Note- a section for making the skin from scratch, i.e., from general purpose flour, has been added at the end (as Section 6), to make this a "complete" recipe for making dumplings at home, esp. when we want to reserve the option to convert dumplings into Pot Stickers (鍋貼, that requires thicker dumpling skin, when pan-frying-from-raw, 生煎, even though pot stickers are usually made with hot-water dough, i.e., the dough made with flour mixed with hissing-hot water).
Ingredients:
ground pork: around 1.5 lb to 2 lb (I had 1lb 10 oz to be exact)
napa cabbage: one medium size
cucumber : one
green scallion: two stems
ginger roots: 4 thin slice
dumpling wrappers: two packages (make 75 to 80 pieces)
Steps:
1. Prepare the meat:
Chop the green scallions and mince the ginger roots and put them in the ground pork. Add 1 tsp salt, 2.5 Tbsp soy sauce (regular color), and 1 Tbsp sesame oil to season. Here comes the important steps. You need to mix the seasoning with the meat, then add water to make it tender. I added a half cup of water today. Adding 1/3 at a time, then I use a pair of chopsticks to stir the water into the meat in ONE DIRECTION (I do it clockwise). When the water is absorbed into the meat, you can feel the resistance when you stir, then you can add more water in it. This step is the secret to make the dumpling juicy. You can add more water as long as the meat don't seem too soft. Figure 1 is the marinated meat. You can put it in refrigerator when you prepare the vegetable.
2. Prepare the vegetable:
A. I add one cucumber because it REALLY improves dumpling's flavor. Peel the skin, empty the seeds and shred them into thin strips. Cut the strips into short pieces and add 1/2 tsb salt to suck out the juice.
B. Chopping napa cabbages is a very labor intensive job and I figured out an easy way -- using blender!! First, chop napa cabbages into 1.5 inch squares, add them in the blender and fill it with water and blend it at a low speed (figure 2). I have a 10 speed Hamilton Beach and I used the 3rd lowest speed (puree) for probably 3 to 5 seconds. You don't want to blend it too fine so I listen to the sound of the blender. As soon as the sound became louder indicating that the whole thing is stirring up, I let it last for at most 2 seconds and stop it. You can check to see if they are still too coarse, if so, add a couple of more seconds -- don't over do it! If you see some big chunks of stems, it is normal, just chop them. Pour the vegetable and water into a strainer sitting on top of a empty bowl (Figure 3) and let it drain. Reuse the water in the bowl for the second batch of vegetable and dump the chopped and drained vegetable into another empty bowl. When all the vegetables are chopped, add 1.5 tsp salt into the vegetable and let it sit for 5 minutes.
C. Now, squeeze the water out of the chopped napa cabbages (I squeeze a handful at a time) and add the vegetable to the meat from step 1. You have to squeeze as hard as possible to get all the water out. Do the same for cucumbers. Now mix the vegetable with the meat, try to stir in the same direction as you did before. Add one Tbsp sesame oil. The stuffing is ready as seen in Figure 4.
3. Wrap the dumplings
You can make your own dumpling wrappers, but it is much easier just buy the package from a Chinese supermarket. Hong Kong Dumpling Wrapper (Figure 5) is the brand I always use. It is not too thin or too small. Usually in one package, there are 35 to 40 wrappers.
You need a pair of chopsticks and a bowl of water (to moisture the wrapper for sealing). It is hard to explain how to wrap a dumpling, so I will just show some final products (see Figure 6 and Figure 7). Make sure you seal the edge tight (wet half edge of the skin with water) and the stuffing doesn't come out. You usually make 4 to 6 folds on one side to make it stand.
The ready-made wrappers are not as stretchy as the home-made one, therefore, it is hard to put a lot of stuffing in. You need to try it and make sure you can seal it tight without anything sneaking out! So, be conservative.
4. Cook the dumplings
Boil water in a big pot (I used a pot with 9 in diameter and 4.5 in height) and I added water to fill 2/3 of the pot (about 10 cups). Bring water to boil.
Add dumplings into the boiling water two at a time. Use a wood spatula to stir the water (around the edge of the pot) to make sure the dumplings do not stick to the bottom of the pot. I added 32 dumplings in the pot. Make sure you don't put too much dumplings with too little water. They will stick together or break if you don't have enough water. For this much water, you can put 35 dumplings at once without problem.
Close the lid and use high heat to bring the water to boil again. Stir the water once or twice. After it is boiling, open the lid (you better watch it closely, the boiling water will spill out and extinguish the flame if you don't pay attention) and reduce the heat to medium. Let it boil for another 5 minutes. If your stove is not strong enough, don't lower the heat. If the water stop boiling when you open the lid, close it half way.
The cooking time varies depending on how strong your stove is. My gas stove is very hot and it usually takes me less time to cook. So, five minutes is my estimate and you have to adjust it accordingly. Don't cook too long because the skin will become very soft. The traditional way to cook dumplings is to add cold water when it boils and you repeat this process three times. I heard a theory recently (5 years ago?) that adding cold water will make the cooked dumplings stick together and hard to separate. You SHOULD NOT add cold water, just open the lid, reduce the heat and let it cook. After several experiments myself, I found it works better without adding cold water!!
5. Making the dip sauce
Dip sauce is easy, just use soy sauce and sesame oil with some chopped garlic as base. According to personal tastes, add vinegar or hot sauce or chilly oil as you like.
