Hi there! My name is Aubrey Johansen, and I’m going to be taking over the Playhouse Square Blog each Broadway show for a fun themed recipe!
You may know me as a personal chef, living in Cleveland, OH, sharing life and food on instagram, @thatswhatsheeats. I started my page about 4 years ago while documenting my weight loss journey, wanting to share the healthy eats and life of a twenty-something foodie. After losing 150 pounds, sharing lots of easy recipes, and everyday life, I built a following, and the rest is history.
I’m so excited to be partnering with Playhouse Square as a resident foodie! With each show, you’ll get a behind the scenes recipe to try that’s inspired by show you’ll be attending!
I’m a huge fan and long time lover of Playhouse Square, as I graduated from Baldwin Wallace University in 2013 with a degree in Vocal Performance, and have been attending shows here since 2009. My love for the theater and food are neck and neck, and I’m really excited to be here to have both worlds collide.
With Miss Saigon in town, this recipe popped into my mind immediately. I’m a huge fan of taking something traditional and putting a current & healthy-ish spin on it, like these Chicken Pho Dumplings.
Pho is a weekly meal in my house. I live in Asia Town, right off of Superior Ave, just outside of Downtown Cleveland. I have several local grocery stores and family owned restaurants just outside my door! A few of my favorites are #1 Pho, and Superior Pho, just up the block from me. Pho is a traditional Vietnamese soup, made from the low and slow simmering of bones and spices to make a rich and flavorful broth that gets poured over veggies, noodles, and thin slices of beef.
I wanted to take all the flavors of Pho, like allspice, star anise, cinnamon, etc, mix them with a lighter option like ground chicken, and stuff them in a dumpling wrapper. These dumplings are a fun and modern take on the traditional Pho, and I hope you love them as much as I do. Let’s dig in!
Miss Saigon Chicken Pho Dumplings
serves 6
Ingredients
1lb ground chicken
1 package round dumpling wrappers
1 tsp ground allspice
1 tsp ground star anise
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp sriracha
1 clove garlic, minced
1 inch ginger, grated
1 lime, juiced
1/2 jalapeño, diced
1/4 cup fresh scallions, chopped
1 egg
1 tablespoon hoisin sauce, plus more for dipping
Directions
1. Mix ground chicken with all spice, star anise, cinnamon, sriracha, garlic, ginger, lime juice, jalapeño, egg, and hoisin sauce to make the dumpling filling.
2. Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Line a sheet tray with parchment paper, fill a small bowl with room temperature water, and bring your wrappers & dumpling filling to the area to begin wrapping.
3. Wrap your wrappers in a moist towel so they do not dry out as you are making the dumplings. Grab one wrapper, and moisten the outer edge with your finger with water, fill the middle with 1 teaspoon of filling, then bring the outer edges together (like a taco), and press firmly in the middle. You can press firmly to seal the entire thing, or crimp the edges into the middle to make a simple dumpling fold. I watched 1-2 youtube videos on “simple dumpling fold” before I tried this, and it was really simple.
4. Once all your dumplings are filled and sealed, boil them in batches for 4-6 minutes, or until the dumplings float. From there, you can eat as is, or transfer to a sauté pan with a little vegetable oil to fry the bottoms to make them crispy!
5. Add to a plate, serve with extra hoisin sauce, and sprinkle with chopped scallions. Enjoy!
We hope you love this recipe as much as we do, and if you recreate it at home, be sure to tag us on instagram, @playhousesquare, so we can see and share your foodie journey! Thanks for reading, and enjoy the show!
-Aubrey
#thatswhatsheeats
thatswhatsheeats.com
