Carla Burke

Poor baby....🤕

Grass, if I have the option. I think it tastes... 'cleaner'?

Thai, please - though both would be nice. It's good for keeping on hand, when you can't get your hands on fresh - like here, in 'middle America", especially in winter.

Nice!! Thanks for the recipes & ideas, Tereza!! If the stuff is going to compete with the wild blackberries, to see which will overrun or farm first, it's only fair that I that the disk as NYC as the blackberries! (Although at least the shiso doesn't have thorns that shred me, like the blackberries do!)

Tereza Okava wrote:I haven't made tea with it, because we make lemonade with the purple kind. (brew tea like its basil or something, add lemon juice or citric acid and sweeten and it will turn neon magenta. it is the taste of summer in Japan.)

but i love it, and i missed it so much when I didn't have it in the garden.

Very cool, Tereza! What are the ratios on the perilla/water/ lemon juice, please?

These LOOK just like the ones my grandmas made, but my grandmas didn't use this recipe, at all. https://thesouthernladycooks.com/chicken-dumplings/

My grandmas' recipes for it were almost identical to one another's, but don't lend themselves well to a written recipe. And, neither added salt or pepper to the dumplin' dough, because they seasoned the broth so well that it flavored the dumplin's, too. Their 'recipe' would go something like this:

Start your chicken to cooking, don't forget the salt and *plenty* of black pepper.

Dump a pile of flour in the bowl (said bowl would be huge - wide and shallow, and roughly 4 cups of flour), and make a well in the middle. Crack in an egg and start bringing some flour into the egg with your mixin' fork (this was bigger than a dinner fork, but smaller than a serving fork and might have only 3 tines - I use a polish whisk). When you get about half the flour brought in, put in some broth (this was usually about a 4oz size ladel full), and keep mixing it all in, til it's raggedy-lookin'. Dust the table with some flour, and dump the dough out, to knead it a few times. (This was just enough to make sure it held together). Let it rest with a towel over it, about 15 minutes, while you debone the chicken.
Uncover the dough, and if it's too sticky, dust it with some more flour. Then roll it out to about that thick (about 1/4inch) then cut it into pieces, like this. (About 1.5×2 - 2.5 inches). Let 'em rest, while you mix up your biscuits. Once the biscuits are in the oven, start droppin' the dumplin's into the pot. Stir 'em gentle, so they don't stick together, and when they all come back up, they're ready. Put the meat back in the pot, get the biscuits out of the oven, and call everybody to the table.

(Welcome to the only time I've ever written out a cooking lesson with my Grandma Helen & Grandma Janie. Enjoy)

Burra Maluca wrote:This is the sort of thing I call a dumpling, usually cooked for around 15 minutes on top of a soup or stew on days when you don't have any bread to dunk into it.

The simple dough resembles that of a biscuit, but instead of being rolled and baked, the batter is dropped directly into a hot liquid. The dumplings are then simmered in the soup or stew in which they are served, such as in the classic chicken and dumplings.

Taken from Easy Drop Dumplings for Perfect Soups and Stews

I think they need some sort of baking powder to make them rise though. I generally buy self-raising flour to keep things easy. I also like to add herbs or a bit of spice to them too.

These are the type my (German) Nana always made, and I love them. The roll & cut ones are quite different. They're rolled to about 1/4inch thick, and cut about 1.5inches wide, and about 2 - 2.5 inches long.  When dropped into the broth, they thicken up to about 3/8 inch, and are chewy and maybe even a little... gummy? It's hard to explain - but these are the ones my (Southern USA) grandmas both made, and that elicit so many memories for me. I made both for my kids, as they grew up, and I'm not sure any of the kids can decide which way they like them best.

I honestly love both types in everything, lol. BUT - the flat ones are a bit more work, because they have to be rolled out, cut, and left to rest about 10 - 15 minutes, to hold together better, when dropped into the broth. The poofs are simply scooped out of the mixing bowl and dropped in. So, for me, it depends on my mood, my level of wistfulness & nostalgia for my grandma's dumplings, and my energy levels. The poofy ones are fluffy, light, and fun, and I really do enjoy them. But, those flat ones... they get these yummy bumps, and they're chewy and dense and so filling... They're definitely worth it, when the stars align.

By dumplings, I was thinking along the lines of the bumpy, flat, wide type that my very southern grandmas used to make, for chicken&dumplins. They're excellent in other soups & stews, too - but my grandma's both put them in with chicken. If dumplings the way my Nana (wonderful step-grandma) made them, those would need the baking soda, to get their fluffy, puffy light spherical shape.

On the other hand, I think a filled dumpling could also be easily made, with the addition of an egg or buttermilk - and, if course filling, like apples, corn, etc.