Chinese Pork Dumplings…Perfect for Chinese New Year & Less Than $10

Chinese New Year, also known as the Spring Festival or the Lunar New Year falls on Thursday, February 19th this year. One way people celebrate is by eating Chinese dumplings. I had never made these before and after studying lots of recipes and different methods for making the dumplings, decided to give them a try. Because we’re a budget-friendly site, I went with a recipe that contained easy-to-find ingredients and switched up a few of the items for others that were easier on the wallet. The filling is delicious and very easy to prepare. The dumplings…well, let’s talk about those dumplings.

DUMPLING OPTIONS –

After reading dozens of Chinese dumpling recipes, I found that there were several different options for making the dumplings. You can make a flour and water concoction that is by far the cheapest, use frozen round dumpling wrappers (gyoza/potsticker wrappers,) or won ton wrappers that you can usually find in the produce section at the grocery store. I couldn’t find the frozen round dumpling wrappers at two of the grocery stores I went to so I made my own and also used the won ton wrappers.

Flour & Water Dumpling Dough:

Using just flour and water, this version is super easy to mix up and very cheap but it was difficult for me to get the dough rolled out thin enough. Now the week I worked on these dumplings, I was having some issues with an arthritis flare-up in my hands so I just don’t think I had the strength to do the job properly. The recipe should have made about 45 dumplings and I got 22…so my dough was twice as thick as it should have been. (And it was inedible!) So, if you don’t have wimpy hands like mine, this method should be easy for you. And the only reason they didn’t taste good was because they were way too doughy.

DUMPLING DOUGH –

Prep Time: 5 minutes         Rest Time: 30 minutes             Makes: approx. 45 dumplings for 30 cents

Ingredients:

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 3/4 to 1 cup boiling water, slightly cooled

Directions:

In a bowl, add water to flour and mix well. Once mixed, knead dough on a lightly floured surface for about 5 minutes, or until smooth. Cover and let rest for 30 minutes. Either 1) On a lightly floured surface, roll dough into a thin sheet about 1/8 inch. Using a round cutter, cut out 3-inch circles or 2) Divide dough in half and shape each half into a roll 12 inches long. Cut each roll into 1/2 inch slices and roll each slice into a 3-inch circle.

You can also use the food processor to mix and knead your dough and then let rest for 30 minutes.

Since I had never made these before, I used the Chinese Boiled Pork Dumplings recipe from steamykitchen.com. She used the frozen dumpling wrappers, which I couldn’t find and Chinese rice wine which is totally different from rice vinegar (so don’t use the vinegar as a substitute!) Chinese rice wine can be difficult to find and pricey so I used dry white wine instead. You can also use dry sherry or gin in place of the Chinese rice wine.

CHINESE BOILED PORK DUMPLINGS –

Makes about 45 to 50 dumplings. Price will vary depending on what type of dumpling dough you use. If using the homemade dough/water dumpling, it will cost approximately $5.65. Using a package of 48 won ton wrappers instead of the homemade dough, raised the price to about $7.84, which for me, was worth it.

Ingredients:

• 12 ounces Napa cabbage, roughly chopped (or regular cabbage)
• 1 teaspoon Kosher salt (or 1/2 teaspoon table salt)
• 1 teaspoon grated fresh ginger (use microplane grater)
• 1/2 cup minced Chinese chives (or green onions, white and green parts)
• 2/3 pound ground pork
• 1/8 teaspoon ground white pepper (or freshly ground black pepper)
• 1 1/2 tablespoons soy sauce
• 1 tablespoon Chinese rice wine (or dry white wine, dry sherry, or gin)
• 2 teaspoons sesame oil
• 1 package frozen round dumpling wrappers (gyoza/potsticker wrappers,) defrosted at room temperature for 30 minutes *
• for the slurry (which will seal dumpling) : 1 tablespoon cornstarch + 1/2 cup water

* or use homemade dumpling dough or package of won ton wraps

Directions:

To make the filling, put the cabbage in a food processor and process until cabbage is finely minced. Remove the cabbage to a large bowl and sprinkle with the salt. Let cabbage sit for 10 minutes. In the meantime, return the food processor bowl to the stand and add the ginger, chives/onions, pork, pepper, soy sauce, rice wine (or whatever you’re using,) and sesame oil. Pulse 4 times to mix the ingredients well. Set aside.

Use your hands to grab a handful of the cabbage and squeeze and discard the excess moisture out into the sink. You can also spoon all of the cabbage onto a cheesecloth and then squeeze all the water out. (Salting and squeezing the water out of the cabbage is ESSENTIAL It prevents your dumplings from being too soggy!) Place the dry cabbage back into the large bowl and add the pork mixture. Fold the cabbage into the pork mixture.

Mix together the slurry. (You can use this for whatever “dough” you’re using for your dumplings.) Take one dumpling wrapper, spoon scant 1 tablespoon of the pork mixture onto the middle of the wrapper. Don’t overfill or your dumpling will burst. Dip one finger into the slurry and “paint” the edges of the dumpling wrapper. Bring up the bottom side of the wrapper, fold up and press to shape into a half-moon shape, encasing all of the filling. Place on baking sheet, cover loosely with plastic wrap and repeat with rest of dumplings. Make sure that the dumplings do not touch each other on the sheet.

When all dumplings are assembled, you can cook immediately or cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for up to several hours. To cook, half-fill a large pot with water and bring to a boil. When boiling, gently slide in 1/3 of the dumplings. When water returns to a boil, turn heat to a simmer and gently cook for 6-8 minutes. Remove with slotted spoon and repeat with remaining dumplings.

Serve with hot chili sauce, sweet chili sauce, hoisin sauce, etc.

** There are a couple of different ways you can cook the dumplings besides just boiling them. I think the dumpling “finish” is a matter of personal preference. I tried the boiled method like above, which was great and more like the Chinese dumplings you find at restaurants. Two other ways you can cook the dumplings are;

1) Once the dumplings are prepared, heat a wok or nonstick skillet until hot. Add 1 tablespoon vegetable oil, tilting wok to coat sides. If using a nonstick skillet, add 1/2 tablespoon oil. Place 12 dumplings in single layer and fry 2 minutes or until bottoms are golden brown. Add 1/2 cup water. Cover and cook 6 to 7 minutes or until water is absorbed. Repeat with remaining dumplings. (This was my personal favorite way to cook them.)

2) Once the dumplings are prepared, first boil the dumplings and then “fry” in oil till bottoms are golden brown.

Like I said, it’s really just a matter of personal preference.

Ginger can be found in the produce section. The ginger root can be big but you don’t have to buy the entire thing, just break off a piece. If you don’t have a microplane grater, you can mince your ginger with a knife. (Here’s what a microplane grater looks like.)

Roughly chopped cabbage.

Finely mince with salt.

You can see how much moisture has already leached out due to the salt. Looks like the cabbage shrunk in half.

Boiled dumpling…

“Fried” first and finished in water…

Using won ton wrappers for the dumpling…

 

http://chinesefood.about.com/od/potstickers/r/potstickers.htm