I made chive and pork dumplings last night. I was planning to put leeks in the dish, but since I couldn't find them in Chinatown (and since I had only $3 of cash on me in change when I went shopping), I ended up buying chives instead. No matter, since I love chives!
Let's see, I spent $1.00 on the chives, $1.00 on the dumpling wrapper and $0.87 for half a pound of ground pork. I shopped at Deluxe Food Mart, a crazy little Chinese market located on Elizabeth St. They also have a very good food counter for quick bites-- very inexpensive. I also spent 25 cents on a piece of ginger from a salesperson on Mott St.
So first I washed and cleaned the chives in a colander.
Chopped them up into little pieces. I actually ended up using all of the chives-- the recipe called for a pound of napa cabbage so I used a pound of chives-- kind of ended up being too much!
Then I grated the ginger and soaked it in some hot water. After letting it sit for about five minutes, I strained the liquid.
I also pressed down on the ginger with a spoon to get all the juices out.
Then I put together the mixture for the fulling. Using a pound of ground pork I already had, I combined it with the newly purchased ground pork and the chopped chives. After tossing in the ginger water, I then stirred in soy sauce, sesame oil and rice wine.
Here are the ingredients I used.
Finally I added an egg.
Here is the mixture all stirred together.
The dumpling wrappers I purchased from Deluxe Food Mart. You can also make your own wrappers, but I find that its sort of a pain in the ass. I once tried to make won ton skins using whole wheat flour-- since my dough rolling skills are marginal at best, the won tons didn't come out very appetizing. I'm sticking to store-bought skins from now on.
Covered a plate with flour, to place the wrapped dumplings on.
To bind the dumpling wrapper, you need to make a paste of water and flour (or cornstarch). This helps the wrapper stick together. Some people use just water, but I like to add flour just to be safe.
Put a spoonful of filling in the center of the wrapper.
Put the binding paste on the edges of half of the wrapper and fold. Pressed lightly on the edges to make it stick.
Then for decoration, I made little ruffles on the edges of the wrapper. I sort of pinched the edges together-- I got lazy at the end and only did two pinches per wrapper, but you get the idea.
A plate full of fabulous wrapped dumplings. Waiting to be scalded in my cauldron of boiling water.
I actually decided to fry half the dumplings and boil the other half. You can also steam them.
I heated up the pan and added organic extra virgin olive oil from Fairway market. (Only $7 for a liter!) I then placed each dumpling one by one on the hot pan.
A panful of dancing dumplings.
Aaah, here is the boiling cauldron!
Poor dumplings being boiled alive.
I turned the dumplings at this point. Got to make sure they get fried on all sides. Some people only like to fry the bottom of the dumplings.
Then the water started boiling again. At this point, I added half a cup of water and waited for the water to start boiling again. Repeat 3 times.
Back to the fried dumplings. I took about 1/3 of a cup of water
tossed it into the frying pan (be careful) and covered the pan with a lid. This finishes off the dumpling by sort of steaming them. Surprisingly, they will remain crispy at the end.
Voila, a meal of fried and boiled pork dumplings! Yum, yum, yum.
If I would have to do it again though, I would probably have used a bit less chives and a bit more pork. Still yummy though!
