Homemade Garlic Chili Oil and Dumpling Dipping Sauce

The Cen-Tex Smoker

My son turned me on to a YouTube channel from a guy that was the lead line cook at Uchiko here in Austin for a few years. He left Uchiko to build this youtube channel and It's awesome! If you have not heard of Uchiko, give it a google. Best restaurant in Austin in my book and by far the most inventive. Being ead line cook there is a legit culinary accomplishment.

Anyhow, I have proclaimed this year to be "The Year of the Dumpling" for me. I'm going to get weird with dumplings from the dough all the way through. Stay tuned for that adventure, I'll post it all here. I wanted to learn to make the sauces first so these are store my last store bought dumplings before TYOTD goes into effect. Both of these sauces are out of this world. Can't wait to make my own dumplings to go with.

Here is the chili oil recipe and techniques:

https://youtu.be/4-q14tZeXiU

Dumpling dipping Sauce recipe:

1tsp white sugar

1Tbsp very hot water (dissolve sugar)

3Tbsp good soy sauce

1Tbsp Rice Wine Vinegar

1- Garlic Clove Minced

Here are my results:

northGAcock

I love be me some dumplings. Good times right there.

The Cen-Tex Smoker

Here is when I poured the flavored oil over the Sichuan chili flakes. I need to make this a gif so you can see the sizzle.

The Cen-Tex Smoker

Any my kitchen after I was done lol. Janell was out with friends while I was doing all this and walked in right when I was taking this pic.  I felt like a cat in a littler box when someone turns on the lights. Don’t judge me!

Kitchen 30 minutes (and 2 Titos) later: 

ColtsFan

Love that kitchen and cabinetry!

Eggcelsior

I’ve been watching him for a while. The cabinet intro is pretty obnoxious, but skipping the first 30 seconds makes them much more tolerable. His baking stuff is quite good, too

The Cen-Tex Smoker

ColtsFan said:

Love that kitchen and cabinetry!

Thank you! Janell designed it from the ground up. It was 3 tiny rooms with a very low ceiling when we bought the house.

Carolina Q

Pretty sure I've never had a dumpling. Very sure I've never wanted one. Never seemed appealing. Didn't know they were supposed to have sauces either. I prolly just don't know what I'm missing.

Nice kitchen though!
 

The Cen-Tex Smoker

The Cen-Tex Smoker

Carolina Q said:

Pretty sure I've never had a dumpling. Very sure I've never wanted one. Never seemed appealing. Didn't know they were supposed to have sauces either. I prolly just don't know what I'm missing.

Nice kitchen though!
 

Thank you (and you are definitely missing out on the dumplings!) 

fishlessman

really miss the korean grocery down the street, always giant bags of homemade dumplings.  looking forward to the dumpling writeups

Hook_emHornsfan_74

The Cen-Tex Smoker said:

Carolina Q said:

Pretty sure I've never had a dumpling. Very sure I've never wanted one. Never seemed appealing. Didn't know they were supposed to have sauces either. I prolly just don't know what I'm missing.

Nice kitchen though!
 

Thank you (and you are definitely missing out on the dumplings!) 

Uchiko in on my short list of places I haven't tried yet in Austin.   Have heard great things.  We really like Wu Chow as well.  Their soup dumplings are pretty damn good.  

The Cen-Tex Smoker

Hook_emHornsfan_74 said:

The Cen-Tex Smoker said:

Carolina Q said:

Pretty sure I've never had a dumpling. Very sure I've never wanted one. Never seemed appealing. Didn't know they were supposed to have sauces either. I prolly just don't know what I'm missing.

Nice kitchen though!
 

Thank you (and you are definitely missing out on the dumplings!) 

Uchiko in on my short list of places I haven't tried yet in Austin.   Have heard great things.  We really like Wu Chow as well.  Their soup dumplings are pretty damn good.  

we love WuChow. Try Old Thousand on E 11th (right by Franklin). The dumplings (really thier chili oil and their black vinegar sauce) at Old Thousand are what sent me down this path. I want to put as much energy into something new this year as I normally do into grilling/bbq. We had a boozy Sunday brunch at Old Thousand last weekend and with chili oil and vinegar dripping down my chin I was like "this is it! Dumplings!"

