meal 3: dumplings
*Note: I know I’m well behind on my posts, but fridayflour is in full steam. More posts to come!
As week three approached and Chinese New Year right around the corner, I thought it would be appropriate to make some sort of Chinese dish, so I settled on dumplings. I remember when I was little my mom would let me “help” her stuff and fold each pastry skin, though I don’t know how helpful I could have been as I’m not very good at this now. I can’t imagine my seven year old self being any better.
After reviewing a few recipes online — I saw that I could customize my own filling with whatever I’d like. I thought it’d be great if I could make my skins from scratch, so I enlisted in this task. This was probably the most enduring piece of dough I’ve ever dealt with and a fridayflour failure first. I knead the dough over and over again and when it came to using it for the actual dumpling it was much too thick. Even with the rolling pin, it just wasn’t right. I easily caved and used the back-up shells I bought from the store. In the end, I think it was a good choice, I saved several of my family members from eating thick-skinned dumplings. Eck! Maybe I’ll improve my culinary skills and try the dough again, until then, store bought dumpling skins it is!
Recipe (only for the dumpling filling because, well, the dough was just to thick)
- 2 lbs of ground pork
- 1/4 cup of minced bamboo
- 1/4 cup of diced chives
- 3 cups of diced napa cabbage
- 3 cloves of garlic (minced)
- Minced ginger
- 3 Tbsp soy-sauce
- 2 Tbsp sesame oil
- Salt
- Pepper
- Dumpling skins
In a large bowl mix the ground pork, bamboo, chives, cabbage, garlic and ginger. Once combined, add the soy sauce and sesame oil. Than add salt and pepper to your liking (I didn’t measure it out). Make sure the soy sauce, sesame oil, salt and pepper is well distributed throughout the mixture. Feel free to add more soy sauce or sesame oil as you please.
Next, wrapping the dumpling. So, it took quite a few times to learn how to do this correctly. Actually, it took my mother showing me, until I did it correctly. Here are step by step directions.
1. Scoop about 1-2 tablespoons of the mixture to the center of the dumpling skin.
2. Fold the dumpling skin in half and pinch the top.
3. Now, pleat the right side of the dumpling towards the center (on one side only).
4. Then, pleat the left side of the dumpling towards the center. The back should remain smooth.
5. You’re almost done! to close the ends of the dumpling, indent the ends so it makes a heart shape, then pinch together. Repeat step 5 on the other end of the dumpling.
You’ve successfully made a dumpling! There are several ways to cook your delicious dumplings. We tried it two different ways, pan fried and boiled. Note, if you pan-fry your dumplings, you’ll want to use dumpling skins that are made for pot stickers, they’re a bit thicker so they won’t break while frying.
Pan Fry
1. Take a non-stick frying pan and add about a tablespoon of oil. Turn it on high until the oil is hot.
2. Once it’s hot, place your dumplings (pot stickers) in the pan, standing up and cook for about 2 to 3 minutes until the bottom turns golden brown.
3. Now, add about 1/2 cup to 1 cup of water (depends on how big your pan is and how many pot stickers you’re cooking) to the pan and cover with a lid. The water will evaporate and steam the rest of your pot stickers so it’s fully cooked.
4. Remove from the pan once all the water is evaporated.
Boil
1. Fill half a pot with water and bring to a boil.
2. Once boiled, add dumplings and bring to a boil again. Stir the dumplings around so they don’t stick to the pot.
3. Once boiling again add 1 cup of cold water and bring it to a boil.
4. Remove from the pot.
Now enjoy with some soy sauce and vinegar!
