Chinese Dumplings
The first time I had Chinese Dumplings was many years ago when my husband Joe and I were visiting my brother-in-law Michael in Manhattan, NY. Michael was the one who ordered dumplings and I tried one of his. Turns out these soft little pockets are packed full of flavor and the dipping sauces you can use are endless. The ingredient list is not as complicated as one might think and making the filling is easy. However, it is a little time-consuming assembling the dumplings but it’s well worth the effort and it can be done ahead of time.
Making Chinese Dumplings
Ingredients:
8 oz cabbage, roughly chopped
1 tsp kosher salt (or 1/2 tsp table salt)
1 tsp fresh ginger, grated
1/4 cup chopped green onions
2/3 lb ground pork
a pinch of pepper
1 1/2 tbsp soy sauce
1 tbsp Chinese rice wine or dry sherry
2 tsp sesame oil
1 package wonton wrappers
for the slurry: 1 tbsp cornstarch + 1/2 cup water
Directions:
Place the cabbage in a food processor and process until finely minced. Remove the cabbage to a bowl, sprinkle with salt and let sit for 10 minutes. In the meantime, add ginger, green onions, pork, pepper, soy sauce, sherry and sesame oil. Pulse 4-5 times to mix ingredients. Set aside.
Place the cabbage on a clean towel or cheese cloth and wring out excess liquid. Place cabbage back into bowl and add the pork mixture. Gently stir to blend cabbage and pork.
Mix together the slurry. Place a wonton wrapper on a dry surface and paint edges with slurry mixture. Place a generous teaspoonful of pork mixture in center of wonton wrap and fold up all four edges to a point making sure all edges are sealed tightly. Place on a baking sheet and keep covered with moist paper towels while making the rest of the dumplings. Make sure dumplings do not touch each other on the baking sheet.
When all dumplings area assembled, cook immediately or cover with cling wrap and refrigerate for up to several hours. To cook, fill a large pot with water and bring to a boil. When boiling, gently add 1/3 of dumplings and simmer for 6-8 minutes. Remove dumplings with a slotted spoon and repeat with remaining dumplings. Serve with hot chili sauce or potsticker dipping sauce. If freezing dumplings, freeze raw dumplings after assembling them. Freeze as-is on a plate or on the baking sheet. Once frozen, place in a freezer bag.
Source: adapted from Steamy Kitchen, originally from Asian Dumplings by Andrea Nguyen
