Impress With Homemade Chinese Dumplings

I am a huge fan of the Chinese dumpling and after watching them make them in the window of Jens Cafe in China Town, I decided that it was worth trying to make my own. After some trial and error I had perfected the filling and you will notice what a difference making them fresh can be.

While you can also make your own wrappers, I find it easier to buy them as they are then the right thickness and texture.

Making your own dumplings is a little time consuming and fiddly but the results, while not always pretty, are delicious so well worth the effort. You may not want to eat them all at once so freeze any left overs and you can have them as a simple (and then very quick) supper.

Makes about 15

INGREDIENTS

250g lean pork mince

5 spring onions finely chopped
small bunch coriander finely chopped
25g ginger finely chopped or grated
5 shitake mushrooms finely chopped
1 clove garlic finely chopped
1 tblesp sesame oil
1 tblesp soy sauce
2 tblesp rice wine
1 packet dumpling wrappers

DIPPING SAUCE
Soy sauce
Chilli sauce
Rice vinegar

METHOD
Mix together the first six ingredients until everything is equally distributed through the mixture. Then stir in the sesame oil, soy sauce, and rice wine and let sit for about 30 minutes.
To make the dumplings, put one heaped teaspoon of the pork mixture into the middle of each dumpling wrapper. Dab the edge of one half of the circle with water and fold in half to make semi-circular dumpling pinching the edges together by pleating one edge and pressing into the other edge. Repeat until all filling is used.

The dumplings can then be steamed, boiled or fried depending on your personal preference.
STEAMING: If steaming place in a steamer over boiling water and steam for about 7 minutes.
BOILING: If boiling, drop about 8 dumplings into boiling water and return to the boil, pour a cup of cold water in and return to the boil again and when the dumplings float to the surface then remove.
POT STICKERS: heat 2 tblesp oil in a large frying pan with a lid. Tightly pack dumplings, flat side down in pan and fry for around a minute. Pour in half a cup of water and put lid on. Cook for until all water has evaporated then rove lid and cook for a further two minutes to dry dumplings out..

Eat immediately with dipping sauce.

Miss B

Belinda Wanis, aka Miss B, is a Belle About Town who likes to bring a little bit of style into every aspect of her life. An experienced journalist with over 20 years in the industry she turned to the web, creating Belle About Town in early 2010, to fill a gap for tech-savvy stylish women who want the best life has to offer at their fingertips. She loves a decadent cocktail bar, a beautifully cut dress, cultural getaways, quality over quantity and is partial to Asian-fusion food. A globetrotter, who has lived in Australia, the UK and Denmark, she enjoys holidaying in the sun and you can often find her on a beach in Thailand or on shopping breaks in Sydney or New York. But her first love is, of course, London!

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