Category: Kitchen

Grandma’s Pumpkin Ravioli with No Pasta Machine

Amanda JaneLeave a comment

Flavorful al dente pasta filled with a winter spiced pumpkin ricotta, dressed with brown butter and sage sauce.

Every summer, my grandma and uncle grow an elaborate garden in their backyard with a variety of different melons, pumpkins, and veggies. They grow enough for the whole family to eat! This year, there were a lot of Asian Pumpkins. Typically, we stir fry, roast, or make soup from the pumpkins, but I wanted to prepare the pumpkin in a way my family was not used to: pumpkin ravioli!

This pumpkin ravioli is naturally sweet and delicious. It is paired with a brown butter and sage sauce, inspired by Trader Joe’s. It is impossible to resist!

What is an Asian Pumpkin?

Asian Pumpkins are sweet and earthy, similar to butternut squash. These pumpkins are grown over the summer and harvested in late summer/early fall. However, once harvested, they can be stored throughout the winter season. Each pumpkin ranges from 5 to 10 pounds, so this recipe doesn’t use the whole pumpkin. It can also be prepared by roasting it in the oven, making soup, or stir fry it.

Can’t find an Asian Pumpkin?

Asian pumpkins can be hard to find in stores. However, for this recipe, you can use your favorite type of pumpkin or squash like butternut squash, spaghetti squash, acorn squash, or regular American pumpkin.

There is no need for a pasta machine to make ravioli!

I had always thought that in order to make ravioli, you need to have a pasta machine. Oh how very wrong I was! There is no need for a fancy pasta machine, all you need is a rolling pin and a cookie cutter, and a little bit of patience.

Roast, season, and puree your pumpkin.

Begin to roast the pumpkin in the oven, seasoned to your liking. I seasoned my pumpkin with salt, oil, maple syrup, fresh garlic, thyme, rosemary, and sage. These are great winter flavors that complement the natural sweetness of your pumpkin of choice. You may want to add some spices like chili powder, nutmeg, paprika and/or Tumeric. Once seasoned, roasting is the best method to cook the pumpkin because it will dry out the excess water and make sure your filling isn’t too runny.

When the pumpkin is roasted and cooled, puree it in a food processor. Be sure to take out the leafy spices, they tend to get bitter during the roast. You will put some puree in the pasta dough and leave the rest for the filling. Adding the pumpkin to the pasta dough will add a little bit of sweetness and a beautiful orange color to the dough. Let the dough rest in the refrigerator for the gluten relax. This will make the dough much easier to work with. While the dough is chilling, make the filling and place in a piping bag fitted with a round tip.

Assembly

Cut the dough into quarters to make it easier to work with. Roll 2 quarters as thin as you could get it, roughly 1/8th of an inch. Gently mark the bottom sheet of dough with the 2.5 inch cookie cutter. This will help you map out how many ravioli you are going to make.

In the center of each mark, pipe about 1 Tablespoon of filling. Wet the rim of each mark and gently place the second sheet of pasta on top. Press and seal around each mound of filling. Cut each ravioli out with the cookie cutter. Place each finished ravioli on a lightly floured sheet pan to dry out.

Once you have made all of the ravioli, place them in the freezer to chill. Cold pasta will help ensure a more even boil. It will take about 4-8 minutes to cook the pasta, depending on how cold the ravioli is and how al dente you like your pasta.

While the pasta is cooking…

Make the butter and sage sauce in a large saucepan. Right away, place the cooked ravioli into the hot saucepan with the sauce and serve!

This recipe has a lot of flexibility in it with the endless seasoning possibilities and different types of pumpkins you could use! I would love to see how you make your ravioli! Tag me in your photos on Instagram @beyondbakingwithamandajane and use the #beyondbakingwithamandajane.

