The mystery basket ingredients for the appetizer round of episode 18 wasn’t all that difficult if one is very creative.  They were: hot chocolate, cooked oxtail, harissa and black plums.  With hot chocolate as one of the ingredients, the first thing that popped in my mind when I was watching was a mole sauce.  Since I don’t eat peanuts (long story), I don’t usually get much of a chance to have anything mole unless a restaurant’s menu clearly notes that non-peanuts are used.  But I’ll eat it whenever I have a chance.  With that in mind, I would make go fusion and make dumplings – plum and oxtail dumplings with a harissa chocolate dipping sauce.

Oxtail:  typically used for stew (above)

First, I would pull the oxtail meat and purée the plums.  The plums are then mixed into the pulled oxtail, with some ginger and garlic mixed in, along with some chopped green onions and parsley.  Then, round wonton (or more accurately, siu gow) wrappers are filled with the meat mixture, placed on a cookie sheet and baked at a 400 F oven for approximately 12 minutes, turning at the half way point.  While the dumplings are in the oven, a dipping sauce made will be created by mixing a bit of hot chocolate powder with harissa and stirring it into Greek yogurt with tzaziki mix.  The sauce is then divided into small ramekins.

black plums

Once the dumplings are done, they are plated over a bed of arugula and sliced tomatoes.  Each plate will have a ramekin of yogurt sauce.

Image credits: Black plums photo by julie deshaies; oxtail stew by Paul Cowan. Both images are via ShutterStock