Finely chopped mixture of scallions, re-hydrated shitake mushrooms, ginger and garlic
Ground pork mixed with finely chopped mixture from above picture along with dashes of soy sauce, sesame oil, vinegar, sugar and "5-spice" powder
Dumpling dough
Prepping the dough to make dumpling skins
Dumplings skins and "coins"
Freshly made dumplings ready for their "hot water bath"
Cooked dumplings with soy/chili sauce
Cooked dumplings with soy/chili sauce - alternate shot
Background:
Dumplings are one of my favorite dishes in Chinese cuisine. I like them boiled, pan-fried or steamed -- pretty much all of the common ways of cooking them. The best dumplings I've had were ones that I sampled in a small Taiwanese restaurant. These dumplings were thin-skinned, long and relatively skinny. As I recall, you can buy ~ 10 for the equivalent of 20 TWD (新台幣) or about 60-70 cents USD - a ridiculously cheap price for a tasty and filling meal.
Tonight, I decided to take the the plunge and spend some time making dumplings from scratch. That's right, everything -- from scratch. I made the dumpling dough, rolled out the skin, chopped up the vegetable components and made my own ground pork from a piece of center cut. All-in-all, it was surprisingly easy - not to mention therapeutic. The results were above my expectations and quite tasty.
Prep:
Filling
- 4 stalks scallions
- 3-4 slices ginger
- 3 cloves garlic
- 4-5 caps of re-hydrated dried shitake mushrooms
- 1/2 lb. ground pork
- 3-4 TB soy sauce
- 1 TS sesame oil
- 1 TS sugar
- 1/2 TS "5-spice" powder
Dumpling Skin
- 1 and 1/2 cup flour to start - add more as needed to gain correct consistency (i.e. not sticky yet pliable)
- 1/2 cut of water
- 1 TS salt
Cooking:
Filling
- Rough chop the vegetable ingredients for the filling and add to food processor. Pulse until finely chopped.
- Rough chop the pork (if using whole piece of pork - if not, ignore this step) and add to food processor. Pulse until finely chopped
- Mix the remaining ingredients together with chopped components until incorporated thoroughly
- Set aside
Dumpling Skin
- Add flour, water and salt to mixer with dough hook
- Use mixer to knead dough for ~ 20-30 min on slow until "elastic" and "silky" - this long kneading processes is crucial in releasing the gluten that renders the cooked dumpling skin pliable and "chewy" (in a good way)
- Set dough aside, cover with damp towel and let rest for 30 min.
- To make the dumpling skin, roll out dough into a long rope ~ 1/2" in diameter
- Cut 1/2" pieces from this "rope"
- Mash the pieces into coin-shaped pieces with your hand
- Proceed to use a rolling pin to roll out the pieces until roughly round in shape and ~ 5 " in diameter
- Skin should be relatively thin ~ 1/16" thick - though not "paper-thin"
Wrapping the Dumpling
- Add TS sized dollops of filling onto the center of the skin
- Coat 1/2 of the edge of the skin with cold water using your finger (this allows the edges to adhere when you press to seal the dumpling)
- Repeat
Cooking the Dumpling
- Bring large pot of water to a roiling boil
- Carefully add dumpling into water and cook for ~ 5 min.
- When the dumplings float, they are done
- Drain and place on place
- Let cool 5 min until the excess water evaporates from dumpling skin
- Dip in sauce of choice (I like a chili/soy - see below) sauce
- Enjoy
Dipping sauce
- 4 TB soy sauce
- 1 TB chili sauce
- 1 TS sesame oil
- 1 TB vinegar
- 1 TS sugar
- Mix well
Note: One of the reasons making these dumplings from scratch was relatively easy for me is that I "cheated" by using a food processor (to chop the ingredients for the filling) as well as a KitchenAid mixer (to knead the dough).