The Dumplings Made Me Do It!

This recipe is my tribute to our latest and greatest trip to San Francisco - where we had incredible dim sum and yes, lots of other amazing food and lots and lotsa FUN with my sister and Papi. I can’t really explain how much I love eating gyoza (aka dumplings, potstickers, shu mai, etc) there just are no words to describe it. But making them is fun too. Eating them with a nice bottle of sake is - yup, fun too. Do yourself a favor, don’t try to be frugal when buying sake - we learned our lesson, the hard way. Saving a few bucks can mean the difference between a smooth, sweet rice wine and a mouthful of right-from-the-bladder-warm rubbing alcohol. You be the judge - I say if it is $3.99, you can probably guess what it will taste like. The last sake H and I picked out was a total score. It was called “Dreamy Clouds” by Rihaku - which I accidentally keep referring to as “Cloudy Dreams” (which I guess could be the case if you overindulge).

Anyway, there are tons and tons of variations of dumplings out there - all with different names, preparation methods, origins, fillings, and wrapper types. I won’t get into that here, you know how to google. So I am posting my favorite and also easiest recipe for pork dumplings. You will end up craving them, just like H and I do. I know you will.

Oh and another thing, the original recipe was one I found on about.com. I had to tweak a few things (especially the cooking method) and invent the dipping sauce. Just an FYI.

Rock out with your dumpling out!

Serves: 8 to 10 (as an appetizer)

Ingredients:

• 1/2 pound ground pork (1 cup)
• 3/4 cup shredded Napa cabbage
• 1 green onion, diced
• 2 teaspoons minced fresh ginger
• 1 egg, lightly beaten
• 1 tablespoon light soy sauce
• 1/4 teaspoon hot chili oil, or to taste
• 1/4 teaspoon sesame oil
• 30 wonton wrappers, or as needed (sold in grocery stores)

Dipping Sauce:

• 1 ½ tablespoons rice wine vinegar
• ½ cup of light soy sauce
• 1 teaspoon of minced fresh ginger
• 1 green onion, diced

Bring a pot of salted water to a boil. Blanch the shredded cabbage until it is tender but still crisp. Plunge into ice cold water, remove, and drain thoroughly.

In a medium bowl, combine the ground pork, cooked cabbage, green onion, minced ginger, egg, soy sauce, chili oil and sesame oil.

In a small bowl, whisk all dipping sauce ingredients together well and set aside.

On a large flat surface lay out several wonton wrappers in front of you.

Wet each of their edges with water. Place a teaspoon of filling in the middle of each wrapper. Fold the sides up to form a semicircle, and then pinch the edges well to seal. Continue with the rest of the wonton wrappers until the filling is gone. Listen up: Keep the finished dumplings on a piece of waxed paper so they don’t stick to your prep surface and remember do not let the dumplings touch each other!

Meanwhile, bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. This will be the pot you cook your dumplings in.
Drop dumplings one at a time (carefully) into the boiling water. Cook for approximately 3-5 minutes. Stir a couple of times to keep the dumplings from sticking. Remove from boiling water one at a time with a slotted spoon, drain and then plate. Serve with dipping sauce.

(click on images to enlarge)

Methane Meter says:

Download or print recipe here:
Gyoza Recipe (PDF 20.2 kb)