Love & A Shoppa Docket

I do enjoy it when I find love in the most surprising places! Firstly I found it in Luca Guadagnino's movie Io Sono L'Amore (I Am Love). Not love at first sight mind you, rather a slow, simmering realization on the way home that I did love this film. At one stage I could have sworn the ghost of Luchino Visconti was in the cinema giving his tacit approval of this style of movie-making!

Then lo & behold, I found love again in the strangest place, this time on the back of a Frewville Foodland Shoppa Docket. A recipe for Asian Noodle Soup grabbed my heart & I just had to cook it on the weekend. It filled all the criteria for the No Fat Ever Again diet & I combined it with a favourite recipe for Steamed Pork Dumplings from our bible - The Biggest Loser Best Ever Recipes. So I assembled all the ingredients above & here's what you'll need:

4 cups good home-made low fat chicken stock

1/4 Chinese cabbage, finely shredded

2 small red chillies, finely chopped

3 tablespoons fresh coriander (cilantro), chopped

1 bunch (3 heads) bok choy, chopped

1 small knob fresh ginger, grated

2 tablespoons soy sace

1 tablespoon Thai fish sauce

1 packet organic soba noodles

1 cup fresh bean sprouts

2 spring onions (scallions), sliced

1 fresh lime

Punnet of enoki mushrooms (a special optional treat - but gosh they were good!)

To make the pork dumplings, mix together in a large bowl the following:

400gm. pork mince

2 spring onions (scallions), sliced finely

1/4 cup fresh coriander (cilantro), chopped

2 tablespoons oyster sauce

2 tablespoons soy sauce

2 medium knobs fresh ginger, grated

1 red chilli, finely chopped

1 clove garlic, crushed

Then open 1 packet of fresh gow gee wrappers, place a teaspoon of the pork mixture in the centre of each wrapper, fold in half & seal the edges well. I've got a cute little dumpling mould, that makes it a little easier & crimps the edges tightly so the filling doesn't ooze out everywhere during the steaming process. It's time consuming, but throw the iPod into the docking station & have a sing along while you work!

Phew - one tray down, three to go!

Steam all the dumplings in a metal or bamboo steamer in batches for about 10-15 minutes, or until the wrappers turn translucent. Keep singing! I ran out of wrappers, so rolled the left over mixture into little balls & baked them on an oven slide for about 15 mins. @ 180C. While all this is happening, combine the chicken stock & Chinese cabbage in a large saucepan & bring to the boil. Simmer gently for about 3 minutes. Add all the other soup ingredients except the bean sprouts & spring onions to the stock mixture. Quickly blanch the soba noodles separately in boiling water.

Divide the soba noodles between deep bowls, add the spring onions & little pork mince balls.

Then add as many dumplings as required & ladle a generous amount of the hot soup mixture over them. Garnish with spring onions & coriander & if you fancy, lay the enoki mushrooms over the top & squeeze lots of lime juice over the whole lot. Mix well in the bowl & enjoy - loud slurping is mandatory!

Image: I Am Love movie