The Easiest Pork Dumplings

Dumplings should be part of everyone’s weekly cooking rotation!

Do you love dumplings, but find it intimidating to make? Well here’s a simple recipe with all of the tips and tricks!

I grew up eating dumplings for breakfast, lunch, dinner and late night snacks. There was always a bag of homemade dumplings in the freezer, because every few weeks, we’d all sit in front of the TV with a big bowl of mixture and fold away. This must have been what meal prepping as before it became a thing!

But for someone who didn’t grow up making dumplings, it can be quite intimidating. Flavourings, seasonings, folding…how do you get it just right. I’ve put together a few tips and tricks that I use in class to make sure you get the juiciest and most delicious dumplings.

The Filling

1. You can substitute the pork with chicken or beef, it all works well here, so do what suits your taste! However, I recommend going to the butcher and choosing a mince that is 25-30% fat content. This may sound like a lot, but it will give your filling more flavour and moisture. The mince at most groceries are ‘low-fat’ and may result in a drier, more brittle filling. But do so for health reasons, it will still be delicious!

2. Whip the ‘proteins’ and liquid together in one direction. I always thought this was a bit of a conspiracy theory when my parents would only mix the dumpling mixture in one direction with chopsticks. ‘Don’t use your hands’ they’d say. And most certainly don’t mix it willy nilly! That is, if you want a really juicy filling.

   Why is this important? By whipping the proteins in one direction, you are helping the peptide strands trap the moisture in a bit of a criss cross structure. That way, when the dumplings are cooked, the juices stay in the dumpling when you bite into it.

3. Salt your cabbage before putting into your mixture. Cabbage is a really hard, rigid vegetable. If you add it in without salting it, it might poke through the delicate pastry…and all of that hard work….juices gone…can you imagine!?!?!

   Also, cabbage has a lot of water, if you don’t extract some of that water out prior, it’ll come out in cooking and your dumplings will taste like cabbage dumplings rather than pork dumplings. But I mean….if that’s your thing then… go for it!

The Fold

Okay, this is probably the hardest part, but remember, it’s alllllll the same in the belly! The most important part is that your seams are closed. Otherwise, just have a bit of fun.

But here is how we make them in the Chang Household.

Make in Bulk & Store

Double, trip, quadruple this recipe. Sit in front of the TV and make a big batch. These store really well. Just place them on a lined baking tray or large plate/platter, pop them in the freezer RAW until the freeze solid, then pop them in a large bag. Voila. Frozen dumplings, ready to cook at your pleasure. Much cheaper, healthier and delicious than store bought.

When cooking from frozen, follow the same method! The water will just take longer to evaporate to accomodate for the frozen dumplings. Trust the water evaporation process!!!!!

Make Dumplings, FACTORY style

Okay so, once you make dumplings once, you’ll realise that it is a bit tedious. BUT I recommend inviting a few friends over. BYO platter, BYO wine. Whip up a big batch of dumplings and everyone gets to get their hands dirty, have dumplings for dinner and bring a tray home. Is there anything better?!

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Easy Pork Dumplings

Yield: 4

Author: Cristina Chang

Prep time: 30 MinCook time: 15 MinTotal time: 45 Min

These dumplings are made gyoza style, crispy on the bottom, steamed on the top, with succulent pork and cabbage filling.

Ingredients

• 350g Pork Mince
• 1 Egg
• 2 Tablespoons of Water
• Generous pinch of salt and white pepper
• 1 Tablespoon of Soy Sauce
• 1 Tablespoon of Sesame Oil
• 2 Spring Onions
• 1/4 Head of Cabbage (small) + salt
• 5cm Piece of Ginger
• 35-40 Dumpling Wrappers

Instructions

1. Finely chop the cabbage, you can do this by hand or in a food processor. Add the cabbage to a bowl and generously salt the cabbage (a 3 finger pinch will do) and give the cabbage a mix. Let this sit to extract the water while you make the filling.
2. Mix the pork, egg and water in a large bowl using chopsticks or a wooden spoon until it becomes sticky and tacky. Do this in one direction only for the juiciest filling!
3. To the pork mixture, add in the soy, sesame, salt and pepper. Give the mixture another good mix in the same direction.
4. Peel and grate your ginger. Finely chop your spring onion and add both to the pork mixture.
5. Place the salted cabbage onto a clean tea towel or cheese cloth and squeeze out the moisture of the sink. Add this squished cabbage to the pork mixture. Give the mixture one last mix and make sure all of the ingredients are well combined.
6. Using a teaspoon (not the measurement, but the tea/coffee making variety!), scoop a spoonful onto the centre of a dumpling wrapper.
7. Dip your finger into some water and brush your finger around the filling, just on the outer edge of the wrapper.
8. Fold the bottom center of the wrapper to the top center and pinch, to make a semi circle.
9. Push the open loop on one side in so that it makes a heart shape. Pinch the side closes to you and press down the second loop down. Repeat this on both sides to create a crescent moon shape. Repeat for all the the dumplings.
10. Heat a non-stick fry pan on medium high heat with a tablespoon of neutral oil. Place the dumplings onto the pan and let it crisp up on the bottom. Pick a dumpling up to check that it is crispy and golden, this should take 2-3 minutes. When the dumplings are crispy and golden, pour in enough water to cover halfway up the dumplings. Place the lid on and turn the heat down to medium. Let the water simmer away, this should take about 15 minutes. Once the pan is dry, remove the lid and let the dumplings crisp back up again and now they're ready to serve!