Photo by Stephanie Bourgeois

Ingredients:

Sweet Chile Sauce:

1/2 pound Fresno peppers, seeded
1/4 cup peeled and roughly chopped ginger
1/4 cup palm sugar or light brown sugar
1 teaspoon plus
1/2 teaspoon salt, divided
1 tablespoon honey
1 1/2 teaspoons lime juice
1/2 teaspoon fish sauce

Cilantro Oil:

4 ounces cilantro
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons olive oil

Crab Dumplings:

1 pound crabmeat, preferably peekytoe crab
3/4 cup mayonnaise
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
16 to 20 wonton wrappers

Celery root, peeled and cut into thin matchsticks, for garnish
Lime zest, for garnish

This recipe contains: Eggs, Shellfish, Wheat

RECIPE

Sweet Chile-Crab Dumplings with Cilantro and Celeriac

Cedric Vongerichten

Perry St., NYC

Multiple JBF Award–winning chef Jean-Georges Vongerichten chose his son, Cedric Vongerichten, of NYC’s Perry St, to cook at the 2010 JBF Awards. Although he’s the son of one of the country’s most acclaimed chefs, his flavorful dumplings are further proof that Cedric is a culinary talent in his own right.

Yield: 16 to 20 dumplings

Method:

To make the sweet chile sauce, blend the peppers, ginger, sugar, one teaspoon of the salt, honey, lime juice, and fish sauce in a blender until smooth. Set aside.

To make the cilantro oil, microwave the cilantro for two minutes to dry it out. Allow the cilantro to cool completely. Pulse in a food processor until powdery. Mix in the remaining 1/2 teaspoon of salt and olive oil. Set aside.

To make the dumplings, mix together the crabmeat, mayonnaise, and Dijon mustard in a medium bowl. Place a heaping tablespoon of the crabmeat mixture in the center of a wonton wrapper. Moisten the edges of the wrapper. Bring the corners together and pinch the sides to seal the dumpling. Repeat with remaining crabmeat mixture and wrappers.

Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Working in batches, drop the dumplings into the water and cook for a minute. Remove the dumplings with a slotted spoon. To serve, place some of the sweet chile sauce on each plate and top with 4 dumplings. Drizzle with cilantro oil and garnish with celery root and lime zest.