Rabbit + Pork = Chinese Dumplings

My quest for southeast-asian flavors resulted in a little surprise today at a local asian store here in Barcelona. Foraging down an aisle with rows of curious-looking jars, something vietnamese with a label featuring a scrumptious-looking bowl of noodle-soup caught my eye.

Pho -- the ubiquitous vietnamese beef-flavoured broth found in most Chinatowns in the states. Happily I went home with a bunch of extremely fragrant cilantro, and a pack of wonton skins. Just a few minutes ago I marinated the quater-pound ground rabbit and pork I have in the fridge. Don't ask me why I have such an interesting choice of meat, it was the only type of meat, besides red meat, left at the store. To make it even more interesting, they were sold as hamburger patties. Apparently all the Spaniards had already stocked up their fridges for the Día de Todos Los Santos (All Saints Day). So my dinner´s gonna be rabbit and pork dumplings with pho.

Here's the improvised recipe, or rather recipe-to-be, since I'll be finishing the rest of the cooking in an hour's time.

Vietnamese Beef-Flavored Broth with Leeks and Carrots
- one carrot sliced
- one leek slicked thinly
- 1 tbs of pho soup paste
- 3 cups of water

When the water is boiling, add veges and soup paste. Boil for 2 minutes covered and simmer for half-hour on very low fire.

Rabbit and Pork Chinese Dumplings
- a pack of fresh or frozen wonton skins/wrappers
- quarter pound of ground meat (chicken, pork, rabbit or turkey)
- 1.5 teaspoon sesame oil
- 1 teaspoon soy sauce
- 1 tablespoon dark soy sauce
- a dash of white pepper and salt
- four chinese or shitake mushrooms (optional)
- 1/4 cup of chopped cilantro (other substitutes: chinese chives, spring onions)

Soak dried shitake mushrooms till soft. Diced them into tiny bits. Marinate ground meat with sesame oil, dark and light/normal soy sauce and blend in cilantro and mushrooms. Put aside for half hour before wrapping them up in the wonton wrappers. Place them in boiling water. They're done when they float...about 2 or 3 minutes. Drain and transfer them into the pho before serving. Add fresh cilantro for garnishing. I love to add some nice long julienned raw zucchini for added vege-goodness. And if you're craving for carbs, add some chinese vermicelli (thin rice noodles). Ok, here I go to check how my pho's doing. Have fun cooking!

P.S. You can freeze the extra dumplings in a container for later use in other noodle soups when you're in a pinch!