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| Figure 1. Prepare the meat |
ground pork: around 1.5 lb to 2 lb (I had 1lb 10 oz to be exact)
napa cabbage: one medium size
cucumber : one
green scallion: two stems
ginger roots: 4 thin slice
dumpling wrappers: two packages (make 75 to 80 pieces)
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| Figure 2. Blend Napa cabbage |
Steps:
1. Prepare the meat:
 |
| Figure 3. Drain water from chopped vegetable |
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| Figure 4. Stuffing is ready |
A. I add one cucumber because it REALLY improves dumpling's flavor. Peel the skin, empty the seeds and shred them into thin strips. Cut the strips into short pieces and add 1/2 tsb salt to suck out the juice.
B. Chopping napa cabbages is a very labor intensive job and I figured out an easy way -- using blender!! First, chop napa cabbages into 1.5 inch squares, add them in the blender and fill it with water and blend it at a low speed (figure 2). I have a 10 speed Hamilton Beach and I used the 3rd lowest speed (puree) for probably 3 to 5 seconds. You don't want to blend it too fine so I listen to the sound of the blender. As soon as the sound became louder indicating that the whole thing is stirring up, I let it last for at most 2 seconds and stop it. You can check to see if they are still too coarse, if so, add a couple of more seconds -- don't over do it! If you see some big chunks of stems, it is normal, just chop them. Pour the vegetable and water into a strainer sitting on top of a empty bowl (Figure 3) and let it drain. Reuse the water in the bowl for the second batch of vegetable and dump the chopped and drained vegetable into another empty bowl. When all the vegetables are chopped, add 1.5 tsp salt into the vegetable and let it sit for 5 minutes.
C. Now, squeeze the water out of the chopped napa cabbages (I squeeze a handful at a time) and add the vegetable to the meat from step 1. You have to squeeze as hard as possible to get all the water out. Do the same for cucumbers. Now mix the vegetable with the meat, try to stir in the same direction as you did before. Add one Tbsp sesame oil. The stuffing is ready as seen in Figure 4.
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| Figure 5. Dumpling Wrappers |
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| Figure 6. Make a dumpling |
You can make your own dumpling wrappers, but it is much easier just buy the package from a Chinese supermarket. Hong Kong Dumpling Wrapper (Figure 5) is the brand I always use. It is not too thin or too small. Usually in one package, there are 35 to 40 wrappers.
You need a pair of chopsticks and a bowl of water (to moisture the wrapper for sealing). It is hard to explain how to wrap a dumpling, so I will just show some final products (see Figure 6 and Figure 7). Make sure you seal the edge tight (wet half edge of the skin with water) and the stuffing doesn't come out. You usually make 4 to 6 folds on one side to make it stand.
The ready-made wrappers are not as stretchy as the home-made one, therefore, it is hard to put a lot of stuffing in. You need to try it and make sure you can seal it tight without anything sneaking out! So, be conservative.
 |
| Figure 7. Dumplings are ready to cook |
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| Figure 8. Cooking in plenty of water |
Boil water in a big pot (I used a pot with 9 in diameter and 4.5 in height) and I added water to fill 2/3 of the pot (about 10 cups). Bring water to boil.
Add dumplings into the boiling water two at a time. Use a wood spatula to stir the water (around the edge of the pot) to make sure the dumplings do not stick to the bottom of the pot. I added 32 dumplings in the pot. Make sure you don't put too much dumplings with too little water. They will stick together or break if you don't have enough water. For this much water, you can put 35 dumplings at once without problem.
Close the lid and use high heat to bring the water to boil again. Stir the water once or twice. After it is boiling, open the lid (you better watch it closely, the boiling water will spill out and extinguish the flame if you don't pay attention) and reduce the heat to medium. Let it boil for another 5 minutes. If your stove is not strong enough, don't lower the heat. If the water stop boiling when you open the lid, close it half way.
The cooking time varies depending on how strong your stove is. My gas stove is very hot and it usually takes me less time to cook. So, five minutes is my estimate and you have to adjust it accordingly. Don't cook too long because the skin will become very soft. The traditional way to cook dumplings is to add cold water when it boils and you repeat this process three times. I heard a theory recently (5 years ago?) that adding cold water will make the cooked dumplings stick together and hard to separate. You SHOULD NOT add cold water, just open the lid, reduce the heat and let it cook. After several experiments myself, I found it works better without adding cold water!!
5. Making the dip sauce
Dip sauce is easy, just use soy sauce and sesame oil with some chopped garlic as base. According to personal tastes, add vinegar or hot sauce or chilly oil as you like.
6. Making dumpling skin from scratch
Dumpling skin (水餃皮)- 4.5 cups of general purchase flour mixed w 1.5 cups of room temperature water; or 4 cups of flour with 1.5 cups of water for softer skin; roll into a dough and let rest for 30 minutes; separate the dough into 4 equal parts, each part rolled into a long skinny roll; and then, cut each roll into 16 small pieces (or 20 pieces for smaller dumplings, with softer skin, ie. more water in the dough); use a rolling pin to flatten each small piece into a flat round (3" - 4" in diameter). Please reference this excellent YouTube video for more details (Chinese soundtrack with English subtitles). Note- 4-cups of flour with 1.5 cups of water get us softer dough and skin, but same number of or more parts (64, or 80, because the dough is a bit more flexible and pliable. Just need more dry flour when rolling the skin).
