Home-made/Hand-made Chinese Pork and Mushroom Dumplings (Jiaozi)

From Fusion Meals

Finely chopped mixture of scallions, re-hydrated shitake mushrooms, ginger and garlic

From Fusion Meals

Ground pork mixed with finely chopped mixture from above picture along with dashes of soy sauce, sesame oil, vinegar, sugar and "5-spice" powder

From Fusion Meals

Dumpling dough

From Fusion Meals

Prepping the dough to make dumpling skins

From Fusion Meals

Dumplings skins and "coins"

From Fusion Meals

Freshly made dumplings ready for their "hot water bath"

From Fusion Meals

Cooked dumplings with soy/chili sauce

From Fusion Meals

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).