The perfect pork dumpling came about through many trials. Pork dumplings (or 餃子 in Chinese) are made with a combination of ground pork, aromatics, vegetables, and seasoning. There is no such thing as a bad pork dumpling, but there is such a thing as an under-seasoned dumpling resulting in an average experience. I’ve been making pork dumplings for years. It was only recently that I developed the right combination of flavors to yield a tasty, juicy, plump pork dumpling.
Eating dumplings always reminds me of growing up in our small, Brooklyn kitchen. My dad always purchased three packs of premade dumplings for ten dollars and stored them in the freezer. Dumplings were our go to quick meals. We steamed them. We fried them. We dunked them. We devoured them. Dumplings were so accessible in New York that making them never crossed my mind. When I moved to the Midwest, access to authentic dumplings became tougher so I learned to make them myself in the kitchen island of Kevin’s apartment. I tend to make extra filling and save part of the filling for omelets the next day.
Pork Potstickers (餃子)
Wrappers:
· 2¾ cups all purpose flour, plus additional for kneading dough
· ½ teaspoon kosher salt
· 1 cup lukewarm water
Filling:
· ½ lb. ground pork
· ½ small yellow onion, finely minced
· 1 stalk scallion, finely sliced
· 2 cloves garlic, finely minced
· ½ inch knob of ginger, grated
· ½ teaspoon sesame oil
· ½ teaspoon Shaoxing wine
· ½ teaspoon soy sauce
· ½ teaspoon oyster sauce
· ½ teaspoon confectioners’ sugar
· Dash of white pepper
· ½ teaspoon kosher salt
· 4 tablespoons of vegetable or canola oil, for frying
· 4 tablespoons of water, for steaming
Dipping Sauce:
· 3 tablespoons soy sauce
· 1 teaspoon oyster sauce
· ½ tablespoon rice wine vinegar
· ½ tablespoon Chinkiang vinegar
Directions:
1) To make the dough, combine the flour and salt in a large bowl. Add the lukewarm water to the mixture. Use your hands to thoroughly mix the dough. On a floured surface, knead the dough for 3 minutes. Place the dough back into the large bowl and let the dough rest for 30 minutes. While dough is resting, you can start making the filling. When time is up, roll out the dough into about four logs and cut into ½ inch pieces.
2) To make the filling, combine the ground pork, onions, scallions, garlic, ginger, sesame oil, Shaoxing wine, soy sauce, oyster sauce, confectioners' sugar, white pepper, and kosher salt.
3) To make the dumplings, roll out the pieces of dough one by one onto a floured surface. Place ½ tablespoon of filling on each piece of dough. Continue the process until you've used up all of the dumpling wrappers. Pleat the dough until you form dumplings.
4) Place the pieces of dumplings on a floured baking sheet until ready to fry.
5) Heat a pan on medium heat. Add a tablespoon of vegetable or canola oil into the pan. Once the oil is hot, add 6-7 dumplings in the pan and fry for 1-2 minutes, until golden brown. Flip over the dumplings and fry for another 1-2 minutes. Add 1 tablespoon of water to the skillet. Use a pot cover to cover the skillet for 2-3 minutes until the water is evaporated. Remove dumplings to a plate and let dumplings rest before serving. Continue the process of frying dumplings with another tablespoon of oil and another 6-7 dumplings. Keep going until all dumplings are fried.
6) To make the dipping sauce, combine soy sauce, oyster sauce, rice wine vinegar, and Chinkiang vinegar in a small bowl.
Takeaways: The dumplings are tasty on their own, but so much better with the dipping sauce. The recipe yields about 29-30 dumplings. You can always double the recipe if you want even more dumplings.