This week’s instalment of Foodie Friday is featuring the iconic Chinese favourite – dumplings!
Whether you’re wanting to impress with a delicious entrée or main meal, or are looking to batch freeze for when your next dumpling craving hits, this recipe is a must-try and tastes even better than store-bought.
The best part about making dumplings is that they are completely customizable – feel free to tweak the recipe to your liking with your favourite ingredients. There are countless flavour combinations to try so you can never be bored of dumplings; whether it be vegetarian, chicken, seafood, beef, or even using lettuce cups as a gluten free option!
The tricky part is folding the dumplings. This takes patience and practice, but once you get the hang of it you’ll wonder why you didn’t make your own dumplings sooner.
Invite some friends around and have a dumpling-making party and enjoy your delicious dumplings together!
Pork Dumplings
What you will need
- • 1-2 Packets of gow gee wrappers (or wonton wrappers)
• 500g of pork mince
• 2 inchs of ginger or 1 tbs of powdered ginger
• 2-3 cloves of garlic
• ½ iceberg lettuce or Asian cabbage
• Approx. 8 springs of onion
• Corn flour
• Oil for frying
• Tamari/soy sauce
• Sesame oil
• Sesame seeds (optional)
Modifiers
If you don’t feel like cooking your dumplings right away, simply freeze them to enjoy later!
Directions
1. Add pork mince to mixing bowl.
2. Finely chop iceberg lettuce then add to mixing bowl.
3. Peel ginger and zest/grate approx. 2-inch cube into bowl.
4. Finely chop garlic and add to bowl.
5. Finely chop spring onions and add white ends to bowl and set aside the green ends.
6. Add 2 tablespoons of tamari/soy sauce and 1 tablespoon of sesame oil.
7. Add 1 tablespoon of corn flour start and mix. Look for it to be moist but hold its shape. If mixture is too wet add more corn flour.
8. Fill a glass with cold water.
9. Fold wrappers creating a curtain look (do approx. 6 folds). Hold wrapper in one hand, spoon mixture into middle of wrapper and flatten. Wet finger in water and run along top edge. Fold wrapper in half and pinch together at one end, create folds along the top of the wrapper until you reach the other end and pinch to close.
10. Place pan on medium heat, cover bottom in oil. Add dumplings and approx. 1 tablespoon of cold water to centre of pan straight away (don’t wait to add to hot oil as it will splatter).
11. Put lid on and increase to high heat.
12. Cook until you hear oil sizzling (takes approx. 2-3mins) then turn down to a medium heat
13. Cook for an additional 2-3min then take lid off.
14. Cook for another 1-2mins, looking for tops to be soft and translucent and bottoms to be crispy and browned.
15. Remove from pan.
16. Make dressing by adding green parts of spring onion to a cup with 2 parts soy sauce to 1-part rice vinegar, a few splashes of sesame oil and chilli (optional).
17. Drizzle the dressing over the dumplings to serve and ENJOY!
