I’ve made potsticker dumplings or wor-tips before, but recently, I’ve got some co-workers who seem to have fallen in love with them. So, I decided I will make another batch just for them! This time, I was only able to find lean ground pork, so it was a little dry – and they ate it all up! I’m so proud of my coworkers! 🙂
Ingredients: (makes about 4 dozen using perogy press)
about 1 lb ground pork
3-4 leaves of nappa cabbage (Chinese Cabbage)
1/2 small onion
1 tbsp grated ginger
2 gloves garlic
1 tbsp Chinese 5 Spice
1-2 tsp white pepper
1 tsp salt
1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
1 tbsp soy sauce
2 tbsp oyster sauce
Skin recipe:
3 cups all purpose flour
1 1/2 cups of boiling water (make more in case it’s too dry to come together)
salt
So, yes, the ingredient line up seems long but it’s all good, as it’s just typical ingredients any Asian would have in their pantry! First, wash the cabbage and peel the onion, ginger and garlic. I cut my cabbage into little pieces, and I grate the onion garlic and ginger. I put all these ingredients into a bowl.
From there, we can add the ground pork into the mixture, and mix a little bit.
Now, we can season it. It sounds funny, but you can add whatever you want and how much of it as you want. I don’t cook using measuring things, so it’s all “rough estimates”. Add whatever seasonings you like, add it as flavourful as you like, it’s yours and make it yours! So, from here, just add all the goodies and mix well. Oh yeah, you don’t like pork, don’t use pork! 🙂 I like it on the fattier side so it’s “juicier”!
I let my meat sit in the fridge for about an hour just to marinate the flavours a bit. If you like the meat firmer, crack an egg into it – kind of like a meat loaf filling. I like to leave mine alone.
Now some time has elapsed, we can start making the dumpling skins! It’s super simple and I do remember learning this from my grandma. But, I did have to cheat a little and verify with “Google” the right amount of water to flour, which is also a silly thing as all we’re making is a soft dough. If it’s too dry, add more water and vice versa! But, start by putting the flour in a large enough bowl to mix, and pour some salt on top and mix it around a little bit.
You pour the boiling water right into the flour mixture. Grandma use to just use her hands and mix. I do not recommend it as you will probably burn yourself. I think you should use a mixing spoon or something like it! But, mix it until it forms into a nice ball of dough. When this happens, take it out an knead it for a little bit, just enough to keep the ball together.
Now, I usually cut the dough into smaller pieces so it’s easier to work with. Keep the other dough not being used covered with a damp cloth. Roll out the dough so it’s flat and even. If you’re picky, run it through the pasta machine so it’s uniform in thickness.
Now we got strips of dough and we’re good to go to cut out circles! You can either just fill them and seal the edges with just some water, which is the traditional way… but I wanted to use my perogy press this time, so it looks the same. It wasn’t a great idea as you can’t STUFF them, but it’s okay.
There you go, you’ve made dumplings! If you’re freezing them, put them on a cookie tray so they don’t touch each other and freeze them individually first before you put them into a ziplock bag. This will prevent them from sticking together. Now, we pan fry them (or steam them, or how ever you want to enjoy them)!
Okay, I make it sound like it’s the simplest thing in the world, it is once you get the hang of it! It’s okay, practice makes perfect and as long as it tastes good, who cares how it looks! My first batch was really ugly! I’ll actually show you! 🙂 Just put the prettiest one up front, and it’s alright!
