The Woks of Life Family Chefs

The ONLY Dumpling Recipe You’ll Ever Need

https://thewoksoflife.com/dumpling-recipe-youll-ever-need/

We’ve been making this dumpling recipe for a long time. A LONG time. I remember sitting on a stool in my grandmother’s kitchen making this dumpling recipe.

by: Sarah

Course:Appetizers and Snacks

Cuisine:Chinese

serves: 16

Prep: 2 hours

Cook: 15 minutes

Total: 2 hours 15 minutes

Ingredients

• ▢ 3 lbs green leafy vegetable (1.35kg, like shepherd’s purse, baby bok choy, napa cabbage, or Chinese chives)
• ▢ 1 ½ pounds ground pork (680g; can substitute ground chicken or beef, as long as they aren’t too lean)
• ▢ 2/3 cup shaoxing wine
• ▢ ½ cup oil
• ▢ 3 tablespoons sesame oil
• ▢ 1 tablespoon salt
• ▢ 3 tablespoons soy sauce
• ▢ ¼ teaspoon white pepper
• ▢ 2/3 cup water (plus more for assembly)
• ▢ 3 packages dumpling wrappers

Instructions

• Wash your vegetables thoroughly and blanch them in a pot of boiling water. Transfer them to an ice bath to cool. Ring out all the water from the vegetables and chop very finely.
• In a large bowl, stir together the vegetable, meat, wine, oil, sesame oil, salt, soy sauce, white pepper, and 2/3 cup water. Mix for 6-8 minutes, until very well-combined.
• To wrap the dumplings, dampen the edges of each circle with some water. Put a little less than a tablespoon of filling in the middle. Fold the circle in half and pinch the wrapper together at the top. Then make two folds on each side, until the dumpling looks like a fan. Make sure it’s completely sealed. Repeat until all the filling is gone, placing the dumplings on a baking sheet lined with parchment. Make sure the dumplings aren’t sticking together.
• If you’d like to freeze them, wrap the baking sheets tightly with plastic wrap and put the pans in the freezer. Allow them to freeze overnight. You can then take the sheets out of the freezer, transfer the dumplings to Ziploc bags, and throw them back in the freezer for use later.
• To cook the dumplings, boil them or pan-fry them. To boil, simple bring a large pot of water to a boil, drop the dumplings in, and cook until they float to the top and the skins are cooked through, but still slightly al dente.
• To pan-fry, heat 2 tablespoons oil in a non-stick pan over medium high heat. Place the dumplings in the pan and allow to fry for 2 minutes. Pour a thin layer of water into the pan, cover, and reduce heat to medium-low. Allow dumplings to steam until the water has evaporated. Remove the cover, increase heat to medium-high and allow to fry for a few more minutes, until the bottoms of the dumplings are golden brown and crisp.
• Serve with soy sauce, Chinese black vinegar, chili sauce, or other dipping sauce of your choice!

Tips & Notes:

Find the dumpling skins fresh at the Asian grocery store. Look for the white, round ones. If they start to dry out, wrap them in a damp paper towel and put them in a sealed plastic bag for a couple hours to soften back up.

Freeze any unused dumpling wrappers in an airtight sealed plastic bag for later.

Recipe makes about 7-8 dozen.

nutrition facts

Calories: 387kcal (19%) Carbohydrates: 35g (12%) Protein: 14g (28%) Fat: 19g (29%) Saturated Fat: 4g (20%) Cholesterol: 36mg (12%) Sodium: 1026mg (43%) Potassium: 178mg (5%) Fiber: 2g (8%) Sugar: 1g (1%) Vitamin A: 3795IU (76%) Vitamin C: 38.6mg (47%) Calcium: 127mg (13%) Iron: 3mg (17%)

nutritional info disclaimer