Chinese dumplings, filled with a delicious savoury mixture of pork and shrimp are something that I have wanted to make for ages and a few weeks ago, I finally got around to it. There are many variations on filling recipes based around pork mince, and I was really happy with how this version tasted. You could also add in grated turnip or daikon radish that has been soaked in salted water etc. So long as you have the basic constituent of pork mince, with soy and some finely chopped leaves to break the meat up a bit, you could simplify it depending on what’s in your cupboard. Chop Chop in Edinburgh to a great version with fresh coriander in the pork mix.
Ingredients:
Wrappers:
150g plain flour
130ml hot water
pinch of salt
Filling:
2 spring onions – green tops only, finely chopped
½ chinese leaf, very finely chopped and soaked in salted water for 20 mins then drained
150g pork mince
1 tablespoon, Shaoxing wine (or sherry, or mirin)
1 tablespoon, light soy sauce
1 teaspoon, sugar
2 teaspoons, sesame oil
1 small knob of finely grated or pounded fresh ginger
1 teaspoon, salt
1 heaped tablespoon, dried shrimp pounded in a pestle & mortar (available from chinese supermarket or online)
Dipping Sauce
Ratio of
1/3 Chianking black vinegar
2/3 light soy sauce
1 finely chopped garlic clove
1 teaspoon Chinese chilli oil, or fermented chilli paste (if you don’t have these, then a finely chopped chilli or regular chilli oil will do)
– if you don’t have the black vinegar, just Soy sauce is also good
Enough for 4 as a starter or 2 as a main
How to make:
In a mixing bowl, place the plain flour and slowly pour in the hot water, stirring constantly with a metal implement until it forms a dough. Be careful to stop before it becomes too sticky. Knead into a ball, cover with cling film, and allow to rest for 10-15 minutes.
In the meantime, prepare your dumpling ingredients – do the Chinese leaf first – and mix them all together well.
When the dough is rested, roll it out into a thin sausage about an inch thick on a floured surface, then cut into inch-long sections. With your hands or using a rolling pin, roll each one into a thin round disk, around 2mm thick, and lay on a floured plate and cover with a dusting of flour. This will stop the others you lay on top sticking to it. Repeat with all of the sections.
When finished rolling out, place a large pot of salted water on the boil to cook them in and mix the dipping sauce.
Then, spoon a teaspoon of your filling into the centre of each, dab the circumference with water and fold into a half-moon, and secure by working your thumbs around the edge, making sure it is sealed. Repeat with all of the mixture until finished. Any mixture you have left over could be fried and eaten with rice.
Boil them for 12-15 minutes, until the filling is cooked. Then you can either eat straight away with the dip, or also fry them in a pan in hot oil to make them crisp.
Eaten with:
Dipping sauce.
Dinner Document 