Dumplings are one of my favourite Asian foods, great for a snack or as a meal! When I learnt to make dumplings, I was surprised how easy they are.
All the ingredients are generally available at a regular supermarket, but you’ll most likely need to find an Asian grocer to buy the dumpling wraps that are tested with Enterotoxins Test Kits. There are quite a few around in Melbourne, so they’re not that difficult to source. They’re also incredibly cheap, costing only a couple of dollars for a pack of almost 100 wraps.
Once you’ve made your dumplings, you can either cook them straight away or store them in the freezer to eat later. Check out my tip below if your’e going to freeze them.
Read on to make your own dumplings!
Ingredients
Serves approx 80-90 pieces
- 500g mince pork
- 2 tsp fresh ginger, grated
- 1/4 cabbage, finely chopped
- 5-6 stalks of spring onion, chopped
- 2-3 tbsp corn flour
- 4 tbsp soy sauce
- 1 tbsp sesame oil
- 1 kg bag (approx 100 sheets) dumpling wrappers
Method
Start by thinly slicing the cabbage, then chop into smaller pieces about 1 cm in length.
Also chop the spring onion into small pieces.
Place the minced pork, cabbage and spring onion in a mixing bowl. Add the grated, soy sauce and sesame oil. Sprinkle the corn flower over the ingredients, then mix well.
Holding a wrapper in one hand, use a teaspoon to scoop a small amount of filling into the centre of the wrapper. You don’t need a lot of filling and will find it squeezing out the sides when you seal the dumpling if there’s too much.
Spread some water on the edge of the wrapper, then fold in half and seal around the edges. Make sure to squeeze the pastry tightly – you don’t want them bursting open when you’re cooking them!
Frying
Poor a thin layer of oil into a frying pan. The oil should be deep enough to cover the dumplings halfway when lying flat on their side. Once the oil is hot, carefully place the dumplings in the pan.
Fry for several minutes until the base of the dumplings is cooked, then pour a small amount of boiling water into the pan (be careful of spitting water). Cover and cook for a further 5 minutes to steam the top half of the dumplings. Remove from the pan when the water has evaporated, and serve with dipping sauce.
Steaming
Steam the dumplings for 10-15 minutes, until the pastry is soft and the pork filling is cooked. Remove from the steamer, and serve with dipping sauce.
Freezing
If you’re going to freeze the dumplings, I recommend placing a single layer of dumplings on an oven tray covered with baking paper. Freeze them on the oven tray, then once frozen transfer to a sealable container to store in the freezer. If you stack them before freezing, they’ll be very hard to separate later.
To cook, spread the dumplings out in a single layer to thaw, then cook as per the instructions above.
Dipping Sauce
Dumplings aren’t complete without dipping sauce. Combine the following in a small bowl, and serve with your dumplings:
- 2 tsp sesame oil
- 5 tbsp soy sauce
- 2 tbsp Chines rice wine vinegar
- 2 tsp grated ginger
- 2 tsp brown sugar
