Fresh Cheese Dumplings

You need to plan ahead a bit to make these sweet cheese dumplings (at least 7 hours), but they're worth it!



Ingredients:

• 8 cups milk
  
• 3-4 tablespoons lemon juice
  
• 2 teaspoons all purpose flour
  
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
  
• 4 cups water
  
• 4 cups sugar*
  
• 2 tablespoons rose water, light blue agave nectar or other flavouring
  
• extra virgin coconut oil for deep frying

Notes/Substitutions/etc.:

* Don't worry, you won't actually eat this much sugar! It's needed for a syrup bath, but most of the syrup will be left over and can be stored for re-use.

Directions:

Place milk in a large pot and heat gently, stirring to prevent scalding, almost to boiling.
Remove from heat and add lemon juice, one tablespoon at a time, stirring well after each addition.
Once the curds start to separate out, stop adding lemon juice and continue to stir for 4-5 minutes.

Line a large sieve with four layers of cheesecloth, then strain the milk mixture through the cheesecloth.
Rinse curds with cold water to wash off the sour taste.
Allow curds to drain for 4-24 hours.

Once curds are dry and crumbly, scrape them out of the cheesecloth onto a clean, dry work surface.

Knead the curds until they hold together in one smooth mass.
Sprinkle flour and salt onto cheese and knead again for 2-3 minutes to distribute evenly.
Roll the dough into long ropes, cut into sixteen pieces, and roll each piece into a small ball.

Dissolve sugar into water in a large sauce pan.
Bring to a rapid boil, then lower heat to maintain a strong simmer.
Add eight dumplings to the syrup and simmer for 10 minutes.
(Set the remaining eight balls aside, covered, to prevent drying out.)

(Don't disturb the dumplings while they're simmering as this may tear them. Just let them float around the pan as they will.)

Remove syrup pan from heat and add the flavouring agent. The dumplings will have absorbed some of the syrup and expanded.

Allow dumplings to sit in syrup for two hours.

35 minutes before simmered dumplings are ready, add 2 inches of coconut oil to a deep fryer or other deep-sided frying pan.
Heat the oil to 325°F.
One by one, gently add the reserved dumplings to the hot oil.
Using a wooden spoon, gently turn the dumplings so they cook evenly on all sides.

Once the dumplings are golden on all sides (after 2 to 3 minutes) remove them from the oil using a slotted spoon and add them to the syrup bath with the simmered dumplings.

Soak fried dumplings for 30 minutes.

Serve dumplings warm, at room temperature, or chilled.