And so my quest begins.

And get to Uchiko ASAP. bring your wallet.

Hook_emHornsfan_74

@The Cen-Tex Smoker I have never heard of Old Thousand before but will be putting it on my list.  Boozy Sunday brunches are the best.  I have heard that Uchiko isn't cheap.  

lkapigian

Bitchin Kitchen.... Awesome dipping sauce 

smbishop

Thank you for sharing.  I definitely had a "life changing dumpling experience" while in college.  My mom and step-father took me to a restaurant.  The dumplings were amazing, but the sauce changed my life.  Can't wait to try this!!

I'll be in Austin the 1st week of Feb. for a convention.  Hopefully I will have a chance to try one of the restaurants listed above!

Eggcelsior

Chinese Cooking Demystified and School of Wok are also excellent channels for Chinese/Asian cooking.

Eggcelsior

And never forget Maangchi for Korean dishes!

GATraveller

I could really get down with TYOTD. They're a staple in our house but I've always been a bit tentative to try and make my own (for no good reason). Looking forward to this! Thanks for sharing!! 

smokingal

I'm a fan of that YouTube channel as well, minus the intro.  Nice work on the chili oil.

Canugghead

Great video and great job!  Don't get me wrong, just wondering if lightly toasting the spices on CI pan would 'wake up' the flavour even more? 
edit: love the kitchen too, specially the single bowl sink, we would never go back to double bowl again.

The Cen-Tex Smoker

smbishop said:

Thank you for sharing.  I definitely had a "life changing dumpling experience" while in college.  My mom and step-father took me to a restaurant.  The dumplings were amazing, but the sauce changed my life.  Can't wait to try this!!

I'll be in Austin the 1st week of Feb. for a convention.  Hopefully I will have a chance to try one of the restaurants listed above!

Give me a shout. I’ll play tour guide. 

The Cen-Tex Smoker

Canugghead said:

Great video and great job!  Don't get me wrong, just wondering if lightly toasting the spices on CI pan would 'wake up' the flavour even more? 
edit: love the kitchen too, specially the single bowl sink, we would never go back to double bowl again.

I think toasting the spices is always a good idea. Good call. I’ll do that next time. 

The Cen-Tex Smoker

GATraveller said:

I could really get down with TYOTD. They're a staple in our house but I've always been a bit tentative to try and make my own (for no good reason). Looking forward to this! Thanks for sharing!! 

We have made plenty of dumplings but we have always used store bought wrappers. Soup dumplings are fun to make too! Can’t wait to do those again with homemade dough. 

It’s not that hard once you learn the pleating techniques. You’ll ruin a few while figuring it out but it gets easier pretty quick. 

NDG

Year of Dumpling - great !! Should be a fun follow . . Reminds me of an old VILLAGE IDIOT post - he was the man when I first got my egg and did lots of interesting Asian stuff.  

caliking

Oh man. I'm excited about TYOTD.  

I've made bao  a few times. One sis lived in China for many years and has made dumplings for us. We've dabbled in other things like xiao long bao (actually caliqueen figured that one out). So so much goodness there. 

Can't wait to see the fruits of your endeavors. 

YukonRon

Somewhat grounded on the dumplings thing. I remember one of my most favorite meals being chicken and dumplings.

This has my interest for the rest of the year.

johnnyp

Nice 

Carolina Q

Ok, I said earlier that I've never had or wanted dumplings. I've spent some time this morning watching people make them and found that they are totally not what I imagined them to be! They look delicious and I have GOT to try some! TYOTD indeed! 

fishlessman

Carolina Q said:

Ok, I said earlier that I've never had or wanted dumplings. I've spent some time this morning watching people make them and found that they are totally not what I imagined them to be! They look delicious and I have GOT to try some! TYOTD indeed! 

this is a really good fast food type item. if you can find an asian grocery that makes them a  bag of 50 can be under ten bucks. frozen til needed, steamed, steamed/fried, deep fried. super quick meal. peking raviolis are dumplings, you must have had those at one time

Retired RailRoader

Your sauce and dumplings look excellent and delish. Thanks for the info on the YouTube channel. The last year or so I delved into dumplings but got busy with other things to cook. You resparked  my interest so thank you.