Grandma's Pumpkin Ravioli with No Pasta Machine

  • Rating: ★★★★★
  • Print

Ingredients

    For the Pumpkin Puree:
  • 2 1/2 lb Pumpkin of choice
  • salt and pepper to taste
  • 2 Tablespoons olive oil
  • 1 Tablespoon maple syrup
  • 7 Cloves of garlic, smashed
  • 8 Sage leaves
  • 5 Sprigs of Thyme
  • 5 Springs of Rosemary
    • For the Dough:
  • 2 Large eggs
  • 3 cups all-purpose flour
  • 2 teaspoons salt
  • 1 Tablespoon olive oil
    • For the filling:
  • 4 oz. Whole milk ricotta
  • 1/3 cup Parmesan cheese, shredded
    • For the Sauce:
  • 1/2 cup butter, cubed
  • 10 Sage leaves

Directions

  1. Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees F. Cut the pumpkin into cubes. Line a sheet pan with parchment paper and season the pumpkin. Roast for about 30 minutes, or until deeply roasted and tender.
  2. Puree the cooled pumpkin with the garlic until very smooth. Set aside.
  3. Back in the food processor, add the eggs, flour, salt, oil, and 1/2 cup of pumpkin puree. Pulse until the dough forms. If needed, add water if the dough is too dry, or add flour if the dough is too wet.
  4. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and form a smooth disc. Cover tightly with plastic wrap and let chill in the refrigerator for 30 minutes.
  5. To make the filling, stir in the cheeses until well combined. Scoop into a large piping bag fitted with a large round tip.
  6. Roll out a quarter of the dough at a time until 1/8-inch thick and form your ravioli. Place the ravioli on a lightly floured baking sheet and freeze while the water is boiling.
  7. Bring a large pot of salted water to boil, meanwhile, make the browned butter and sage sauce by browning butter in a large saucepan with leaves of sage.
  8. Boil the ravioli for 4-8 minutes. Immediately place the hot ravioli into the saucepan and toss.

Taste tested by friends and family with love.

Grandma’s Specialty Chinese Steamed Dumplings (Fun Gor 粉果)

Amanda Jane2 Comments

Better than any dumpling from a restaurant, Savory Chinese Steamed Dumplings. The taste of home.

Happy Chinese New Year! Happy Lunar New Year! I am so happy to share my grandma’s Fun Gor recipe to celebrate the new year! My grandma has been making these dumplings for decades. It is made with a thick wheat starch skin that becomes translucent after steaming, and it has a pork-based filling. These dumplings are made in large batches, perfect for a quick couple of meals.

The beauty of these dumplings is that once you get the shell down, the filling is up to you! For example, as a want-to-be vegan, I like to fill my dumplings with glass noodles, mushrooms, and vegetables, and I use the same seasonings when it comes time to stir fry everything together. Today, I am going to share my grandma’s traditional recipe with no alterations, but I look forward to sharing alterations in future posts.

Grandma’s dumplings remind me of home. Every time we visit her, she always sends my family home with boxes of dumplings that we steam and eat for the next morning’s breakfast. From a young age, I always wanted to help make them, but most of the time, she would make it before I got to her house. Little did I know, this was her plan all along because I made a huge mess and some ugly dumplings. Luckily, as I have gotten older and took a bigger interest in learning how to make them, my grandma waits and wants me to help her.

To make them, begin with making the filling so it can cool while you make the dough. Dice all of the ingredients for the filling into small pieces and keep all ingredients separate because you will be stir-frying ingredients in a specific order. It is easiest to put each ingredient into a food processor to mince into small pieces, but my grandma says it is better to dice everything up by hand. You can decide how ambitious you want to be.

Once everything is chopped, heat a wok with oil, and stir fry the ingredients. To the hot oil, add in the scallions, shrimps, sausage, ham, ground pork, sugar, add about 1/4 cup of water. Stir around and use the spatula to break down any large pieces of filling. Add salt, soy sauce, sesame oil, and black pepper to taste. Then, add the mushrooms, water chestnuts, mustard greens, pickled white radish, and kohlrabi. Add oyster sauce to taste and cornstarch. Cover for 5 minutes. Stir fry until everything is well combined and the taste is to your liking. Put into a bowl and set aside to cool.

