Thanks to everyone who came out this past Sunday for our first ever Culture Kitchen event! We had such a great time making dumplings with everyone and connecting with our awesome guest chef Bella (pictured below). Bella is studying abroad from China at NAU and is majoring in Communication with a minor in English. In addition to showing us how to make these delicious dumplings, Bella also played guitar and sang a traditional Chinese new year folk song for us which you can watch here. Thanks Bella!
For those who missed the event, here is the ingredients list and recipe instructions to make the dumplings. Enjoy!
Base Ingredients:
3-4 Scallions, chopped in half
2-3 Slices of Ginger
2-3 Tablespoons of Soy Sauce
Salt
1 Egg (if you are doing multiple fillings, you will need more than 1)
Oil of Choice (sesame, olive, or vegetable work well)
Frozen Dumpling Wrappers (link to local product: https://www.market86001.com/online-ordering/dish/1d317884-d6ca-4e85-a04e-d839d5133212)
Oyster Oil (Optional)
Black Pepper (Optional)
Additional Ingredients Needed Based on Chosen Fillings:
Chinese Cabbage and Pork
Minced Pork
Chinese Cabbage
Mushroom and Pork
Minced Pork
Finely Chopped Mushrooms
Corn and Pork
Minced Pork
Corn
Vegetarian
You can pick any vegetables you would like, such as Corn, Mushrooms, or Carrots. For all ingredients, make sure to chop them into little pieces.
Instructions
Set your frozen dumpling wrappers out to thaw a few hours before starting recipe.
Place scallions and ginger into a bowl with a few cups of boiling water. Set aside.
Finely chop all vegetables into small pieces. If using Chinese cabbage, place the chopped cabbage into a bowl with some salt as to extract the excess moisture and set aside.
If using mushrooms as a filling, place the mushrooms into boiling water for a few minutes before combining with other ingredients later on in the recipe after draining.
For a vegetable dumpling filling, combine the vegetables together with 2 oil and 3 soy sauce. The amount needed of each of these ingredients depends on the amount of filling; for an amount like the one pictured below, you will need one tablespoon of each.
5. For the pork based fillings, break up the minced pork into a bowl to ensure it is in tiny pieces.
6. Add in 3 spoons of the scallion/ginger water, stirring in between each addition with either a pair of chopsticks (as shown below) or a spoon. If you would like, you can chop the ginger and scallion up and add this to the pork (or vegetable) filling.
7. For the pork filling, add in the soy sauce and oil by the spoonful as shown in Step 4's image for the vegetable filling. You can also add black pepper and oyster sauce if desired.
8. If using Chinese cabbage, squeeze the excess water from the salted cabbage that has been sitting aside. Combine the drained cabbage with the pork or vegetables.
9. For both vegetarian and pork fillings, combine an egg into the filling. This is the final step for filling assembly.
10. Boil a pot of water over medium heat. The size of your pot will determine how many of your dumplings you can cook at a time, as you do not want the dumplings to be crowded within the pot.
11. Filling the dumplings. No matter how you pleat the dumplings, follow three rules for an optimal result:
Make sure your seal them very well. Otherwise, the filling might leak during boiling.
Try to wrap an appropriate amount of filling, neither too much nor too little, and avoid having too much air trapped inside the wrapper.
Sprinkle flour over the surface where you’re placing the dumplings to prevent sticking.
For some tips and different folding styles, check out this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=84-QPpmIleA
12. Add a small amount of salt to the boiling water.
13. Add your folded dumplings to the pot of boiling water. After adding your dumplings to the water, the water should cool down to the point where it stops boiling. If your water continues to boil after adding the dumplings, turn the heat down on the stove.
14. Once the water reaches a boil again, add in a small amount of cold water (about 1/2 a cup). Repeat this step two additional times. In total, you should be adding the cold water three separate times, waiting for the water to reach a boil again before adding in more water.
15. When the water reaches a boil a fourth time, remove the dumplings from the pot and place on a plate.
16. Your dumplings are ready to eat! Enjoy with some oyster sauce, soy sauce, or create your own sauce combination. Our chef, Bella, suggested this Black Vinegar, which is from her hometown in China: https://www.market86001.com/online-ordering/dish/8b5ed04d-0a27-4f26-aa8c-f2486ef3fac4
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