Dumpling is good all year round. I remembered my mom making them for Chinese New Year. I remembered eating dumplings at my elementary school teacher's home after basketball games in Summer. I remembered eating them when the leaves turned yellow and the wind started to blow. It's always good making a couple extra and store them in the freezer for quick week night dinner.
There are many ways to make dumplings. Different wrappers or fillings or technique to fold a dumpling. This post showcases the basic filling and technique to dumpling. Be creative when making your own fillings. Try kimchi/pork or chorizo/corn/cheese or tomato/beef or lamb/cumin/leek or mushroom/cabbage/carrot combinations. Possibility is endless, as long as it's something you like and satisfies your tummy!
Ingredient
2 lb ground pork
1 lb shrimp, clean, peel, and de-vein first
4 Large Chinese Cabbage Leaves, finely chopped
4 Garlic, grated
1 Ginger Root, grated
3 ribs of Chinese Celery, finely chopped
Taiwanese Rice Wine
2 packs of Dumpling Wrappers
Water
2 Scallions, finely chopped
Instruction
Put finely chopped cabbage in a bowl, sprinkle salt all over, mix well. Set aside to let water out. At least 15 minutes.
In a separate bowl, add finely chopped celery, sprinkle salt all over, mix well. Set aside to let water out. At least 15 minutes.
Peel and de-vein shrimp. Use a food processor to pulse shrimp till paste form. If food processor not available, use a chopping knife to cut shrimp to cubes, and then keep chopping the cubes till paste forms. It takes about 5 minutes. Set aside.
After 15 minutes, put finely chopped cabbage in cheesecloth to squeeze out all liquid. Put cabbage in a bowl and set aside. Next, do the same for celery. Set in a separate bowl.
Filling 1: In a large bowl, add shrimp paste, ⅔ lb of ground pork, celery, ginger, scallions, salt, a splash of rice wine and mix everything together, either with chopsticks or with your hand. Add about 1 Tsp of water at a time till the filling mixture becomes sticky. Set Aside.
Filling 2: In a separate large bowl, add the remaining of ground pork, cabbage, garlic, ginger, salt, rice wine and mix. Add about 1 Tsp of water at a time till the filling mixture becomes sticky. Set Aside.
Prepare a shallow bowl, take a sheet of paper towel, fold it 2 or 3 times, place it inside the bowl and add enough water to damp the paper towel. This will act act the glue to close up dumplings.
In a tray, sprinkle flour all over so the dumplings won't stick. Place a dumpling sheet in the bowl and remove quickly, now the sheet is damp on one side, flip the sheet, place the dry side down either on the counter or in your palm. Take a teaspoon full of dumpling filling to the center of the dumpling sheet. Lift the top up and down to meet the bottom of the sheet: fold it in half. Press the edge close carefully. Flip the dumpling over, now make a slight indentation on the bottom, fold the 2 sides in and use a little bit of water to wet 1 of the corners, pinch the 2 sides together to secure. That's 1 dumpling done. Repeat till filling 1 is all gone. Place in the freezer uncovered to dry.
Now for filling 2. Place a dumpling sheet in the bowl and remove quickly, now the sheet is damp on one side, flip the sheet, place the dry side down either on the counter or in your palm. Take a teaspoon full of dumpling filling to the center of the dumpling sheet. This time, only pinch tightly the top and bottom of the sheet together. The centre part, but leave the sides open. Next, slowly lift only the top part of the wrapper to make wave shapes and then pinch down to the bottom. Start from the inside and work your way out. Pinch the sides tightly to close. Repeat till filling 2 is gone.Place in the freezer uncovered to dry.
It is best to cook and eat dumpling right away, but it's also great to dry in the freezer for an hour or so and then store in ziplock bags for later. Whichever you want, just enjoy the food of your labor!
There are many ways to cook and eat dumplings. The easiest is to boil them in a pot of water till they float to the surface of boiling water and puffy. Or to steam them if you have a steamer. Dipping sauce is also a very important part to dumpling eating. The simplest and most common is minced garlic, soy sauce, rice vinegar, sesame oil, and a tiny bit of sugar. For a spicy option, try minced red chili, minced cilantro, grated ginger, minced garlic, minced scallions, sesame oil, rice vinegar (2tsp), and soy sauce (1tsp).
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