Hunan Dumplings with Peanut Butter Sauce?

[Infomaniac]

On a recent visit to Montreal, I had lunch in their Chinatown and had an order of these dumplins with a peatnut butter sauce, and found them to be really good.

Does anyone know of a place in the Boston area serving this?

[opinionatedchef]

ExNE's chef/owner ,philip tang, has a peanut sauce on his menu now i think..... I bet he'd be happy to talk to you or lipoff or anyone about his parents' peanut sauced dumplings and peanut sauce history in china.

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East by Northeast
1128 Cambridge Street, Cambridge, MA 02139

[lipoff]

I have never, ever heard of such a dish, nor seen it in Hunan province, but from what I can tell it seems that a better name would be "Montreal Dumplings".

However, it does appear that Ma Soba, the pan-Asian restaurant on Cambridge St, near MGH, has "Hunan Dumplings in a spicy sesame and peanut sauce" on their menu. I haven't been there in years, although I remember years ago the Kalbi (Korean-style beef short rib) being quite good, while everything else was not.

You might find the Suan La Chow Show at Mary Chung's in Cambridge or the Wonton with Special Hot Sauce at Fuloon to also be similar, minus the peanut butter sauce. Mary Chung does have a peanut/sesame sauce on their Dun Dun Noodles, which you could probably ask for with your dumplings.

[Infomaniac]

Thanks and I never heard of it before either until a couple weeks ago....addictingly good though if you like peanut butter.
I haven't been to Ma Soba in years and don't remember anything ever being good there but I might give theirs a try.
I've had the wonton w/hot sauce at Fuloon, and the peanut sesame sauce at MC and while I like that sauce at MC, it's not the same.
Suprisingly I've found some recipes online and plan on teying it at home this weekend.
Thanks again.

[hckybg]

This is not terribly helpful, but the Dan Dan Noodles at A&J in the DC area have a peanut-based sauce that is similar to what you seem to be describing. A&J is a Taiwanese and Northern Chinese-style restaurant, and I have never had this preparation of dan dan before. Though it is too far away to try, interestingly Philip Tang of East by Northeast is the son of the owners of the DC area locations.

[lipoff]

The two A&J locations in the DC area (one in VA and one in MD) are great --- probably my favorite Chinese food in that area. I've never had their Dan Dan Noodles though.

Although peanuts have been used in Chinese cooking for the last several hundred years (consider Kung Pao Chicken and peanut oil used in stir-frying), I've never seen peanut butter or peanuty sauces used in traditional Chinese cooking. But it is certainly found in Indonesian cooking, and I think from there entered Thai cooking. Very strongly sesame based sauces are common in China, including some that are kind of pasty. I've often seen peanut-buttery sauces added to sesame-sauced dishes in Chinese restaurants in the US. In addition to Mary Chung's Dun Dun Noodles, the cold sesame noodles at Bernard's in Chestnut Hill, for instance, has a thick peanut buttery sauce and is topped with sprinkled sesame seeds. (Those noodles are quite good, by the way). I suspect these things are entirely North American innovations, which doesn't make them good or bad, just an example of fusion and change!

[hckybg]

Definitely try the Dan Dan on your next visit to A&J, my favorite dish at one of my very favorite restaurants too. Be sure to request the thick and wide noodles, however (all the noodles are good, but the toothsome bite of the thick noodles goes best with the sauce).

[Swankalicious]

A&J is amazing. Note: the chef at East by Northeast is the owners' son :)
Anyway, I do know exactly the dish you mean, and had it many times when residing in DC. Dumplings in a slightly oily, peanut-buttery sauce. Here they are on a DC Chinese menu (Charlie Chiang's, an area chain): "Spicy Tangy Dumplings, Szechwan Style: Stuffed with ground pork with peanut butter dressing and sprinkled with a green onion and hot spicy oil. "

I too would love to find this dish here!

[opinionatedchef]

sam, the more i think i know about china and chinese cooking, the less i know. I mean, until a few years ago, i had no idea that cumin was used anywhere in china, or that white potatoes were eaten in parts of china. so i'm guessing peanuts made their way there soon after the spanish brought them back to europe and i would lean towards the likelihood of peanuts and peanut sauces entering the cuisine soon thereafter.

[opinionatedchef]

http://www.caes.uga.edu/commodities/f...

scroll down to 1.2 to read about 1362 a.d. chinese pnut cultivation and neolithic findings too. will look into pnut sauce itself. Btw, today, china is largest world producer of peanuts, by a mile.