To make the wrap, you will need a large pot with the cover. Pour the wheat starch and tapioca starch into the pot and mix well. Add oil and slowly start adding the boiling hot water while mixing. Once the flour is mostly absorbed, cover and let sit for 15 minutes, or until cool enough to touch with your hands. (Note: depending on the humidity of your kitchen, you may not need all the water at this stage, you can always add more water to reach the right consistency while kneading) Knead the dough until it all comes together and the dough is very smooth and not very tacky. The dough should not be too dry where it can’t stick to itself, and not too wet where it is sticking to your hands excessively.

Roll 1 Tablespoon balls of dough and press until 1/8-inch thick in a plastic wrap covered tortilla press. If you don’t have a tortilla press, use a rolling pin that is well covered in corn starch. You may also use corn starch on your hands to make working with the dough a bit easier. Crimp the circle of dough into a cup-like shape and fill with a spoonful of filling (see images below). Seal the top of the dumpling. Either place dumplings in containers or metal plates with oil to steam right away. If you are placing these dumplings in a container, they can be stacked on top of each other as long as they don’t get pressed down when you put the cover on.

It definitely has taken a lot of practice to learn how to make these dumplings without my grandma looking over my shoulder. Once you get more comfortable with the texture of the dough, you just have to perfect the crimping. This was especially difficult for me, but, I promise, it will come to you in time. Worse comes to worst, you can just put the filling in the middle of the circle and fold the dumpling in half and press the edges together. No matter the shape, they will still taste delicious!

When you are ready to steam the dumplings, set up a steamer. Once the water starts to boil, place the metal plate of dumplings (arranged as shown below) and steam for 15 minutes. These dumplings are delicious on their own, or you can dip them in soy sauce, oyster sauce, or even sriracha. Enjoy!

It would make my grandma and me so happy if you make her dumplings! We’d love to see your dumplings! Tag me in your pictures on Instagram @beyondbakingwithamandajane and use the hashtag #beyondbakingwithamandajane.

Grandma's Specialty Chinese Steamed Dumplings (Fun Gor 粉果)

  • Servings: 50 dumplings
  • Rating: ★★★★★
  • Print

Ingredients

    For the Filling:
  • 4 Shiitake Mushrooms
  • 70 g cooked ham
  • 32 g pickled white radish
  • 3 Chinese sausages
  • 3 Water chestnuts
  • 1lb Ground pork
  • 60 g Dried shrimp
  • 123 g Kohlrabi, cooked
  • 63 g Scallions
  • 12 g Mustard Greens
  • 1/2 Tablespoon corn starch
  • oil for stir frying
  • Sugar to taste
  • Salt to taste
  • Soy sauce to taste
  • Sesame oil to taste
  • Black pepper to taste
  • Oyster sauce to taste
    • For the shell:
  • 1 lb Wheat starch
  • about 790 g hot water
  • 87 g Tapioca starch
  • 12 g Oil

Directions

    For the filling:
  1. Dice all ingredients into small pieces. Keep ingredients separate.
  2. Heat up wok and oil to stir fry the filling.
  3. Add scallions, shrimp, sausage, ham, pork, sugar, and 1/4c water. Stir.
  4. Season with salt, soy sauce, sesame oil, and black pepper to taste and mix.
  5. Stir in mushrooms, water chestnuts, mustard greens, pickled white radish, and kohlrabi.
  6. Mix in oyster sauce to taste and corn starch and cover for 5 minutes.
  7. Stir one last time and put in a bowl to cool.
    8. For the shell:
  8. Boil water.
  9. In a large pot, mix the wheat starch and tapioca starch together.
  10. Slowly add water to flour until most of the flour is hydrated, stir continuously (you may not need all of the water). Once the majority of the dry ingredients are absorbed, cover and let sit for 15 minutes, or until cool enough to touch.
  11. Add oil and knead dough until a smooth dough ball forms. You may have to add some more hot water to reach this consistency.
    12. Assembly:
  12. Roll dough into Tablespoon balls and press balls 1/8-inch thick in a taco press, or use a rolling pin sprinkled with corn starch.
  13. Crimp half of the circle to create a cup and fill with a spoonful of filling. Seal the top. (Note: you may need to coat hands in corn starch to prevent sticking)
  14. Store in an airtight container for up to a week, or steam for 15 minutes.

Taste tested by friends and family with love.