Photo by Andrew Lay

Hello Allergic to Salad family, and happy February! To start the month off, and in celebration of the Lunar New Year, instructors at Allergic to Salad cooked up some dumplings! As you can see from Andrew’s photo above, dumplings can come in all shapes and sizes. Andrew allowed his students to express themselves creatively when sealing and making their dumplings, showing them a couple methods of folding and encouraging them to try some techniques of their own. He also experimented with three different ways of cooking a dumpling–boiling, steaming and pan frying. If you’d like to try at home, keep in mind that our kiddos preferred the pan fried variety, as it made the dumplings nice and crispy.

Photo by Megan Taylor

Megan’s class at the Dance Academy steamed their dumplings. She showed them a couple different ways to fold their dumplings, and they turned out quite neatly! Dumpling making is an important tradition for those celebrating Lunar New Year, as it brings families together in a communal activity they can later eat together. The little treats also bear resemblance to pouches of money, and are auspicious symbols of future wealth and prosperity for the new year. Megan and Andrew’s classes loved the bonding experience of making dumplings together, as well as the delicious result!

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Chickpea Bolognese with Zucchini Noodles

Course dinner

Keyword pasta, veggies, zucchini

Ingredients

Chickpea Bolognese

• 1 1/2 cups diced red onion
• 3 cloves fresh garlic, minced
• 1 can chickpeas, rinsed, drained and chopped
• 1 medium carrot, diced
• 1 cup cup mushrooms, diced
• 1 (14.5 oz) can diced tomatoes
• 1 (15 oz) can tomato sauce
• 1/2 tbsp dried oregano
• 1 tbsp dried parsley
• Sea salt

Zucchini Noodles

• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 2 medium zucchini
• 2 tbsp parmesan
• Salt and pepper, to taste

Instructions

Chickpea Bolognese

1. Chickpeas must first be rinsed with water, drained thoroughly and chopped.

2. Heat a saucepan over medium heat, adding the onions, chickpeas, garlic, and carrots, sautéeing the vegetables for about 5 minutes. Then, add a few tablespoons of water to the pan as needed, to prevent vegetables from sticking to the pan.

3. Add the mushrooms and sautée until some juices have let out. Then, add the tomato sauce, organo, parsley, and diced tomatoes and let sauté for about 2 minutes. This will then be added over the zucchini noodles as a fantastic sauce.

Zucchini Noodles

1. A spiralizer would be recommended for this, in order to get the same shape as noodles for the zucchini. Once you have the spiralizer, slice off the ends of the zucchini and place it on the spiralizer, turning it around and allowing the shape of the zucchini to just spill out.

2. Heat the olive oil in a large pain over medium heat, adding garlic and sautéeing for about 1 minute. Then, add the zucchini noodles and toss them around for a minute and turn off the heat. Sprinkle some parmesan cheese on top, along with the chickpea bolognese that was first prepared, and voila!

We hope you’ll try these delicious snacks at home, and see you next week!

Until next time,

Team Allergic to Salad