This particular adventure in dumpling making succeeded in reaffirming my belief that handmade food is almost always better. It is certainly true when it comes to dumpling wrappers. I felt lazy last week, and though I was craving the salty, steamy comfort that only Jaozi can provide, I just didn’t feel like spending an hour rolling the wrappers for them. So, I went rouge. I bought a package of frozen wrappers figuring they’d still be pretty good. Boy, oh boy, was I ever wrong about that. They are way too thick, and the dough is way too over worked so they are basically thick, chewy, and all-around unpleasant to eat. One bite was enough to have me sorely regretting my slothful decision. Instead of enjoying my dumpling dinner, I spent each bite dreaming of the moist, delicate wrappers from my last batch. So, learn from my mistakes. Take a little extra time and make your own dumpling wrappers. It’s not that hard, and not that time consuming, especially if you have the help of a pasta roller. Go go secret weapon!
Ingredients
- 8 ounces ground pork
- 8 ounces portobello mushrooms, small dice
- 1 cup scallions, sliced
- 1 egg white
- 1 - 2 cloves of garlic, minced
- 1 teaspoon vegetable oil
- soy sauce to taste (dark soy sauce is best)
- salt & pepper to taste
- 25 - 30 dumpling wrappers (use the wrapper recipe from this article)
- lettuce leaves for steamer
Instructions
- Pour a little oil into a saute pan, over medium to high heat.
- Toss in the mushrooms and brown them lightly to burn off excess moisture. Remove them from the pan and let them cool completey before moving on to the next step.
- When the mushrooms are cool ,combine them with the pork, scallions, garlic, and the egg white in a mixing bowl.
- Add salt, pepper, a little veggie oil, and soy sauce to taste. Stir continuously in one direction to combine ingredients.
- Line steamer basket with lettuce leaves or parchment paper.
- Fill dumplings and fold closed.
- Line up the dumplings in a lettuce lined steamer, then pop the steamer over boiling water. It's important that the steamer go over the pot when the water is at a full, rolling boil. It's also important that the steamer is tightly closed.
- Steam away for 10 minutes or so. The dumplings are finished as soon as the pasta wrapper cooks and the filling has become totally firm. Keep an eye on them and try not to overcook them.
- You can also pan fry your dumplings. Heat a good amount of oil in a deep saute pan and place the dumplings, butt side down, into the pan. Once they get nice and golden brown on the bottom, pour off the excess oil and add about a cup of very hot water to the pan. (Be careful. Don't get splattered by hot oil!) Cover the pan and let the dumplings simmer for about 5 minutes.
Filling your dumplings takes a little practice and finess, but don’t worry. Even if they are not pretty they will still taste just fine. When I learned to make these in Beijing, my instructor jokingly called my ugly dumplings “butt dumplings”. I didn’t really see the resemblance, but she giggled like crazy every time she spotted one. What a weirdo.
Anyway, here is a short, visual guide to filling and folding dumplings. Good luck!
Keep a small bowl of water handy. You’ll need it to moisten the edges of the wrapper. Speaking of which, that is the first step in the process. Lay the wrapper flat in your palm and moisten the edges. When you are working with handmade wrappers this step may not be necessary, as handmade wrappers are so delightfully moist and delicate already.
Next, drop a dollop of filling into the center. The size of the dollop should be relative to the dumpling, somewhere in the neighborhood of a heaping teaspoon.
Peer inquisitively at your soon-to-be dumpling. Consider its possibilities.
Carefully fold over your dumpling. Pinch it in the center to keep it shut.
Pinch the other openings closed.
Now comes the tricky part. Starting on one end, pinch and fold the edge of dumpling inward, then repeat that fold until you reach the other end.
This is harder than it looks, but with a little practice you’ll be zipping these out, lickety split.
And it is just that easy. Sit the little dumpling on his rear end and he should rest into a neat little moon shape. Isn’t it cute?
These dumplings are best served piping hot with a little bit of malt vinegar and siracha sauce for dipping. You can also use soy sauce if you prefer.