Sunday, April 6, 2008

Chinese dumplings

I had extra pork left over from making meatloaf, so I put it to good use by making some Chinese dumplings. Growing up, I remember dumpling making as a family ritual where the whole family would get together and socialize around the table, making dumplings. As a kid, I never participated in that, but I still think about the social aspect of it. In any case, family now means "my wife and I", so we had a fun time making these dumplings and eating them later!

I used this recipe from Rasa Malaysia. I didn't make the wrappers from scratch (bought them at the Chinese supermarket), but I followed the recipe for the filling. I thought the filling was a bit dry, but that's probably because my pork was too lean. I also thought the "1/8 teaspoon salt" seemed negligible, as were the measurements for some of the other ingredients. Five drops of sesame oil isn't going to do much to the flavor of 1/2 lb of ground pork. Next time, I will follow my instinct with the measurements of the flavoring ingredients.

Detailed wrapping instructions follow for those who have never done it before.

1. Place the wrapper in the palm of your hand and drop a small portion of the meat in the center.

2. Using the tip of your finger, wet the edges of the wrapper.

3. Pinch the ends together.

4. Do the first pleat.

5. Repeat the pleats on both sides and make sure the entire dumpling is pinched tight. You're finished!

4 comments:

Pappi said...

My mom has taught me to put a bit of water into the filling and mix well to moisten it, and it works pretty well.

test it comm said...

Dumplings are fun to make and tasty. Nice folding on the seams!

jko said...

This was fun to make, though I agree the flavor was bland (and I never say that!). Your pleats were definitely better than mine.

Grade (just on the flavor): B-

Sam Sotiropoulos said...

Hey, unless you have womanly hands too, it looks to me like your wife cooked these and not you! :)