Do you eat dumplings or Tangyuan (汤圆, glutinous rice dumplings) for Chinese New Year? Whenever there are dumplings, there is always the “dumplings or Tangyuan” debate. In northern China, dumplings (饺子, jiǎozi) are the most well-known dish, while people prefer glutinous rice dumplings in the south.
We met Connie K from Black Sesame Kitchen at INN’s Spring Festival Traditions event on January 12 (Monday), and she showed us how to make dumplings and Tangyuan in a quick and easy way.
Let’s learn how to make dumplings first! Here are the recipes for dumplings she shared with us:
Ingredients
¾ lb ground pork (or your choice of ground meat or seafood)
½ cup water
¼ cup light soy sauce
1 teaspoon dark soy sauce
1 ½ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon each: white pepper, chicken bouillon
1½ teaspoons finely minced ginger
1 tablespoon finely minced leek, white part only
1 large egg
2 tablespoon vegetable oil
2 cups of your choice of shredded or finely minced vegetables *
1 tablespoon sesame oil
For the dumpling wrappers: **
4 cups all-purpose flour
2 cups water
* For vegetarian dumpling filling, shredded and chopped carrot, chopped re-hydrated shiitake mushrooms, and diced dry tofu are recommended.
** If you don’t have the patience for making the wrapping, go to a local market and buy a stack of the wrappers, called jiǎozi pí（饺子皮）.
Directions
1. Knead the dough:
Place the flour in a large bowl. Stir in 1 cup of the water, working the water into the flour with your hands. Slowly add more water, about ¼ cup at a time, mixing thoroughly so the water is fully incorporated before adding more. Stop when the dough is springy and soft, not too dry but not slippery. Transfer to a clean surface and knead for 3 to 5 minutes. Cover with a damp cloth and let sit for at least 10 minutes.
2. Make the filling:
In a bowl, mix together the ground meat, leek, ginger, soy sauces, salt, white pepper, chicken bouillon, and cooking wine. Add water about ¼ cup at a time and beat into meat mixture until you’ve used all the water and it has been fully beaten into the meat mixture. Always beat meat mixture in one, circular direction. The pork should have the consistency of a thick cake batter. Add a raw egg and mix another 20 to 30 strokes. Blend well. Add the vegetables and sesame oil. Blend well. Add oil and mix through. The filling is now ready to fold into the dumpling wrappers.
*If you want to add any veggies, just chop them up into little pieces and then add them to the meat mixture. Add sesame oil, salt, and maybe some white pepper so that you make sure you flavor the veggies as well. If you’re adding zucchini, eggplant, napa cabbage, or any other veggie that that has a lot of water in it, then chop it up, salt it, seat it, the squeeze out the moisture, then add it to meat mixture.
3. Roll out the dumpling skins:
Divide the dough into three equal pieces. Roll each piece into a long rope, about ¾ inch in diameter. Slice the ropes into½ inch-‐long pieces. Lightly sprinkle the pieces with flour, and roll them with one hand on the counter to form balls. Squash each ball with the center of your palm to flatten it like a silver dollar.
Sprinkle flour over the dough and work surface. Working with a rolling pin and one piece of dough at a time, start from the center of the dough and roll outward, then roll back to the center. Turn the dough a few degrees and roll again. Continue rolling, turning the dough in the same direction, until you have made a full revolution. The dumpling skin should be flat and round and slightly bigger than your palm. It probably won’t be a perfect circle the first time you try, or the second, for that matter. Your technique will improve as you go along.
Stack the wrappers and cover with a damp cloth to prevent them from drying out while you finish rolling. Use them immediately.
4. Wrap the dumplings:
Place a dumpling skin in your palm. Scoop a dollop of filling in the center of the skin. Fold the skin in half, and pinch the top of the semicircle together. Starting from one side, pleat and pinch the edges until the filling is fully sealed and the dumpling has the shape of a crescent.
5. Cook the dumplings:
– Boiled Dumplings:
While you are wrapping, fill a large pot with water and bring it to a boil over high heat. Add the dumplings in batches of 20, and when the water returns to a boil, cook for 5 minutes. Drain and serve immediately.
– Pan-‐Fried Dumplings:
Heat a flat-‐bottomed pan and add a layer of oil to coat the bottom. Place the uncooked dumplings in a single layer on the pan, making sure that each dumpling gets a bit of oil on the bottom of it. Add hot water ¾ of the way up the dumpling and cover for 7-8 minutes or until the water is almost evaporated out of the pan.
*Check the bottoms of the dumplings in the center of the pan to see if the bottoms have browned and crisp. Serve once it has reached the desired crispiness.
*(Optional) Add about a tablespoon more oil around the pan to crisp the dumplings up even more.
6. Make chili sauce:
Heat ½ cup of oil in a wok for 3 minutes on high until oil is about 140 degrees Celsius. Place a few tablespoons of ground chili peppers in a heat-safe bowl. (If you like, you can also add some garlic, leek, ginger, salt, and/or coriander.) Pour the hot oil over the chili peppers and mix thoroughly. Let it cool before serving.
Stay tuned, the recipe for Tangyuan will be posted tomorrow!
Photos: courtesy of Black Sesame Kitchen, Wendy Xu
