1/25/2021
By Mista.
Quarantine has been an interesting time for everybody-and that includes myself. Besides piano, I’ve also been picking up on new food items I can make.
This time, we’ll be talking about dumplings.
Yes, dumplings-stuffed little packages of delicious filling-usually with pork, but other meats can be used as well(I have a friend of mine who uses ground turkey and garlic-it’s simply amazing!). They are mostly cooked by steaming, and served with a dipping sauce on the side.
In my family, the leftover steamed dumplings are usually fried the next day to be eaten as a filling breakfast-these are called potstickers, or guo tie in Chinese. I’ve never met a single person who doesn’t like pan fried dumplings-they are too good for anyone to say no to.
Now, here comes the most exciting bit-the meat-and-potatoes of the blog post today-and that is, I will be sharing how my family makes dumplings at home(we do this once a week, with my mother chiding me whenever I make ugly dumplings-the ones I make are nowhere as near as beautiful as the ones she makes, haha.)
The first thing you’ll want to get started with is the dough-we usually use store-bought wrappers(to save time since…people are lazy), but homemade dough is just as nice.
To make homemade dough, flour and salt is combined in a bowl-warm water is then added until it is well combined-the dough is rolled out on the chopping board(sprinkled with flour) until it becomes nice and smooth. The dough is then divided into four equal parts-each part is rolled into a long, cylindrical log and each log is divided into 6-8 pieces.
After that, each piece is carefully rolled out until it has a diameter of about 3-4 inches.
Ok, so the wrappers are done! Hoorah!
Next, comes the dumpling filling-many will consider making the filling quite the formidable affair, but in reality, it’s just quite time-consuming. Take a ground meat of your choice-combine with finely chopped
cabbage or leek(it’s up to you), along with minced ginger. Add a little vegetable oil so the mixture will be easier to incorporate-and don’t forget to crack an egg or two!
A vegetable filling can be made in a similar way with mushrooms and carrots.
And now, here comes the fun(but challenging) bit-assembling the dumplings!
To assemble the dumplings, add roughly 1 heaping tablespoon of filling to the center of a dumpling wrapper. With your finger, lightly coat half of the outside of the wrapper with water. Fold the moistened half of the wrapper over the filling and, using your fingers, pleat the edges to seal. Repeat with the remaining fillings and wrappers.
Steam the finished dumplings and serve with a side of dipping sauce-combine soy sauce with vinegar and sesame oil for one of our family favorites.
Bon Appetit!