Chinese Pork Dumplings Recipes

Steps:

• The filling: Place the cabbage in a food processor, add 1/2 teaspoon salt, and pulse until finely chopped but not puréed. Wrap the chopped cabbage in a clean kitchen towel and squeeze to remove juices, then transfer to a large bowl. Add ginger, garlic, scallions, and, if desired, garlic chives. Add the shrimp and pork and season with 1/4 cup soy sauce, sesame oil, and salt and pepper. Mix together by hand.
• Taste the filling by poaching or frying a small amount, and adjust seasonings to taste. To prepare the dipping sauce, combine soy sauce, rice vinegar, scallions, and toasted sesame seeds in a small bowl.
• To wrap, place 1 tablespoon of filling into the center of a dumpling wrapper. Wet the wrapper's edges, then fold in half to form a taco-like shape. Make a pleat on the side facing you about 20 degrees from the apex of the half-circle and seal with your fingers to the back of the skin. Repeat on the other quarter, in mirror fashion, and seal the dumpling completely, trying to eliminate any air pockets. Repeat until all filling is used.
• To pan fry, heat oil in a large, nonstick pan over high heat. Add the dumplings in one layer so that they do not overlap. Add water to come halfway up the dumplings, and cover the pan. Reduce the heat to medium-high and cook until all water is evaporated and the bottoms are browned and crispy, about 10 minutes. Alternatively, the dumplings can be steamed until cooked through, about 5 minutes in a steam basket.
• Transfer the dumplings to a plate and serve with a dipping sauce.

Steps:

• In a large bowl, combine the pork, ginger, garlic, green onion, soy sauce, sesame oil, egg and cabbage. Stir until well mixed.
• Place 1 heaping teaspoon of pork filling onto each wonton skin. Moisten edges with water and fold edges over to form a triangle shape. Roll edges slightly to seal in filling. Set dumplings aside on a lightly floured surface until ready to cook.
• To Cook: Steam dumplings in a covered bamboo or metal steamer for about 15 to 20 minutes. Serve immediately.

Steps:

• For the pork rub: Stir salt, granulated sugar, garlic powder, black pepper and white pepper together in a bowl.
• For the braising liquid: Combine the lime juice, sesame oil, soy sauce, vinegar, wine and 1 tablespoon water together in a bowl.
• For the braising spices: Heat oven to 400 degrees F.
• Add coriander, fennel, Sichuan peppercorns, cloves, anise, cardamom and cinnamon stick to a muslin bag or tea strainer.
• For the filling: Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.
• Slice shoulder into small chunks. Apply 1 1/2 cups rub to all pieces and place in an oven-safe pan. Add braising liquid and braising spices.
• Cover pork with foil and braise for 1 hour, then turn oven to 275 degrees F and continue to braise for another 1 hour 30 minutes.
• Remove pork chunks from braising liquid, then cool and shred. (Reserve liquid for anything your heart desires.)
• Combine rice vinegar, sesame oil and soy sauce with pork. Add cabbage, carrots, garlic, ginger, green onions and cilantro and let cool.
• For the dumpling dough: Combine demerara sugar, yeast, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a mixer or mixing bowl.
• Add flour and 3/4 cup water and mix until smooth, about 10 minutes.
• Divide dough into twenty-five to thirty 1.7-ounce balls.
• Roll into rounds with a rolling pin and place on lightly floured parchment paper. Lightly stretch edges of dough rounds, leaving center as firm as possible. Place a dough round flat on your palm. Use an ice cream scoop to scoop compacted filling in center. Using your free hand, pinch 1 inch or so of the edge of the round together between thumb and index finger. The dough between the pinch should fold together. Use middle finger to pinch another 1 inch or so section of the edge of the dough round. Pull index finger from where it is and pinch another section of dough to the clump of pinches you've started in a finger-walking motion. Switch between middle and index finger of main hand as you "walk" your fingers around the edge of the dough. The key is to pinch, not twist! Use thumb of other hand in a spatula motion to help corral filling within round. Keep as much of the rim of the dough round as clean as possible, as the more dry the dough is, the easier it will stick to itself when pinched. Perform 7 to 9 total pinches until there is a clump of pinches at the center/top of the now mostly formed dumpling. Bring all pinches together into one, central pinch, then flatten. Flip over so top of dumpling is smooth and base of dumpling is where the pinched folds are. Place dumpling in a cupcake wrapper. Repeat with the remaining dough and filling.
• Put wrapped dumplings into a steamer and cook until it looks flat in texture, not shiny, 10 to 13 minutes.

Steps:

• Mix 1/2 cup cold water and cornstarch in a bowl until combined. Combine the filling: pork, shrimp, cabbage, chives, onions, ginger, garlic, cornstarch paste, wine, soy sauce, sesame oil, salt, and pepper in a large bowl and mix well.
• Mix flour and remaining water and knead the dough into a smooth ball. Use extra water/flour to get a slightly smooth and sticky ball. Let sit for 30 minutes. Divide the dough into little balls that roll out into 4-inch diameter circles. You will have about 30 dough circles.
• Place 2 teaspoons of the filling onto the middle of each of the dough circles.
• Wrap by folding the dough circles with filling in the middle in half and pinching the edges to seal.
• Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Gently add about 10 dumplings into the boiling water. Bring the water back to a boil and add 1/2 cup more cold water. Repeat this twice before taking the dumplings out to serve; the pork filling should no longer be pink and shrimp should be firm. Repeat the boiling and adding of cold water with each batch of dumplings. Adding the cold water between boils reduces the starch buildup in the water.

Steps:

• Cut the cabbage across into thin strips. Mix with 2 teaspoons salt and set aside for 5 minutes. Squeeze out the excess moisture.
• In a large bowl, mix the celery cabbage, pork, green onions, wine, cornstarch, the remaining 1 teaaspoon salt, 1 teaspoon sesame oil, and the white pepper.
• **In a bowl, mix the flour and 1 cup boiling water until a soft dough forms. Knead the dough on a lightly flour surface about 5 minutes, or until smooth.
• Divide the dough in half. Shape each half into a roll 12 inches long and cut each roll into 1/2-inch slices.
• Roll 1 slice of dough into a 3-inch circle and place 1 tablespoon pork mixture in the center of the circle. Lift up the edges of the circle and pinch 5 pleats up to create a pouch to encase the mixture. Pinch the top together. Repeat with the remaining slices of dough and filling.
• Heat a wok or nonstick skillet until very hot. Add 1 tablespoon vegetable oil, tilting the wok to coat the sides. If using a nonstick skillet, add 1/2 tablespoon vegetable oil. Place 12 dumplings in a single layer in the wok and fry 2 minutes, or until the bottoms are golden brown.
• Add 1/2 cup water. Cover and cook 6 to 7 minutes, or until the water is absorbed. Repeat with the remaining dumplings.
• To make a dipping sauce, in a small bowl, mix the soy sauce with 1 teaspoon sesame oil. Serve with the dumplings.
• NOTE: The dough was VERY sticky. So I had to use a lot of flour on it when rolling it out. Just make sure you don't use too much. I also didn't have wine on hand, so didn't use it. I found that the meat inside was more like a meatball, and not saucy or mushy like I think it should have been (maybe because I didn't use the wine?). Also when cooking be very careful as they do seem to fall apart unless you make the pieces of dough thicker, and a tad larger. I only hope that by posting this here someone can come up with ideas on how to make the meat more mushy I've tried other recipes for the dumpling portion, and it just didn't taste as good.