Vegie mac and cheese money bag dumplings

We made Vegie Mac and Cheese Moneybag Dumplings on Alex and Ian's birthday.  It seemed suitably indulgent birthday food for teenagers.  Sylvia had seen the idea on Tik Tok recently.  Mac and Cheese!!!!   In a dumpling!!!!!  These crazy mouthfuls of joy had to be in our kitchen!  I am not sure if we ever found the Tik Tok again (was it this one?).  We winged it and loved these fusion dumplings so I am sharing what we did.  Be aware that this is not one for the traditionalists!

I had lots of cauliflower and some wombok cabbage to use so decided these would be a nice bridge between Eastern and Western traditions that fuse in this recipe.  (I don't even know how to categorise these in my recipe index which is so long I try not to add entries more than once.)  We bought tiny shell pasta that was called Coviglie Piccole on the packet.  (Google tells me this means tiny covens.  Which to me means tiny groups of witches so I am very confused.)

We also had quite a lot of nice cheese: Red Leicester for colour, Cheddar for taste, Gruyere for nutty mild flavour and Parmesan for sharpness and intensity.  Together with the vegie puree it make a really tasty sauce.

Once the mac and cheese was together, we shaped the dumplings.  I have learnt from experience that it is wise not to overfill.  Sylvia enjoyed doing these with me.  She can't remember making dumplings but I have photos of previous dumpling making to prove she has done it before.  We bought chives to tie up the moneybags and were pleased with our work.

I have got much better at panfrying and steaming dumplings.  It used to be a great stress and they would end up fried on both sides because I could not work out the steaming (like these gyoza).  More recently I have got the hang of it.  One thing that helped me was looking at cooking instructions on packets of premade dumplings.  Above is a photo of dumplings being fried the first time and below is the dumplings after I add the water.

One thing I have learnt is that if I turn the heat up too high on my cast iron frypan, they have very crisp black burnt bottoms.  But if I do it at about medium heat, then I can turn up the heat a bit if needed.  I don't quite understand why they fry and then steam and then fry again, but it works.  It is so satisfying to eat dumplings with crisp golden brown bottoms, soft top wanton wrapper and tasty soft insides.

I like this photo because it clearly shows the difference between the cooked (right) and uncooked (left) dumplings.  We had heaps of mac and cheese after we had filled our wanton wrappers but this is the sort of leftovers I always welcome in our house.  

I served the dumplings with a broccoli rice recipe from the October 2023 Woolworths magazine.  The recipe had looked really green but I had too much rice and too little broccoli,  It was still very nice and I added some spinach on the side.  I think these dumplings would be nice with a sauce but was not sure which one and they were every bit as good with no extra flavour.

More Mac and Cheese recipes on Green Gourmet Giraffe:

Jamie's cauliflower cheese macaroni
Mac and cheese layered nut roast
Mac and cheese pancakes
Macaroni cheese pies
Macaroni cheese with sauerkraut, cauliflower and blue cheese (v)
Quick one pot mac and cheese

Vegie Mac and Cheese Moneybag Dumplings
An original Green Gourmet Giraffe recipe

1 tbsp butter
1 tbsp plain wholemeal flour
2 cups of milk (I used soy milk)
1/2 cauliflower, cut into florets
1-2 cups cabbage, chopped (I used wombok aka napa)
1 spring onion, chopped
1 tsp stock powder
2-3 cups of grated cheese (I used Red Leicester, Cheddar, Parmesan and Gruyere)
2 tsp seeded mustard
Seasoning
Shake of truffle spice seasoning
500g tiny pasta (we used shells)
250g (25 x) square wanton wrappers (25 x 110 x 110mm)
25 chives
oil to fry

Make mac and cheese:

Make roux: Fry butter and wholemeal flour together in frypan for a few minutes until it is slightly browning and smells cooked.  Measure 1 cup of milk.  Slowly add milk over low heat, adding a little at a time and stirring until incorporated into wheat-butter mixture, then add more milk until added the whole cup.  Bring to the boil, stirring constantly until it boils and thickens.  Remove the roux from heat.  

Cook pasta: according to instructions, drain and put aside.

Make vegie cheese sauce: Place chopped cauliflower and cabbage in a microwave safe container with a spoonful of water.  Microwave until vegetables are soft. Blend cauliflower, cabbage, spring onion and stock powder until smooth.  Pour into roux.  Swish out any remaining vegie puree from blender with 1 cup milk and tip this into the roux together with cheese, seeded mustard, salt, pepper and truffle spice.  Check taste and adjust seasoning if required.  Stir on low heat until cheese melted. 

Assemble dumplings:

First make mac and cheese by mixing cooked pasta and vegie cheese sauce.  Now take your wanton wrappers and lay out on a flat surface.  Place 2 teaspoons of mac and cheese in the middle.  Bring four corners together and then bring in middle of each edge so you gather the wrapper like a rose.  Squish together at the place where the wrapper comes together at the neck where the dumpling wrapper meets just above the mac and cheese) being careful not to squeeze too hard or you will break the part of the wrapper around the mac and cheese.  Repeat with remaining wanton wrappers.  (I had quite a bit of mac and cheese leftover but we had no problems consuming it over the next day or two.)  Tie a chive around the neck of each mac and cheese moneybag.

To cook the moneybag dumplings, heat a frypan to medium heat (I used a cast iron frypan which I have found will burn delicate dumplings on high but you can increase heat a little if cooking too slowly).  Heat 1-2 tbsp of oil so there is a generous covering of the bottom of the pan.  Fry dumplings about 2 minutes or until the bottom of each dumpling is golden brown.  Tip about 1/2 cup of water into the frypan, cover with a lid and steam for about 8 minutes or until water gone and dumplings are fried golden brown on the bottom.  I use tongs or an eggflip to lift the dumplings and check they are golden brown after each frying.

To serve:

We ate ours with rice with finely chopped broccoli mixed in and also some spinach on the side.  You could also serve with your favourite tomato pasta sauce and a salad or as an appetiser with a drizzle of okoniyaki sauce, mayo and spring onions.

On the Stereo:
The Music that I Make: Leah Senior