Saturday, September 27, 2008

Fresh plum & peach sauce for fried ravioli

I am not cooking Chinese food this time, but this post starts out my comment on the Chinese plum sauce. You may have already known, it is always a dipping sauce for roasted duck (not Peking style) and roasted ribs. Its tangy sweetness supposes to be a perfect match with the bbq flavor. I love how this combo sounds.
However, I can't make myself to eat the store-bought plum sauce unless one day I started eating glue. There is no plum's taste in it, although the manufacturers love to throw in a plum's pit in each pack, really trying too hard to make me believe ...
Let's press "NICAM" button, back to this dish which is prepared in a western style.
Plum is always inexpensive in market. This sauce is super easy to make, and is super healthy. Peach in here takes the role as a natural sweetener so that I'd further cut down the amount of cane sugar. Then sprinkle a few chrysanthemum to finish, they are good to look at and good to smell.
Fried food is perceived as unhealthy and fatty, I beg to differ though. It really depends the recipe itself and how much you eat :)

Recipe of fresh plum & peach sauce

(as dipping enough for 35 mini fried ravioli, recipe in the bottom)

  • ripped green plum, peeled and pitted, about 200 g, diced
  • 1/2 large peach, diced
  • about 20 mustard seeds, crushed
  • cardamom seeds from 2 (green) pods, crushed
  • natural cane sugar, just about 1 spoonful
  • a few organic chrysanthemum
  1. Put the mustard seeds and cardamom in a small pot, slowly dry roast them for a minute or 2, you should smell the aroma coming out.
  2. Raise up the heat, add plum and peach. After it starts bubbling, lower the heat and simmer it with a lid 15 minutes.
  3. Check the liquid level of the sauce, if it has too much liquid, open the lid and/or raise up the heat in order to let the liquid evaporate faster.
  4. Process the sauce, I like mine a bit chunky. Taste and add sugar if necessary. Fold in a tiny chrysanthemum flower in. Turn the heat off.
  5. You can serve anytime after it cools off. Add a few mum's petals as garnish.

Recipe of fried mini raviolis

(yield about 35 pcs)

  • 4 - 5 heaped tablespoonfuls of flour
  • 1 egg yolk
  • 2 - 3 tablespoons of water
  • a very small pinch of baking powder
  • a small pinch of salt
  • some roasted meat, perfect for using up left-over, with some fat preferably, finely diced
  1. In a mixing bowl, combine the water, the yolk, baking powder and (as a start) 4 heaped spoonfuls of flour. Add more flour if necessary. Knead the dough until smooth. Wrap with plastic, and rest in fridge for at least an hour.
  2. Use a pasta machine to roll the dough, I stopped mine at the setting 6. The sheet dough was a long rectangle with the width of 14 or 15 cm. Cut the short side for every 7 cm. Now I got quite a few 7 x 15cm rectangle sheets.
  3. Place one sheet, vertically, on a lightly floured work table. I am going to get three ravioli in one sheet. Spoon in a tiny bit of diced meat closer on the right side, on the top, in the middle and the bottom, brush a little bit of water around the meat pile, fold the left-side over, seal well. Use a knife or pasta cutter to cut into smaller square/rectangle. Place them on a plate but cover with plastic while you are working on others.
  4. Please always lightly cover any dough with a plastic wrap if you are not working on it.
  5. Pre-heat oil, about an-inch deep, until it is medium-hot. Brush away the excess flour on ravioli before you fry them. It only takes a minute or so for them to turn golden. Drained. Serve immediately. Plum and peach sauce on the side.

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19 comments:

Rosa's Yummy Yums said...

Oh, beautiful! Those raviolis look wonderful and really delicious! I particularly like that tasty sauce!

Cheers,

Rosa

Unknown said...

i usually have the plum sauce for roasted ducks... but your idea's so wonderful... fried ravioli with plum and peach sauce sounds like a winner... thanks for sharing... :)

Lydia (The Perfect Pantry) said...

Love the idea of the peach in this sauce -- not only freshens the flavor, but acts as a natural thickener, too.

Mélanie said...

For how long this sauce can be saved in the fridge?
:)

MyKitchenInHalfCups said...

Oh so beautiful again Gattina. That's funny you say it's like eating glue. I sure this peach sauce is divine. How true it's really so dependent on how much you eat.

Callipygia said...

Once again I am so intrigued by your combos, the chrysanthemum flavor with the cardamom/mustard seed? That is thinking outside of the peach pit!

Lisa Turner said...

Oh my, what a lovely recipe. Such gorgeous photos too!

Lore said...

I'm really intrigued by the use of mustard seeds in the dipping sauce, that's really unique. And fried ravioli, yum-o! I agree with you, homemade is always much more delicious :)

Anonymous said...

How delicious! Yummy. Didn't think of frying ravioli... I love it!

Elena Bruno said...

Fabolous! Great post! Ciao from Italy

Andrea said...

Wow, these look so good. You take such beautiful pictures! Something for the rest of us to aspire to!

My Sweet & Saucy said...

What a fun dessert! This would be perfect for a dinner party!

tigerfish said...

The sauce sounds so good! And it makes the fried ravioli look like dessert somehow :)

Cynthia said...

I've just returned from an all day conference and I wish I could have some of what you've made here to sooth my tiredness. I can much on these and hum :)

Food For Tots said...

What a healthy version of homemade plum n peach sauce! I must try it one day.

Your photography skill and food styling are really superb!

redmenace said...

absolutely beautiful and looks so tasty!

Eileen said...

This looks delicious and you have great photos!

Kajal@aapplemint said...

oh yum !! its always such a visual treat here. Love the pics and ravioli looks so lovely n crisp n the plum/peach sauce ... sounds like a perfect match !

Anonymous said...

mmm...mmm...i love plum sauce too Gattina! now looking at your fried ravioli with the sauce just makes my mouth water.