pumpkin pistachio dumplings with cardamom pu erh gravy

You know what tastes so good about now? A nice ravioli! We should all get together and make dumplings one of these days and fill them with a delicious filling and then make a sauce to put on it with some of the pan drippings..and feed everyone and spread our seeds of shakti to the mouths of our babes everywhere...:)

{homemade dumplings should be slightly boiled and then fried in a little butter and olive oil. forget coconut oil here..(in my opinion, as there is a place for all oils and I do not always want coconut oil in my mouth)}

How would I make a sauce with cardamom and black tea?
Easy because I wouldn't add a huge amount.
This type of tea is interesting because of the fermenting of the tea leaves to produces a thick tannin filled and full bodied black tea. Since I am going for flavor not a traditional 5 minute brew, I steep the tea bag for about 10 minutes.
I used Numi, Cardamom Pu-Erh and made an 8 ounce cup of tea..
ok so leave that be..




Filling
I am simply going to bake a whole squash in the oven, and then after it cools off, mix it with caramelized onion, salt, pepper, chopped pistachios, ground cumin, a sprinkling of clove and nutmeg, one nice egg, and if your like it really creamy, you can add a soft mild cheese. I would think about ricotta...

Pasta
 2 cups og unbleached flour
1 egg
salt a dash
pepper
water a few spoons at a time..

knead to a nice elastic dough

let it rest two hours

then roll it out and do the last part which is construct your dumplings.

Boil your dumplings for about 2 minutes and then set them in a strainer
Saute the dumplings in a pan until they are golden and crispy, place them on a nice big deep plate..yumm

 and then, eat one to try it:)

take a tablespoon of flour and a tablespoon each of butter and ev oo

cook that until you feel like the flour has a toasty smell to it but do not let it go brown..so constantly stir this..

next, add about two cups water and bring to a boil
add salt
pepper
one small bay leaf
a dash of smoked chilie, I like every red pepper powder..I wish to use as many as I can in this lifetime:)
a drop or two soy sauce

simmer for about 5 minutes and then add 8 spoonfuls of the tea..add a little cream at the end to smooth it out and now
 serve over your favorite ravioli!

You can buy them frozen dumplings anywhere..Trader Joe's, Whole Foods, even your local grocer has them in there. The Asian market down the road from me, Da Xiong, has them frozen with some sort of black bean business, that would be good with a sauce like this.