The Only Beijing Dumpling Recipe You’ll Ever Need

If there’s one food that’s synonymous with Chinese New Year it’s dumplings, as many believe eating the gold ingot-shaped goodies will bring good luck in the coming year. Plus, they’re absolutely delicious and pretty easy to make.

Growing up, my grandmother would always celebrate CNY by getting the whole family together to make dumplings. She’d set up an assembly line on the dining table and each person would be responsible for a specific task.

Bringing a touch of local tradition to your family this CNY isn’t hard at all. Dumplings are really easy to make. Here’s a recipe according to AllRecipes.com that’s been tweaked for a more local Beijing flavor.

CNY Dumplings
Start to finish: 1 hour 20 minutes
Servings: 5, or 50 dumplings

Ingredients

½ cup soy sauce, plus 2 tablespoons soy sauce
1 tablespoon seasoned rice vinegar
1 tablespoon finely chopped Chinese chives, plus 2 tablespoons finely chopped Chinese chives
1 pound ground pork
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 egg, beaten
1 ½ tablespoon sesame oil
1 tablespoon minced fresh ginger
50 dumpling wrappers

Directions

Combine 1/2 cup soy sauce, rice vinegar, 1 tablespoon chives in a small bowl. Set aside.
Mix pork, garlic, egg, 2 tablespoons chives, soy sauce, sesame oil, and ginger in a large bowl until thoroughly combined.
Place a dumpling wrapper on a lightly floured work surface and spoon about 1 tablespoon of the filling in the middle. Wet the edge with a little water and crimp together forming small pleats to seal the dumpling. Repeat with remaining dumpling wrappers and filling.
Put dumplings in boiling water and boil until they float and puff up. Repeat for remaining dumplings.
Serve with dipping sauce. Some like soy sauce, but local Beijingers prefer vinegar mixed with chili oil.

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