the pastry, with the half-moon still pointing downwards, pull the two edges upwards to meet in the middle, creating a ‘fat cat’ shape.
5. Lastly, overlap the two top corners of the fat cat shaped pastry together and stick together with another dab of water, pinching together tightly.
6. Do the same with the rest of the pastries and filling.
7. Bring a large pot or wok filled up water and a pinch of salt to the boil. Gently add in your dumplings and boil for 3-4 minutes or until they begin to float to the surface, signally they have been well cooked. Remove using a spider or slotted spoon and serve with the dipping sauce.

Episode two: Popiah (Malaysian pancakes)

PREP: 15 MINS | COOK: 20 MINS | SERVES: 4

The traditional street food method of cooking these Malaysian pancakes is with a wet dough that is sticky enough to kind of ‘punch’ onto a specialist crêpe-like-hot-plate, using a whole handful of the dough, and then pulling off the excess, leaving a super thin layer on the hot plate to then crisp up. This technique takes some practice and serious finesse, so we’ll leave it to the professional street vendors.

Here’s a much simpler way to make this exciting recipe at home without worrying about burning your hands on a hot stove. I’ve gone for quite a traditional mix of fillings here, but you decide what to put inside yours, leftover roast chicken with some fresh salad works a treat. Just don’t skimp on a good brush of the sauces!

INGREDIENTS (FILLING)

• 1 turnip, grated
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• ½ teaspoon sesame oil
• 3 hard boiled eggs (optional), roughly chopped
• Handful beansprouts
• 2 carrots, grated
• 2 spring onions, finely sliced into matchsticks
• 4-5 romaine lettuce leaves, chopped through 3-4 times
• Hoisin sauce 
• Sambal
• Handful salted peanuts, roughly crushed

THE BATTER

• ½ teaspoon sea salt
• 350ml water
• 250g plain flour
• 1 tablespoon corn flour 

PREPARATION

1. Whisk ‘The Batter’ ingredients together in a mixing bowl until a smooth batter has formed.
2. Grate the turnip and then, in heat ½ tablespoon vegetable oil to a high heat in a wok or pan, stir fry for 1 minute with ¼ teaspoon salt and ½ teaspoon sesame oil. Then remove from the wok into a sieve to drain and cool.
3. Bring a pan of hot water to the boil and blanch the beansprouts for 30 seconds. Remove beansprouts but reserve boiling water for further use. Drain beansprouts through a sieve and allow to cool.
4. Next, if adding the eggs, boil the eggs for 8 minutes, using the same blanching water and remove with a slotted spoon once cooked.  Cool the eggs under the cold water tap. Peel the eggs and roughly chop them.
5. Now, grate the carrot, finely slice the spring onions and chop up the lettuce leaves.
6. Keep each of the prepared ingredients a small separate bowl, ready to customise and compile your pancake rolls later.

COOKING

1. Heat a non-stick dry frying pan to a medium heat. Once hot, pour 1 ladle of batter into the middle of the pan, without any oil and quickly spread the mix all around the base of the pan with a brush to form a thin, round pancake. Without touching it, allow it to dry up in the pan — after 1-2 minutes, the sides should start to crisp up a little and peel off the base of the frying pan. Once this happens, carefully lift one edge of the pancake with your fingers or a spatula, then pull the whole pancake upwards to remove from the pan.
2. Place the hot pancake onto a clean tea towel and cover with a tea towel, so that the pancakes stay nice and moist and start to soften. Repeat this process until all ‘the batter’ has been used up. Piling the pancakes up on top of each other inside the tea towel as you go.
3. Once you have made all the pancakes you can compile the rolls. Start by brushing a generous amount of hoisin sauce and sambal over each pancake, then add a couple of pieces of lettuce, followed by 1-2 tablespoons of each of your chosen prepared ingredients. Really, any types of salad will work a treat inside these wraps.
4. Roll the pancake up, much like a burrito: First pull the sides in towards the centre of the wrap. Then, pull the base of the pancake up and fold it over your ingredients and towards the centre, and then continue to roll until you have a lovely homemade pancake roll.
5. Slice in half and serve.