I love Donna Hay – before there was an iPad app, I used to have to hunt down the print issues as soon as a new one came out, or my family would find it for me, because once it was gone, it was gone. Since the iPad app, I no longer have hunt down the latest issue, knowing it is only a download away, not to mention with exclusive features like beautiful animation and videos accompanying recipes.
One of the winning streaks about Donna Hay is the simplicity of her recipes. You’ll never find anything overly complicated or fussy, only recipes that are easy to prepare and nothing short of inspiring.
Take these quinoa fritters, for example, which also work just as well as a scramble if you’re not in the mood for fritters or don’t feel like shaping fritters. Quinoa is mixed with cut up bacon, mashed white kidney (cannellini) beans, broccoli, and cheese (the original recipe uses mozzarella but the Gruyere I had on hand also worked). I was lucky to get the one photo at the top of this post, since it was all gone quickly. Everybody liked it. I know I’ll be making them again, at some point.
I’d never made pot stickers from scratch until this recipe. Prior to making them, my only fond memories of pot stickers were eating them after I’d watched Mulan. The most time consuming part is rolling out the dough and shaping the dumplings, but once you’ve got that all out of the way, it’s pretty straightforward. The pot stickers are first fried a little, then – holding lid at the ready, before yourself like a shield – water is added to the hot pan and the lid is quickly clamped on, covering the pot stickers and steaming them. They’re fried a little more after that, then you serve them right away with the dipping sauce or some soy sauce.
